Material cutting is currently the segment with the largest share of laser applications in China, most of which are laser cutting applications of medium and high-power metal materials. Of course, this includes stainless steel, carbon steel, copper, aluminum and other daily major metals, among which stainless steel and carbon steel account for the largest proportion.
1. Sheet Metal Cutting to Laser Tube Cutting
The domestic development of laser metal cutting is in full swing, from YAG laser, CO2 laser to fiber laser, and from 500 watts to 20,000 watts cutting equipment, it only takes more than ten years. Nowadays, the development of domestic laser cutting equipment is relatively mature, and its power has basically solved most of the application needs. There are already more than 600 companies producing related equipment for plane cutting of metal sheets, and the market has even reached a market where competition is fierce and prices are high.
Two-dimensional plate cutting has entered an era of small profits, forcing many laser cutting equipment companies to find another way out, looking for new growth points, new application scenarios, and greater profit margins. At this time, the wave of metal laser cutting happened to spread to the field of metal pipe cutting.
In fact, laser tube cutting is not new. Several domestic companies have launched similar products many years ago. However, at that time, there were few applications for tube cutting, the equipment was expensive, and it was not widely promoted. In the past, CO2 laser was used for cutting, but now fiber laser cutting is common. When the growth of flat plate cutting machines was hindered, competition increased, and the era of small profits entered the era, many companies turned to pipe cutting machines. There are still certain profits, and companies are willing to do it. Even many companies continue to promote new technologies and new functions in pipe cutting, including plate and pipe integrated cutting machines, three-chuck pipe cutting machines, automatic feeding and picking pipe cutting machines, etc.
2. Steel Pipes Used in Industries
Metal pipes are widely used in different industries. General pipes are often 10 meters or even 20 meters in length before leaving the factory. After being distributed to various industries, due to different application scenarios, they need to be processed into parts of different shapes and sizes to meet the needs of different industries. The three main processes for metal pipes are: cutting, bending and welding.
Steel pipes are commonly used in water supply, drainage, and liquid and gas transportation projects. Nowadays, most cold water supply systems use plastic pipes. Steel pipes are widely used in almost most industrial sectors such as electric power, engineering construction steel structures, home construction, door and window guardrails, automobiles/bicycles/motorcycles, agricultural machinery, sports facilities, etc. In recent years, the application of stainless steel pipes in bathrooms and furniture has attracted particular attention.
