Fibre Laser Cutting Of Reflective Metals

Why is a particular metal viewed as 'highly reflective', let's take a look at what we already know,
Its generally known that  Silver and Aluminium are viewed to be the most reflective metals,
there are other reflective metals, which were difficult to cut using a CO² Fibre Laser , being the metals
gold, copper, brass and bronze, however for Sheetmetal & Fabrication companies they are unlikely metals to cut.

Stainless Steel is not generally considered a reflective metal, but does have reflective properties when supplied with a mirror finish. This can cause it to be a problem for Fibre Laser cutting, so is usually supplied plastic coated on one side to lower the reflection.

Generally there has always been a possibility of some molten metal produced during the Laser cutting that might
be a  reflective,  and therefore possibly a source of a damaging reflective beam.

Can reflective metals be Laser Cut

The answer is yes, generally problems associated with Laser cutting of reflective materials was associated with
the CO2 Lasers, their beam delivery via delicate lenses, mirrors and gasses.

The modern Fiber Laser is now capable of cutting reflective materials without fear of 'back reflections', plus
Fiber Lasers now have 'back reflection' detectors within the laser head that monitor reflection levels,
they automatically shutdown the Fibre Laser, if they detect that too much 'back reflection' is occurring.