CO₂ laser and fiber laser all can cut stainless steel and mild steel. When cutting metal material, it’s better to use CW fiber laser cutting machine to get best cutting effect, because fiber laser has higher average power.

Fiber laser machine is better at cutting highly reflective metal (e.g: brass and copper). Most of laser beam will be reflected back from the material due to wavelength, which will damage optics parts of cutting head. If using CO₂ laser cutting machine to cut aluminium, it will shorten the service life of consumables.

For stainless steel with plastic coating, both of two lasers can cut plastic coated stainless steel. Because CO₂ laser will be absorbed by plastic coating, only one cut is required. Although fiber laser can cut through one time, due to bad absorption for plastic, there will be some producing dross on the underside of cut. To get best cutting effect, it will take twice: first time is to melt plastic coating, second time is to finish cutting, which will increase whole cutting time.

However, CO₂ laser also need to make two cutting paths like fiber laser, especially for thick metal material. This is because auxiliary gas will be trapped under plastic coating and cause bubble around cutting head during pierce.

Due to short wavelength, fiber laser beam can’t be absorbed by non-metallic materials (fabric, wood, stone). If you want to cut non-metallic materials, it’s better to choose CO₂ laser.

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