Introduction to Thick Plate Cutting Technology: Laser-Flame Hybrid

Leads the Upgrade of Extra-Thick Plate Processing

Thick and extra-thick plates are widely used in engineering machinery, bridges, marine engineering, and heavy structural component manufacturing. Their cutting quality directly affects the structural performance of the entire machine. Traditional flame cutting is inefficient and low-precision, plasma cutting has wide kerfs and large heat-affected zones, while single laser cutting of thick plates is prone to blowholes and slag accumulation, limiting processing thickness and stability. The industry is in urgent need of a new thick plate cutting process that integrates high efficiency, high precision, and low cost.

Laser-Flame Hybrid: The New Mainstream Technology for Thick Plate Cutting

DMK's laser-flame hybrid cutting solution combines the high energy density of lasers with the strong slag cleaning capability of flames, solving two major challenges in thick plate processing: "difficult initial hole formation" and "heat accumulation in holes". For example, perforation of 100mm carbon steel takes only about 8 seconds with the hybrid method, while traditional flame cutting requires long preheating time, achieving a significant efficiency improvement.

The hybrid mode can cut extra-thick plates up to 200mm, far exceeding the 60mm limit of conventional laser cutting, realizing full-range processing capability from thin plates to extra-thick plates.

Significant Improvement in Thick Plate Cutting Efficiency

Equipped with the DMK BLTFX0 cutting head and 9100 control system, the solution maintains high cutting speed across the thickness range of 20–160mm. Compared with competitors' hybrid cutting and traditional flame methods, the speed is generally increased by 30%–100%. For instance:

• 20mm carbon steel: 1.4 m/min
• 60mm carbon steel: 0.38 m/min

Both are higher than the processing speeds of traditional equipment. The system offers functions such as automatic ignition, automatic perforation slag removal, and intelligent parameter adjustment, reducing manual intervention and achieving more stable processing quality and faster cutting rhythm.

Optimal Balance Between Thick Plate Cutting Quality and Precision

To address common issues in thick plate cutting such as deformation, perpendicularity deviation, and blowholes, the  system is equipped with multiple intelligent compensation functions:

• Automatic perpendicularity measurement and compensation to ensure flat cutting sections
• Automatic control of perforation slag removal to avoid damage caused by heat accumulation in holes
• Optimization of cutting trajectories to reduce corner burning and slag adhesion

In terms of bevel cutting, the system supports ±45° V, X, Y, and K bevel processing, enabling one-time bevel forming. This significantly reduces pre-welding preparation processes and improves the assembly efficiency of structural components.

Scanning and Material Utilization Optimization in Thick Plate Processing

Thick plate leftover materials have complex shapes, making manual measurement difficult and utilization rate low. DMK's Sky Eye leftover material scanning technology can automatically identify the contours of irregular leftover materials. Combined with the one-click automatic nesting function, it increases the leftover material utilization rate by more than 175%, effectively reducing material costs.

In secondary bevel processing, the scanning system can automatically perform rough positioning, precise scanning, and dimensional compensation, achieving a positioning accuracy of ±0.3mm. This significantly improves the bevel quality of thick plate structural components and the precision of welding joints.

Balance Between Cost and Efficiency in Thick Plate Cutting

DMK's hybrid cutting solution can simultaneously meet the needs of high-speed air cutting of medium and thin plates and high-quality processing of thick/extra-thick plates. One set of equipment replaces multiple processes and machines, reducing equipment investment and maintenance costs. Additionally:

• Improved cutting efficiency
• Reduced manual intervention
• Increased plate utilization rate
• Better section quality and reduced secondary processing

These advantages collectively lower the overall cost of the entire processing chain.

DMK's laser-flame hybrid cutting technology effectively solves the problems of "low efficiency, poor precision, easy blowholes, and large deformation" in traditional thick plate processing, realizing efficient and stable cutting of materials with thicknesses ranging from 1 to 200mm. With advantages such as intelligent compensation, rapid perforation, high-quality beveling, and high-utilization nesting, this solution has become the core technical trend in the field of thick and extra-thick plate processing.