Cutting kerf is the width of a cut. It is the result of material removal during the cutting process.<\/p>\n
Almost all cutting mechanisms leave a cutting kerf, e.g. laser cutting, plasma cutting and other thermal cutting methods. But also mechanical cutting processes like sawing.<\/p>\n
There are also cutting methods that lead to no loss of material. Some examples are cutting with scissors and shearing<\/a>. However, the automated nature of the aforementioned thermal cutting processes makes them widely used in engineering. Furthermore, there are scenarios where a cutting kerf is actually desirable.<\/p>\n Each cutting process produces a cut with a different width. So this article brings out the differences of the following methods:<\/p>\n Laser cutting<\/a>, as it is obvious from the name, is a cutting technique in which a laser is used to cut through a material. The laser finds a lot of use because of its precision. It comes largely down to the laser’s cutting kerf.<\/p>\n Laser cutting produces a kerf of around 0.3 mm<\/strong>. This value is the smallest comparing it to the other techniques in this article. Hence, it can be said that out of laser cutting, plasma cutting, waterjet and flame cutting technique, the laser cutting technique is the most accurate one.<\/p>\n In case of laser cutting, there are two factors that decide the width of the cutting kerf. These factors are beam width and material. The width of the beam is established by the focal length set out by the laser lens.<\/p>\n Although it is possible to cut plastics with laser cutting, the kerf width is larger there. During the cooling process, plastics shrink and the gap widens.<\/p>\n One of the main limitations of a plasma cutting service<\/a> is its limitation to conductive materials only. Hence, plasma can only be used on copper and its alloys<\/a>, stainless steel, iron etc. and not on insulating materials such as plastic, wood etc.<\/p>\n Using the plasma cutting technique, the smallest value of kerf that can be obtained is 3.8 mm<\/strong>. Hence, it is less accurate than laser cutting.<\/p>\n Note that the value of kerf is not constant for a given process. Rather a number of factors govern it and are capable of altering it.<\/p>\n More power will be required to cut thick materials. Thus, you need to use a larger nozzle and a higher electrical current. This, in turn, results in a larger cut width.<\/p>\n \n
Laser Cutting Kerf<\/h2>\n
Plasma Cutting Kerf<\/h2>\n
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