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Cold Formed CO2 Laser Nozzles And Mirror Blanks

By utilising our expertise in cold-forming Copper, Dawson Shanahan laser nozzles give a very significant improvement in cut quality over conventional machined nozzles. Feed rates can be increased by up to 10% and still achieve improved cut quality. These advantages are a direct result of the mirror finish and curved internal nozzle profile.

Generally speaking, machined nozzles have an internal surface finish of around 1µm. Our cold-formed nozzles have a surface finish of around 0.1µm. This gives better, less turbulent gas flow resulting in the improved cut quality and speed demonstrated in the photographs on the right.

There is a very marked improvement in cut quality and this together with increased feed rate offers the end user a significant cost saving through reduced machining time and reduced clean-up.

An added benefit of having a mirror finish in the bore is that if the nozzle is misaligned and 'clipping' of the laser beam occurs then there will be no damage to the nozzle. This contrasts with machined nozzles where a significant amount of damage can occur when misaligned in this way.

YAG LASER NOZZLES

YAG laser technology and optical fibre delivery systems are creating new laser application areas. As a result the laser's significance as a flexible tool for manufacturing is growing rapidly.

YAG laser technology has a price advantage over more complex five-axis CO2 laser based gantry systems for three-dimensional part cutting.

YAG nozzles are traditionally very difficult and expensive to manufacture due to the very long tapered bore.

After extensive R&D, Dawson Shanahan produces COLD FORMED YAG nozzles up to 75mm long and we are confident that this length can be increased with further development.

CO2/YAG Cold Formed Laser Nozzles Benefits

LASER MIRROR BLANKS

Laser Mirror Blanks also benefit from manufacturing by cold forming. Lower cost is achieved as well as uniform grain size, and most importantly the deformation in the process reduces the problems caused by porous or defective flaws in the parent material.

The case illustrated below is an example of a type of cold forming known as Backward Extrusion. Other types of cold forming are: Forward Extrusion and Freeflow.