Laser cutting has a wide range of adaptability and flexibility

Compared with other conventional processing methods, laser cutting has greater adaptability. First of all, compared with other thermal cutting methods, as a thermal cutting process, other methods cannot act on a very small area like a laser beam, resulting in a wide incision, a large heat-affected zone and obvious workpiece deformation. Lasers can cut non-metals, while other thermal cutting methods cannot.　　 (1) Oxygen-combustible material (such as acetylene) cutting. This method is mainly used for cutting low-carbon steel. Because of its large heat input and low cutting speed, it is rarely used to cut materials with precise dimensions below 20 mm.　　 (2) Plasma cutting. The cutting speed is obviously faster than oxyacetylene cutting, but the cutting quality is poor. The top of the cutting edge is rounded and the cutting edge is obviously wavy. It is also necessary to prevent ultraviolet radiation generated by the arc. It is slightly better than laser cutting in that it is suitable for cutting thicker steel plates and aluminum alloys with high beam reflectivity.　　 (3) Die punching. The die-punching method for mass production of parts has low cost and short production cycle. However, it has poor adaptability to design changes. New molds require a long time to design, and the cost is high. For medium and small-scale production, the characteristics of laser cutting will be fully demonstrated. In addition, laser program-controlled cutting facilitates close arrangement of workpieces and saves materials, while die punching requires material to be reserved around each workpiece.　　 (4) Complicated parts are punched in sections. Under normal circumstances, punching machines often have to cut workpieces that are much larger than the size of the die. Some workpieces are also very complex, which results in many small shell-shaped edges on the cutting edge, which requires a second preparatory machining and repair. In addition, the punch will form a much wider cut than laser cutting, resulting in a large amount of iron filings.　　 (5) Sawing. The speed of cutting thin metal is obviously slower than laser cutting, and as a flexible non-contact, profiling cutting tool, laser can cut in any direction from any point of the material. At this point, sawing is difficult to achieve.　　 (6) Electrical machining. Generally, there are two methods of electric discharge and electrochemical machining that use electric corrosion or melting effect. They are used for fine machining of hard materials. The roughness of the incision is better, but the cutting speed is several orders of magnitude slower than the laser cutting speed.　　 (7) Water cutting. Many metal materials can be cut, but the cost is high.