What is a CO2(carbon dioxide) laser, or gas laser

CO2 laser is a molecular laser, mainly using CO2 gas molecules, the wavelength is generally 10.6um, a thermal laser in the infrared band.

Common CO2 lasers are divided into glass tube CO2 lasers and metal RF tube CO2 lasers
Glass tube CO2 laser is usually made of hard glass material, generally has a three-layer structure, divided into three layers of cavity, the innermost layer is the discharge tube, the middle is the water-cooled layer, the outermost layer is the gas storage layer, the length of the discharge tube has a certain relationship with the power, generally speaking, the output power is greater, the longer the discharge tube is needed, that is, the discharge tube is proportional to the power. The discharge tube has small holes at both ends to communicate with the storage pipe. When working, CO2 gas can be circulated in the discharge tube and the storage pipe, so that the gas can be exchanged at the pole time.

The metal RF tube CO2 laser uses a sealed CO2 laser, the so-called sealed CO2 laser, refers to the laser through the light hole (that is, the formation of plasma and the production of laser) and the working gas save sealed in the same tube, it is different from the higher output power of the flow gas laser system, the latter requires an additional gas tank, air pump and filter. Synrad’s laser is the first to use an all-metal structure. Its laser tube and electrode are formed by aluminum and then welded, this structural design has low manufacturing cost, long-term stability and reliability, is also the earliest metal tube laser.

CO2 laser marking machine commonly used laser tube has glass tube and metal RF tube, the difference between the two is:

1, metal RF tube laser size is small, compact, glass tube volume is relatively long.

2, service life: CO2 radio frequency tube laser marking machine life can reach 45,000 hours or more, generally can be used for 6 years, inflation can be reused, no need to replace; The glass tube marking machine is only about 2500 hours, generally half a year glass tube needs to be replaced frequently, can not be reused, RF tube can be reused

3, cooling method: CO2 RF tube excitation within 100 watts can use air cooling, CO2 glass tube excitation need to use water cooling.

4, spot size (beam) : CO2 RF tube laser marking machine is 0.07mm, fine spot, more than 3 times more fine than glass tube, high accuracy, small thermal diffusion area, can carve/cut very fine works;

CO2 glass tube laser marking machine is 0.25mm thick spot, poor accuracy, unstable light (uneven light intensity, sometimes no light), heat diffusion area is large, cutting edge melting, black obvious, engraving accuracy is relatively poor. The actual sample will tell you what kind of results you can accept;

5, stability: the RF tube is a fully sealed metal tube, the use of 30 volts of low-voltage power supply, which is directly to avoid the use of high-voltage power caused by some of the drawbacks; Because the domestic glass tube laser cutting machine uses a high-voltage power supply of 10,000 volts or even higher, in addition to instability, there is a certain risk, long-term work makes the power supply easy to age, and has great interference to the control system, such as improper operation is easy to burn the motherboard, more susceptible to the influence of voltage and damage its normal function. As an aside, do not touch the laser tube or line with your hand when the CO2 glass tube laser is shining.

6, price: the same power of the RF tube laser is many times more expensive than the glass tube laser, but in fact to achieve the same effect, the RF tube power requirements are much smaller than the glass tube, but even so, the RF tube machine is still much more expensive than the glass tube machine. Therefore, when purchasing a machine, you should choose which one to use according to your actual needs.

First, the characteristics of metal tube RF laser:

1, the current production and scale there are three: Germany rofin, coherent and synrad for the world today as the world’s leading closed metal co2 laser providers.

2, RF excited co2 laser is a revolution in laser design and production, small size and powerful. Using switching power supply direct current power supply, without dangerous high voltage.

3, the metal sealing completely maintenance-free design, laser gas can continuously work for more than 20,000 hours, is a durable, reliable industrial laser source. It can be easily installed on the workbench or small machining machine, and has stronger processing capacity than the traditional gas flow laser. After changing the gas, it can be reused for at least 20,000 hours, and the overall life is more than 60,000 hours.

4, the laser spot mode of good quality, high peak power, pulse rising edge time is short, pulse can be modulate frequency is high, for material processing is crucial to the laser performance, effectively improve the efficiency and accuracy of material processing, spot can generally do the basic mode output, can be expanded after focusing, get a very small spot, better use in processing.

5, the laser is very stable, long-term work laser energy is consistent, to ensure precision processing, if every laser equipment manufacturers and large family of lasers, are the laser optical path part of the seal, then the RF laser the most front output mirror will never be damaged, so that the laser can work in a poor environment do not have to worry about it will go wrong. However, this type of laser is relatively expensive.

Second, the characteristics of co2 sealed glass tube laser.

1, the use of glass for its working shell, heat or vibration, easy to break or burst, there is a safety hazard in the work.

2, this is a traditional gas flow laser, large volume, high energy consumption, function is not ideal, need to use high-voltage power supply, under certain conditions, high pressure will spark and poor contact, increase the occurrence of unhealthy.

3, short life, theoretical life is 1000 hours, and the laser energy is declining every day, it is difficult to ensure the consistency of product processing, can not be changed, 1000 hours of domestic demand to replace the laser tube. Replacing the laser tube is very frequent and troublesome, resulting in some production orders can not be delivered on time.

4, the laser mode quality is not as good as the metal laser tube, the peak power is not high, and the pulse modulated frequency is low, which is crucial for the laser performance of material processing, and it is not as good as the metal laser tube, which can not effectively improve the efficiency and accuracy of material processing.

5, the laser power is unstable, the actual output value and the theoretical value error is large. We need to increase the current every day. Precision machining is not possible.

6, the ambient temperature and humidity have a large impact on the laser tube, most of the laser cutting machine, laser marking machine manufacturers do not use the compressor chiller like the large family of laser, most of the other use uncooled water pump and bucket type simple chiller, increase the loss of laser tube power. The price is relatively low.