Theoretical and experimental aspects of laser cutting using direct diode laser source based on multi-wavelength multiplexing

Abstract In this paper, a theoretical laser cuttingmodel based on absorption calculations and the characteristics of multi-wavelength laser beam is introduced to predict the cutting performance of a direct diode laser source (2 kW output power from an optical fiber with a 105 μm core diameter and a numerical apertureof 0.2). Cutting experiments are performed on stainless steel sheets (304) with thicknesses ranging from 1 mm to 10 mm. When comparing with the relevant industrial cutting results using fiber lasers, this diode laser source can obtain a greater speed at the thickness of samples above 3 mm. The experimental results have a good agreement with the theoretically predicted results and demonstrate the cutting ability of the diode laser source of such power class and brightness class for use in industrial laser cuttingapplications.