JPH11774A - Laser water jet composite cutting method and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a cutting method capable of cutting even a thick plate at high speed and free from a fire or burning by melting an object to be cut through the irradiation of a laser beam and jetting high pressure water to the fusion zone to bow off and remove the fused material. SOLUTION: The high pressure water to be used desirably contains abrasives for grinding the object to be cut. The laser head 2 is set vertically to the object 1. The laser beam from a laser generator 4 through an optical fiber is converged with a lens 2a on a cutting position to be fused. The water jet head 3 is set in the rear side in the cutting direction of the laser head 2 and vertically to the object 1, immediately blowing off the fused part to facilitate cutting. With the object 1 vertically irradiated with the laser beam, fusion efficiency is maximized, increasing cutting capacity. The converging area is about 1 mm in diameter for example. The laser beam to be used is one that is unabsorbent in water, e.g. a YAG laser beam.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a combined laser / water jet cutting method and apparatus for melting an object to be cut with a laser and removing the melted portion with high-pressure water for cutting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Metal materials, ceramics such as stones, FRs
Laser cutting and water jet cutting are used for cutting a wide range of materials such as P (fiber reinforced plastic) materials. In the laser cutting, a laser beam is used to heat and melt an irradiated portion, and the melted portion is blown off with a gas jet (for example, oxygen, nitrogen, air, or the like) to perform separation cutting. Water jet cutting, on the other hand, blows and cuts the part that has been jetted by the kinetic energy of water jetted at a high pressure.There are cases where only water is jetted and cases where abrasives are mixed into water, and the latter case. In addition, the polishing action is added to the kinetic energy, and the cutting ability is increased.

[0003]

The cutting speed of laser cutting is high, but the maximum cutting thickness is limited by the laser output of the laser generator. In the case of frequently used carbon steel, etc., oxygen is used as a gas jet and the cutting ability is increased by utilizing the oxidation reaction.However, since oxygen is used, this oxygen may catch fire, and the use environment is restricted. Sometimes. Further, there is a risk of burning when cutting the FRP material.

In the case of water jet cutting using only water, the cut plate thickness is limited to a small one. When an abrasive is mixed, it is possible to cut even a thick plate, but there is a case where the use is restricted because the abrasive is scattered and pollutes the environment. There is also a restriction on the cutting start position. For example, in the case of a flat plate, cutting can be performed from the periphery to the center side, but cutting cannot be started from a place without an end such as the center. In this case, a hole or the like is opened in advance at the cutting start position, and cutting is started from here. Further, the price of a nozzle for jetting a water jet is extremely expensive (for example, several million yen), and when an abrasive is used, it may be extremely worn and may not be economically usable.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cutting method and apparatus which can cut a thick plate at a high speed and do not cause fire or burning.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, an object to be cut is irradiated with a laser beam to be melted, and the melted portion is removed by spraying high-pressure water. Disconnect.

[0007] The cut portion is irradiated with laser light to be melted, and the cut portion is cut by blowing off the melted portion with a water jet. Since the kinetic energy of the high-pressure water is higher and the high-pressure water itself has a cutting ability as compared with the conventional method of blowing off the molten portion with the gas, the cutting ability is increased, and a thicker plate can be cut. There is no danger of fire because no oxygen gas is used. Furthermore, even if it is melted by a laser beam, high-pressure water is jetted, so there is no danger of burning when used for cutting FRP. Also, the cutting speed can be cut at a high speed as in the conventional laser cutting.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the high-pressure water contains an abrasive for abrading an object to be cut.

The use of abrasives increases the cutting ability with high-pressure water, thereby increasing the ability to blow off the laser beam melted portion. As a result, the cutting ability of the cutting method using laser light and water jet increases. It is possible to cut even thick plates. It can be used in an environment where there is no problem even if the abrasive scatters.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a laser head which focuses a laser beam on an object to be cut and melts the water, and a water which is provided rearward in the cutting direction of the laser head and injects high-pressure water to remove a melted portion. A jet head.

A laser head irradiates the object to be cut with laser light to melt it, and the melted portion is blown off by blowing high-pressure water from a water jet head attached to the rear side of the laser head to cut. The kinetic energy of the high-pressure water is greater than the conventional method of blowing off the molten part with gas, and the high-pressure water itself has the cutting ability, so the cutting ability increases,
Thicker plates can be cut. There is no danger of fire because no oxygen gas is used. Furthermore, even if it is melted by a laser beam, high-pressure water is jetted, so there is no danger of burning when used for cutting FRP. Also, the cutting speed can be cut at a high speed as in the conventional laser cutting.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the high-pressure water contains an abrasive for abrading an object to be cut.

[0013] Since the cutting ability by high-pressure water is increased by using the abrasive, the ability to blow off the melted portion of the laser light is increased. As a result, the cutting ability of the cutting method using the laser light and the water jet is increased. It is possible to cut even thick plates. It can be used in an environment where there is no problem even if the abrasive scatters.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
This will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the combined laser / waterjet cutting apparatus of the present embodiment. The processing apparatus 10 is an apparatus that sets the object 1 to be cut, moves the laser head 2 and the water jet head 3 that are integrally connected, and cuts into a desired shape. The laser generator 4 is a device that generates a laser beam with an output corresponding to the thickness of the object 1 to be cut and sends it to the laser head 2. The high-pressure water supply unit 5 is a device that supplies high-pressure water to the water jet head 3. The abrasive supply unit 6 is a device for supplying an abrasive, and is mixed with high-pressure water in the water jet head 3. The operation panel 11 is a laser generator 4,
The cutting target 1 is cut by controlling the high-pressure water supply unit 5, the abrasive supply unit 6, and the processing device 10.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a laser head and a water jet head. The laser head 2 is set perpendicular to the cutting target 1. Optical fiber 7 from laser generator 4
Is condensed at the cutting position by the lens 2a and melted. When the object to be cut 1 is vertically irradiated with laser light, the melting efficiency is maximized and the cutting ability is increased. The focusing area is, for example, about 1 mm in diameter. The laser light used has a property that is not absorbed by water, and for example, a YAG laser light is used. The cutting target 1 is a metal material, a ceramic material such as stone, an FRP material, or a composite thereof, for example, reinforced concrete.

The water jet head 3 is set perpendicular to the cutting object 1 behind the laser head 2 in the cutting direction. Thereby, the molten portion can be immediately blown off and cut. Further, by injecting high-pressure water perpendicularly to the cutting target 1, the molten portion can be blown off most efficiently. The high-pressure water is sprayed from the nozzle 3a at the tip, and the spray area is, for example, about 0.3 mm in diameter. The water head 3 is supplied with high-pressure water from a high-pressure water supply unit 5 through a pipe 8. Normally, cutting is performed using only high-pressure water.
The abrasive is supplied through the nozzle and mixed with high-pressure water to perform cutting. The abrasive is used when there is no problem even if the abrasive scatters at the cutting work place.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained by blowing and cutting the molten portion melted by the laser beam with high-pressure water. The cutting ability is increased as compared with a conventional apparatus that combines laser light and gas. The cutting speed is as high as the conventional laser cutting. By using high-pressure water, there is no danger of fire or explosion when using oxygen. Further, since combustion can be suppressed by high-pressure water, FRP can be cut. In water jet cutting, cutting only with high-pressure water can cut only a thin steel plate, but in the present invention, it can cut even a thick steel plate. In waterjet cutting, it is necessary to start cutting from a position where an end portion or a start hole is opened, but in the present invention, there is no such restriction and cutting can be started from anywhere. The cutting ability is further increased by mixing the abrasive with the high-pressure water. When an abrasive is not used, the tip nozzle of the water jet head can be used for a long time, and economical cutting can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a laser head and a water jet head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 object to be cut 2 laser head 2a lens 3 water jet head 3a nozzle 4 laser generator 5 high-pressure water supply unit 6 abrasive supply unit 7 optical fiber 8,9 pipe 10 processing device 11 operation panel

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroto Yamaoka 1st Shin-Nakahara-cho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Ishikawashima-Harima Heavy Industries, Ltd. 1 Haramachi Ishi Kawashima Harima Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A laser / waterjet combined cutting method, comprising: irradiating a cutting object with a laser beam to melt it; and cutting the melted portion by jetting high-pressure water to remove the melted portion. 2. The laser-waterjet combined cutting method according to claim 1, wherein the high-pressure water contains an abrasive which wears the object to be cut. 3. A laser head that focuses and melts a laser beam on an object to be cut and a water jet head that is provided behind the laser head in a cutting direction and jets high-pressure water to remove a melted portion. A combined laser / waterjet cutting device, comprising: 4. The combined laser / water jet cutting apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the high-pressure water contains an abrasive which wears the object to be cut.