Methodical qualification of scanner systems for remote laser cutting

Remote laser ablation cutting offers many advantages compared to conventional laser beam fusion cutting, especially for thin metal sheets. Recent investigations show, that the focal position, the scanning velocity, the laser beam intensity and the laser power are the main influencing parameter concerning the cutting quality and cycle time as well as the maximum cuttable sheet thickness. Scanners have primarily been developed for welding applications. Therefore, it must be checked in each individual case, to what extent they can fulfil the requirements of the remote laser cutting process. In this article several measurement methods are introduced, which can be used to determine the focus shift, the scanning velocities, the contour accuracy and the laser power absorbed by the scanner internal components. Experimental results are presented and used to evaluate the efficiency of each measurement method.