Patent Description:
In laser cutting of metal workpieces, a directed laser beam moves relative to the metal workpiece to locally create a cut in the metal material at the position of incidence of the laser beam on the workpiece. Modern laser cutting machines also direct a gas jet onto the position of incidence of the laser beam. The gas jet may assist the removal ("blowing") of molten metal material in a sol called "melt and blow cutting" or "fusion cutting" process, and/or, if it contains molecular oxygen, may be involved in a chemical reaction ("burning") in a reactive cutting (or "flame cutting") process. Both, the removal and, if applicable, the chemical reaction, help to generate a good cutting kerf.

Fusion cutting is quick and efficient, especially for cutting relatively thin workpieces or workpieces of medium thicknesses between about <NUM> and about <NUM>, whereas fusion cutting is a good alternative for workpieces of medium thickness and for thick workpieces.

In cutting processes, the quality of the kerf (the cut) is an often-important issue.

Properties that contribute to the quality of the kerf include the smoothness of the cut surface and the absence of burr.

There is an ongoing need for improvements of the cutting process, both, in terms of quality and in terms of cutting speed. One possibility to influence the cutting process is the variation of cutting parameters. Cutting parameters in addition to the laser power and the cutting speed (velocity of the laser beam relative to the workpiece) comprise the gas pressure, the nozzle diameter (diameter of the nozzle through which the cutting gas is directed onto the workpiece), the distance between the nozzle and the workpiece, the location of the beam focus, the diameter of the spot, the diameter of the transport fiber, in addition to the thickness of the workpiece to be cut.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser cutting method and a laser cutting machine overcoming drawbacks of prior art methods. It is especially an object to provide an effective laser fusion cutting method and a laser cutting machine suitable for fusion cutting of metal workpieces, especially of steel, having a thickness of between <NUM> and <NUM>, especially between <NUM> and <NUM>, wherein the quality of the kerf is improved compared to the prior art.

A laser fusion cutting method according to the present invention is defined in claim <NUM>.

Further embodiments of the method according to the present invention are defined in the dependent claims.

It has surprisingly been found by the inventor of the present application that it may be beneficial if the laser parameters are chosen in a manner that the laser beam working its way through the workpiece has a comparably enhanced width so as to produce a wider kerf compared to the prior art.

Especially, the width of the kerf may be chosen to be larger than or equal to <NUM> plus <NUM> times the thickness of the workpiece material, i.e. wk≥<NUM>+<NUM>*t, where wk is the width of the kerf and t is the workpiece thickness.

For example for a workpiece of a thickness of <NUM>, the width of the kerf may be at least <NUM>, for a workpiece of a thickness of <NUM>, the width of the kerf may be at least <NUM>, for a workpiece of a thickness of <NUM>, the width may be at last <NUM>, etc.. In many embodiments, best results are achieved if wk≥<NUM>+<NUM>*t or wk≥<NUM>+<NUM>*t, and for example (<NUM>+<NUM>*t)≥wk≥ (<NUM>+<NUM>*t).

Often, cut surfaces along the kerf are not strictly parallel, i.e., the width of the kerf is not strictly constant for all depths. In this, therefore, the width of the kerf in the sense of the present disclosure is defined as the width in a depth where the width is minimal. If the laser beam diverges within the workpiece, this corresponds to the width at the upper surface, i.e., the surface on the side from which the cutting beam comes.

The mentioned parameters especially hold for laser cutting machines with fiber lasers as laser sources. Fiber lasers in this context are lasers the active gain medium of which is a fiber being doped by a suitable dopant, such as a rare earth element. Fiber lasers are usually optically pumped. The wavelength of the laser radiation may especially be between <NUM> and <NUM> (visible, near infrared or short-wavelength infrared), for example in the near infrared region between <NUM> and <NUM>.

The laser cutting method is especially a fusion cutting method in which the cutting ejected onto the workpiece is a non-reactive gas such as Nitrogen gas, Argon gas, Helium gas or a mixture of these, or possibly a mixture of such non-reactive gas(es) with comparably small amounts (of less than <NUM>%, especially less than <NUM>%) of molecular Oxygen and/or Hydrogen. Especially, in contrast to reactive cutting, the oxygen content of the laser gas is not higher than the oxygen content of air. In embodiments, it may be lower than the oxygen content of air. On other words, the content of non-reactive gases is at least <NUM>% or at least <NUM>% or more than <NUM>%, especially more than <NUM>% or more than <NUM>% or more than <NUM>%.

In fusion cutting, if the laser beam is only moved along the cut to be made and not transversally, the width of the kerf essentially corresponds to the thickness of the laser beam (measured at the axial position where the laser beam impinges on the workpiece). Therefore, all considerations made in the present text relating to the width wk of the kerf also apply to the diameter db of the laser beam on the workpiece and through the workpiece, which diameter is, in industrial laser cutting machines, a well-defined quantity. The optical parameters that influence the laser beam in industrial laser cutting machines, especially the diameter of the transport fiber and the parameters (focal lengths, position, etc.) of the optical elements that influence the laser beam downstream of the exit from the transport fiber are well-understood quantities that can be influenced either by adjusting the appropriate parameters (positions of the collimating/focusing lens and/or -mirrors) or by choosing the appropriate parts.

The increased kerf widths wk (and laser beam diameters) as described in the present text are especially beneficial for steel as a workpiece material. In the present text "steel" includes all kinds of steel, including stainless steel.

The approach according to the present invention is contrary to the prior art according to which, for fusion cutting, the laser beam has been made as narrow as possible (for thick workpieces, the prior art lower limits to the diameter of the laser beam included the requirement that the kerf has to be wide enough for the cut out parts to be still removable) so that the energy density was as high as possible to minimize the required laser power. The present invention therefore proposes to remove more workpiece material than would be strictly required for obtaining a certain cut.

It has been found by the inventor that when the cutting beam has a comparably larger diameter so as to create a wider kerf than in the prior art, there results a plurality of advantages: Firstly, the surface roughness along the cut is smaller, and the cut face is smoother and of better quality. Secondly, this in turn is advantageous for the parts removal process after the cutting process because during removal the parts will have less tendency to tilt, in addition to a broader kerf being generally beneficial for the removal process because less precision is required. Thirdly, it has been observed that there is less burr given the approach according to the invention, and this reduces the complexity of material treatment processes following the cutting process.

It is an insight of the present invention that these advantages exist, and it is a further insight underlying it that these advantages often outweigh the disadvantage that due to the reduced energy density coming with the larger width the cutting speed needs to be somewhat reduced. This outweighing is not in the least due to the fact that the above-mentioned advantages reduce the complexity of subsequent processing steps overcompensating for the loss in cutting speed and also due to the fact that modern laser cutting machines make enhanced laser powers possible so that a reduction in cutting speed is not a severe disadvantage.

Especially, the beam is chosen to have a focal position above the workpiece. This means that in a radiation direction, the focal position comes before the surface of the workpiece is reached. 'Above the workpiece' thus means 'towards the direction from which the laser impinges, and at a distance, from the one surface of the workpiece that faces towards this direction from which the laser beam impinges'. In most set-ups, the workpiece will lie on a working table, and the laser cutting head will be above the workpiece in the literal sense of the word 'above'; however, the present invention is also applicable in hypothetical situations in which the laser beam is not directed into a downward direction with respect to the direction of gravity.

Especially, the focal position may be between <NUM> and <NUM> or between <NUM> and <NUM> above the workpiece, for example between <NUM> and <NUM> above the workpiece. By having a focal position above the workpiece, one firstly achieves that the beam diverges towards the workpiece whereby the beam width on the workpiece is increased compared to the prior art, thereby contributing to enhanced width of the kerf. Secondly, the beam also diverges through the workpiece itself, so that the beneficial effects of the invention are even increased.

It has further been found that it is especially beneficial if a nozzle is used that is relatively close to the workpiece. Especially, the distance of the laser machining nozzle from the workpiece (meaning the distance between the nozzle outlet, i.e. the lowermost portion of the nozzle, to the workpiece surface) may be smaller than the distance of the focal position to the workpiece, so that the focal position is within the nozzle or elsewhere more towards the laser source than the position of the nozzle outlet. Especially, the nozzle outlet may be at a distance between <NUM> (i.e. physical contact between the nozzle and the workpiece) and <NUM>, especially between <NUM> and <NUM>.

The cutting gas pressure is according to the present invention between <NUM> bar and <NUM> bar, for example between <NUM> bar and <NUM> bar.

The diameter of the nozzle (at its position of minimal width, usually at the outlet) may be between <NUM> and <NUM>, especially between <NUM> <NUM>.

The diameter of the laser beam at the focal position may be between <NUM> and <NUM>, especially between <NUM> and <NUM>. If the focal position is above the workpiece, the width of the kerf will be a bit larger than this diameter. Especially, for the diameter d of the laser beam at the focal position, the relation (<NUM>+<NUM>*t)≥d≥ (<NUM>+<NUM>*t) may hold, where t is again the thickness of the workpiece. Especially, the above-given lower limits for wk may be translated into lower limits for d by being multiplied by <NUM>.

The diameter of the laser fiber is between <NUM> and <NUM>.

The workpiece thickness may be between <NUM> and <NUM>, especially between <NUM> and <NUM>, and the workpiece material may be steel.

The cutting speed depends on the laser power and the thickness of the workpiece. It may be about half the speed that can be achieved if a narrower kerf is cut. The laser power may be at least <NUM> kW or at least <NUM> kW, and it as much as <NUM> kW, <NUM> kW or more; even laser powers of <NUM> kW or more may be achievable. In fact, the higher the laser power is the more dominant the advantages of the present invention are, as the reduction of cutting speed proportionally carries less weight for high laser powers and accordingly high cutting speeds.

In embodiments, the laser machining nozzle is cooled, especially by an actively conveyed cooling fluid, especially by liquid cooling (water cooling). To this end, it may comprise one or more cooling channels for a cooling liquid to circulate, as well as ports for injecting the cooling liquid and for discharging it. In addition or as an alternative, the laser cutting head may comprise a cooled nozzle carrier carrying the nozzle and having a thermal contact with the nozzle. Such a cooled nozzle carrier may comprise one or more cooling channels for a cooling liquid to circulate and ports for injecting the cooling liquid and to discharge it. The cooling liquid may be cooling water or any other suitable cooling liquid.

In addition or as an alternative to having a focal position above the workpiece, other measures can cause, or contribute to, the herein described (enhanced) width of the kerf.

For example, a combination of lenses and/or curved mirrors can cause a magnifying imaging. For example, when a collimating lens or focusing lens is placed in a location where the beam diverges, by choosing the position of this lens, the beam diameter may be engineered. This may be done for example at the exit from the transport fiber that guides the beam to the laser cutting head, or downstream of a first focusing lens by placing a next lens not in the focus of the first focusing lens but at an axial distance thereto, etc. Optical imaging per se is known in the art; however, embodiments of the present invention include the approach that a substantial magnification causes an increased kerf width.

In addition or as an alternative, the diameter of the transport fiber (or, to be more precise, the diameter of the transport fiber core) may be chosen to be larger than in prior art laser cutting machines, for example by having a transport fiber having a core diameter of at least <NUM> or more or of at least <NUM>, possibly depending on the thickness of the workpieces to be cut; the fiber core thickness may in according embodiments have values of up to <NUM>.

As a further alternative to optical imaging, also dynamic beam shaping (DBS) can be used to achieve, using a focused beam (having a width of for example only <NUM>), a larger effective beam diameter by being moved in an according pattern the outer diameter/width of which corresponds to the desired kerf width. An even further alternative, related to optical imaging, is static beam shaping using an optical element that increases the focus diameter, wherein different intensity distributions are possible, such as ring-shaped, Gaussian, and others.

In addition to concerning a method, the present invention also concerns a laser cutting machine according to claim <NUM>, which a laser cutting head, a laser source and a workpiece support, es well as a supply for a cutting gas that is emitted from a laser machining nozzle of the laser cutting head. The laser cutting machine may comprise parameters, stored in a memory to which a machine control software has access, for cutting workpieces, for example of steel. These parameters may comprise parameters that cause the machine to generate the laser beam so as to have an effective diameter (diameter, or in the case of dynamic beam shaping, diameter of the pattern) that on the workpiece corresponds to the kerf width as defined in the present text and may comprise any ones of the parameters discussed in the present text. Thus, the machine is equipped and programmed to carry out the method according to any embodiment described and claimed in this text.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention are described in more detail referring to drawings. The drawings are schematic and not to scale. In the drawings, same reference numbers refer to same or similar components. They show:.

<FIG> shows an example of a laser cutting machine <NUM>. The machine comprises a laser source <NUM> and a transport fiber <NUM>, a laser cutting head <NUM>, and a laser head moving mechanism. A workpiece <NUM> is supported by a working table (not shown). The laser cutting head moving mechanism comprises a bridge <NUM> relative to which the laser cutting head <NUM> is movable in x-direction, and which itself is movable, for example on a pair or rails <NUM>, in y-direction relative to the working table and the workpiece <NUM>. Also a movement of the laser head or of a component thereof (for example the nozzle and/or an optics unit) in the z-direction being the direction perpendicular to the workpiece surface and usually being the vertical direction may in embodiments be possible. The machine further comprises a machine control unit <NUM> with data lines <NUM> to the components of the movement mechanism and possibly to further units of the laser cutting machine (such as the laser source, a gas supply control, a cooling unit (not shown), etc.). Alternatively, the laser cutting machine may be laser tube cutting machine with mandrels for fixing and guiding a workpiece.

The workpiece <NUM> may be a metal sheet, especially a steel plate, that is cut by a laser beam emitted by the laser cutting head <NUM>. Alternatively, the workpiece may be a metal tube.

A gas supply comprises a gas tank <NUM>, for example an N<NUM> tank and a flexible gas pipe <NUM> as well as a gas supply control, and is equipped to supply the cutting gas to the laser cutting head <NUM> to be ejected to impinge on the position of incidence of the laser beam on the workpiece.

<FIG> schematically show an example of the laser cutting head <NUM>. The laser cutting head comprises an interface <NUM> for the laser source <NUM>, a laser head body <NUM> that contains a beam shaping installation <NUM> for shaping the laser beam <NUM> in a desired manner and, at a workpiece-side end (the lower end in the depicted orientation in which the laser acts from above the workpiece <NUM>), a nozzle <NUM>, namely a laser machining nozzle. The nozzle <NUM> may optionally be mounted in a manner that its z position can be varied relative to the laser head body <NUM> so that a nozzle-outlet-to-workpiece distance an is an adjustable parameter (nozzle outlet <NUM>). In addition or as an alternative, the laser head body <NUM> or a lower portion of the laser head may have an adjustable z-position to adjust the nozzle-outlet-to-workpiece distance an.

The focal position is at a distance af from the workpiece surface, which distance af is illustrated to be greater than the nozzle-outlet-to-workpiece distance an so that the focus of the laser beam is above the nozzle outlet, i.e. within the nozzle or other part of the laser cutting head. The diameter of the nozzle outlet is denoted by dn, and the thickness of the workpiece <NUM> is denoted by t in <FIG>.

<FIG> shows a detail of a laser cutting beam with a focal position above the workpiece and the laser cutting beam thus diverging towards the workpiece and through the workpiece. In <FIG>, as well as in <FIG>, the divergence is shown somewhat exaggeratedly. The kerf <NUM> has a kerf width wk at the entry side (in the plane that corresponds to the plane of the surface facing towards the side from which the cutting beam impinges. ), and the width increases towards the lower side, because the laser cutting beam diverges. Because the method described herein is fusion cutting, and because the set-up with a transport fiber produces a beam having a comparably homogeneous intensity profile, the width wk of the kerf corresponds to the diameter db of the laser beam.

<FIG> shows two examples of workpieces <NUM> arranged next to one another. The workpieces are both cut out of a <NUM> thick steel plate, and are of identical composition. In both cases, the laser cutting beam for cutting out the respective workpiece and for making an additional cut in the respective workpiece had a power of <NUM> kW.

The workpiece <NUM> on the left, produced by the method according to the present invention, has essentially no burr along the cuts <NUM>, whereas the burr along the cuts <NUM> through and along the workpiece on the right, produced by a method according to the prior art, are substantial and visible. Also, the roughness of the cut face <NUM> of the workpiece on the left is significantly and visibly smaller than the roughness of the cut face <NUM> of the workpiece on the right that was produced conventionally.

The bent cut in the upper half of <FIG> is visibly wider in the workpiece on the left compared to the workpiece on the right, due to the approach according to the present invention.

Claim 1:
A laser fusion cutting method for cutting a metal workpiece, the method comprising the steps of providing the workpiece (<NUM>) of a metal, the workpiece having a thickness (t), of causing a laser beam from a laser beam source to impinge on the workpiece (<NUM>) while the laser beam is moved relative to the workpiece, to generate a kerf through the workpiece, and while a cutting gas is ejected from a laser machining nozzle (<NUM>) and is thereby directed onto a position of incidence of the laser beam on the workpiece, the cutting gas comprising at least <NUM> volume percent of non-reactive gas portions,
the method being characterised in that:
a focal position of the laser beam is at a distance (aε) of at least <NUM> from the workpiece (<NUM>) in a direction towards the beam source
and in that a gas pressure of the cutting gas supplied to the laser machining nozzle (<NUM>) is between <NUM> bar and <NUM> bar.