A PROCESS FOR LASER CUTTING A NON-METALLIC MATERIAL

摘要

A process for cutting a non-metallic material (1), which process comprise s the steps of: providing a laser cutting apparatus having a laser (2), a ga s nozzle (4) and an outlet orifice (6) in the gas nozzle (4); positioning th e outlet orifice (6) at a stand-off distance (15) from a surface (7) of the material (1); flowing gas (5) through the outlet orifice (6) to form a gas s tream (47); energizing the laser (2) in order to create a laser beam (3); fo cusing the laser beam (3) through the outlet orifice (6) to form a beam wais t (41) at a focus position (48) at or near the surface (7) of the material ( t); the process being characterized by; using the laser (2) to strike a plas ma jet (9) in the gas stream (47); and using the laser (2) to heat the plasm a jet (9) to cause the temperature of the plasma jet (9) to increase suffici ently to cut the material (1) with akerf (31) that has an upper zone (58) ha ving an average roughness less than 5.mu.m Ra.