Titanium

Titanium and titanium alloys are used in industry chiefly because of their high degree of resistance to corrosion, their ideal strength-weight relationship, and good physical compatibility. This leads to special applications in the construction of chemical apparatus, in aerospace technology, and in medical technology.

Mechanical processing is usually possible only at very low feed rates, and causes heavy wear on tools. Here, laser-beam cutting provides an excellent alternative, allowing cross-sections of up to approx. 2mm to be cut.

Compared with cutting with a cw laser beam, processing with a pulsed laser beam is characterized a greatly reduced warming zone, and by thus less buckling and alteration of the material. Because of the strong affinity of titanium for oxygen and nitrogen, processing is usually carried out using an inert gas as the cutting gas.