Air laser cutting and nitrogen laser cutting are nothing uncommon in cutting stainless steel sheet plate for higher precision requirement, in comparison with the traditional plasma cutting technology. Besides, for cutting small-size stainless steel sheet plate, laser cutting technology is always selected over plasma cutting for higher efficiency and better accuracy. Laser cutting can run indefinitely without error with CNC control under normal operation. Hence, it will be helpful making the right purchasing decision to know the difference between air laser cutting and nitrogen laser cutting.
Air Laser Cutting
Air laser cutting, due to its relatively low cutting cost, enjoys popularity in the processing field. It takes only one air compressor and the power consumption to get it work. However, this cutting technology also has its own disadvantages. First, the inevitable furs, which can be increasingly remarkable as the thickness of stainless steel sheet plate grows. Second, the edges will become yellow or black. If requirements on smooth edge and edge color are not high, air laser cutting is an optional consideration. Below is the photo of the same stainless steel cutting plate (6mm) operated by nitrogen (left) and air laser cutting (right) respectively.
Nitrogen Laser Cutting
With the inert quality of nitrogen, the stainless steel sheet plate cut can keep its metallic color without any change before and after cutting. As the nitrogen will not react with the metal cut, the edge quality is high with clean cutting.
However, nitrogen is costly, especially when stainless steel sheet plate gets thicker as more power is required. Besides, nitrogen itself is more expensive than other gases assisted for laser cutting, i.e., oxygen and air. From this angle point of view, nitrogen laser cutting is more recommended for cutting stainless steel sheet plate sheet below 15mm.
Where to Buy Stainless Steel Sheet Plate by Laser Cutting?
At CIVMATS, we have huge stock of stainless steel sheet plates from famous brands like TISCO, ZPSS, JISCO, BAOSTEEL, ZSESS, DELONG, TSINGSHAN etc. and we also introduce laser cutting machine. For export quality, we always use nitrogen laser cutting for our customers. Meanwhile, for thick plates with furs, we can remove them to get perfect quality for our customers. Below are our work of stainless steel small plates cut by nitrogen laser cutting with clean edges and smooth finish.
