Fiber laser micro-cutting of stainless steel sheets

The authors report on laser micro-cutting results for stainless steel foils with the aid of a 100 W fiber laser. This novel laser source combines a high output power in relation to conventional laser sources for micro-processing applications with an excellent beam quality (M-2=1.1). Different material thicknesses were evaluated (100 mu m to 300 mu m). Processing was carried out with cw operation of the laser source, and with nitrogen and oxygen as assisting gases. Besides the high processing rate of oxygen assisted cutting, a better cutting performance in terms of a lower kerf width was obtained.