CO2 laser was invented by C.Kumar N.Patel in 1964. Ii is also called CO2 glass tube and a laser source that has high continuous output power. CO2 laser is widely applied in textile, medical, material processing, industrial manufacturing and other areas. It plays a major role in package marking, non-metal materials cutting and medical cosmetology.
In 1980s, CO2 laser technique had already become mature and in the later 20+ years, it has been used in metal cutting, different kinds of materials cutting/engraving, automobile welding, laser cladding and so on. The current industrial-use CO2 laser has 10.64μm as wavelength and the output laser light is infrared light. The photoelectric conversion rate of CO2 laser can reach 15%-25%, which is more advantageous than solid state YAG laser. The wavelength of CO2 laser decides the fact that the laser light can be absorbed by steel, colored steel, precisou metal, and many different kinds of non-metals. Its range of applied materials are much broader than that of fiber laser.
For the time being, the most important laser processing is no doubt laser metal processing. However, since fiber laser became quite heated in the domestic and oversea market, it has accounted for some of the market share that used to belong to CO2 laser cutting in metal processing. This might lead to some misunderstandings : CO2 laser is outdated and no longer useful. Well, in fact, this is totally wrong.
As the most mature and most stable laser source, CO2 laser is also very mature in the process development. Even today, many applications of CO2 laser are still found in European countries and the United States. Many natural and synthetic materials can also absorb well the CO2 laser light, providing so many opportunities for CO2 laser in material treatment and spectral analysis. The property of the CO2 laser light decides the fact that it still has unique potential of application. Below are a few common applications of the CO2 laser.
Metal material processing
Before fiber laser became popular, metal processing mainly used high power CO2 laser. But now, for cutting ultra-thick metal plates, most of the people would think about 10KW+ fiber laser. Although fiber laser cutting does replace some of the CO2 laser cutting in steel plate cutting, it doesn’t mean CO2 laser cutting will disappear. Till now, many domestic laser machine manufacturers like HANS YUEMING, BAISHENG, PENTA LASER can still provide CO2 metal laser cutting machines.
Because of its small laser spot, fiber laser is easier for cutting. But this quality becomes a weakness when it comes to laser welding. In thick metal plate welding, high power CO2 laser is more advantageous than fiber laser. Although a few years ago, people began to overcome the weakness of fiber laser, it still can not outperform CO2 laser.
Material surface treatment
CO2 laser can be used on surface treatment, which refers to laser cladding. Although nowadays laser cladding can adopt semiconductor laser, CO2 laser dominated the laser cladding application before the advent of high power semiconductor laser. Laser cladding is widely used in molding, hardware, mining machinery, aerospace, marine equipment and other industrial areas. Comparing with semiconductor laser, CO2 laser is more advantageous in price.
Textile processing
In metal processing, CO2 laser is facing the challenges from fiber laser and semiconductor laser. Therefore, in the future, the major applications of CO2 laser would probably depend on non-metal materials like glass, ceramics, fabric, leather, wood, plastic, polymer and so on.
Custom application in special areas
The light quality of CO2 laser provides big possibility of custom application in special areas, such as polymer, plastic and ceramics processing. CO2 laser can perform high speed cutting on ABS, PMMA, PP and other polymers.
Medical application
In the 1990s, high energy pulsed medical equipment that uses ultra-pulse CO2 laser was invented and became quite popular. Laser cosmetology becomes especially popular and has a very bright future.
CO2 laser cooling
CO2 laser uses gas (CO2) as a medium. No matter whether it is RF metal cavity design or glass tube design, the inner component is very sensitive to the heat. Therefore, high precision cooling is very necessary to protect the CO2 laser machine and maintain its lifespan.
S&A Teyu has been dedicated to developing and manufacturing laser cooling equipment for 19 years. In domestic CO2 laser cooling market, S&A Teyu accounts for the bigger share and has the most experience in this area.
CW-5200T was a newly developed energy efficient portable laser water chiller from S&A Teyu. It features ±0.3°C temperature stability and dual frequency compatible in 220V 50HZ and 220V 60HZ. It is very ideal for cooling small-medium power CO2 laser machine. Find out more about this chiller at https://www.chillermanual.net/sealed-co2-laser-tube-water-chiller-220v-50-60hz_p234.html
