The laser has the characteristics of monochromatic, coherent, and parallel, which is especially suitable for material processing. The traditional pipe cutting methods in my country mainly rely on manual sawing, saw cutting, roll extrusion, grinding wheel cutting, gas welding cutting, etc. These processing methods have the disadvantages of low cutting efficiency and high labor intensity. Laser cutting is widely used in industrial fields due to its fast processing efficiency and good processing effect. With the development of technology and industry, pipeline parts have been widely used in industrial sectors such as aircraft manufacturing, construction machinery, transportation, petrochemicals, and agricultural and animal husbandry machinery. In actual production, pipes have the advantages of low production cost, good processability, light weight of structural parts, and material saving. Therefore, pipe cutting plays an important role in the industrial field. Due to the different shapes, sizes and uses of the pipes, and the cutting of pipes is restricted by the processing quality, it is very important to choose reasonable processing equipment, processing methods and technological measures. There are many inconveniences in cutting pipe fittings. Although the traditional cutting method can also achieve the application effect, the processing efficiency is low and the processing effect is poor. Therefore, the combination of laser cutting technology and pipe cutting technology will make the field of pipe cutting have broader development prospects.
Current status and future development of laser cutting pipes
Laser cutting pipe processing has the advantages of narrow cutting width, small heat-affected area, fast cutting speed, good flexibility, smooth cutting, and no tool wear. With the emergence and development of CNC laser pipe cutting machines, the development of various free-form surface and space curve processing technologies can show its unique side. When laser cutting pipes, not only is the laser spot required to move in three-dimensional space relative to the workpiece, but also the laser optical axis is required to always be perpendicular to the surface of the pipe being cut during the entire process. For the self-focusing CNC fiber laser cutting head, the nozzle can automatically track the surface of the workpiece through the automatic measurement and control system. Production practice shows that the key to pipe cutting is to eliminate cutting quality defects, so as to meet the processing requirements of pipes. When perforating, grooving, trimming or undercutting complex pipes, laser cutting is not only faster than traditional processing methods, but also can greatly ensure the processing quality.
Overview of laser cutting pipe
In the process of processing, we must first ensure the cutting of the tube to obtain the required tube blank length. The traditional pipe cutting method in my country is difficult to meet the needs of large-scale production. Moreover, the quality of the cut section of the pipes processed by these traditional processing methods is generally poor, and some even produce processing defects such as deformation and collapse. In addition to cutting, some pipes also need other forms of processing, such as: decorative lamp cutting patterns, spiral, sine, cosine line cutting, scribing, etc. If traditional processing methods are used in these forms of pipe processing, not only the efficiency is low, but also it is difficult to meet the ideal processing requirements, and some even cannot be processed.
Advantages of laser cutting pipe
The cutting width of the laser cutting tube (including tangent, bevel, shape cutting, etc.) is generally 0.1-0.3mm. The cutting position and temperature are controllable, which is more conducive to the automation and intelligence of production. Compared with traditional processing methods, the cutting efficiency can be increased by 8-20 times, and the processing cost can be reduced by 70%-90%, which can save
The material loss is 15%-30%, the laser cutting noise is small, and the impact on the environment is also small. Traditional processing methods require multiple consecutive processes to complete the processing of parts, which can be achieved by laser cutting on the same equipment. With the continuous improvement of equipment performance and continuous improvement of processing technology, it is possible to use laser to perform high-quality cutting of pipes.
The future development trend of laser cutting pipe
Laser cutting adopts a non-contact processing method, which will not exert any pressure on the pipe wall during the whole process, so it will not cause deformation or collapse of the outer surface of the pipe. At the same time, when laser cutting pipes, due to the complex thermal field and difficult cooling, it is easy to block the cutting slag, which increases the cutting difficulty. Therefore, in-depth research on these aspects should be strengthened.
Laser cutting requires a large degree of freedom for the material, shape, size, and processing environment of the pipe. Its space control (change beam direction, rotation, scanning, etc.) and time control (open, close, pulse interval) are very good and easy to control. Due to the high precision of laser cutting and few burrs, the time required for subsequent processing is greatly reduced. When changing the diameter or shape of the pipe, you only need to modify the program. Therefore, the development of pipe cutting software has very important value. Laser cutting system and computer numerical control technology can form an efficient automation equipment, opening up a new way for high-quality, high-efficiency, and low-cost processing.
In order to improve the efficiency of cutting pipes, an effective production mode is an automatic production line that uses laser cutting pipes. How to use the automatic pipe cutting production line for laser cutting? First, in the automatic pipe cutting production line, the focused laser beam must run synchronously with the pipe cutting; secondly, the focused laser focus can be rotated for one cycle relative to the pipe being cut, the axis of the laser beam Always intersect with the axis of the pipe, the laser beam of the pipe cutting production line moves with the pipe being cut. These synchronous movements must be controlled by a special control system, so it is of great significance to study the automated production line of laser cutting tubes.
