Laser Cutting Thickness & Speed Chart

For users who are looking to buy laser cutting machines, first of all, you need to know the laser cutting power you need for your applications, followed by how much does a fiber laser cutting machine cost.

The main factor determining the power selection of laser cutting machine is the material and thickness of the metal.

The same thickness of metal requires different laser power for different materials.

In other words, the maximum thickness that can be cut by the same power laser cutting machine is also different.

For example, a 1000W laser cutting machine can cut 10mm thick carbon steel, but only 4mm stainless steel.

Of course, when the laser power is fixed, the thinner the plate, the faster the cutting speed.

In this case, the laser cutting thickness and speed are inversely proportional.

So, how much laser power wattage should you choose for your laser cutting machine?

The following table can give you a reference.

500W – 12,000W Laser Cutting Thickness & Speed Chart

		500W	1000W	1500	2000W	3000W	4000W	6000W	8000W	10000W	12000W
	Thick	speed m/min	speed m/min	speed m/min	speed m/min	speed m/min	speed m/min	speed m/min	speed m/min	speed m/min	speed m/min
CS (Q235A)	1	7.0–9.0	8.0–10	15–26	24–30	30–40	33–42	35–42	35–42	35–42	35–42
	2	3.0–4.5	4.0–6.5	4.5–7.0	4.7–6.0	4.8–7.5	5.2–8.0	6.0–8.0	6.2–10	7.0–12	10–13
	3	1.8–3.0	2.4–3.0	2.6–4.0	3.0–4.8	3.3–5.0	3.5–5.5	3.8–6.5	4.0–7.0	4.2–7.5	4.5–8.0
	4	1.3–1.5	2.0–2.4	2.5–3.0	2.8–3.5	3.0–4.2	3.1–4.8	3.5–5.0	3.5–5.5	3.5–5.5	3.5–5.5
	5	0.9–1.1	1.5–2.0	2.0–2.5	2.2–3.0	2.6–3.5	2.7–3.6	3.3–4.2	3.3–4.5	3.3–4.5	3.3–4.8
	6	0.6–0.9	1.4–1.6	1.6–2.2	1.8–2.6	2.3–3.2	2.5–3.4	2.8–4.0	3.0–4.2	3.0–4.2	3.0–4.2
	8		0.8–1.2	1.0–1.4	1.2–1.8	1.8–2.6	2.0–3.0	2.2–3.2	2.5–3.5	2.5–3.5	2.5–3.5
	10		0.6–1.0	0.8–1.1	1.1–1.3	1.2–2.0	1.5–2.0	1.8–2.5	2.2–2.7	2.2–2.7	2.2–2.7
	12		0.5–0.8	0.7–1.0	0.9–1.2	1.0–1.6	1.2–1.8	1.2–2.0	1.2–2.1	1.2–2.1	1.2–2.1
	14			0.5–0.7	0.7–0.8	0.9–1.4	0.9–1.2	1.5–1.8	1.7–1.9	1.7–1.9	1.7–1.9
	16				0.6-0.7	0.7–1.0	0.8–1.0	0.8–1.5	0.9–1.7	0.9–1.7	0.9–1.7
	18				0.4–0.6	0.6–0.8	0.65–0.9	0.65–0.9	0.65–0.9	0.65–0.9	0.65–0.9
	20					0.5–0.8	0.6–0.9	0.6–0.9	0.6–0.9	0.6–0.9	0.6–0.9
	22					0.4–0.6	0.5–0.8	0.5–0.8	0.5–0.8	0.5–0.8	0.5–0.8
	25						0.3–0.5	0.3–0.5	0.3–0.7	0.3–0.7	0.3–0.7
SS (201)	1	8.0–13	18–25	20–27	24–30	30–35	32–40	45–55	50–66	60–75	70–85
	2	2.4–5.0	7.0–12	8.0–13	9.0–14	13–21	16–28	20–35	30–42	40–55	50–66
	3	0.6–0.8	1.8–2.5	3.0–5.0	4.0–6.5	6.0–10	7.0–15	15–24	20–30	27–38	33–45
	4		1.2–1.3	1.5–2.4	3.0–4.5	4.0–6.0	5.0–8.0	10–16	14–21	18–25	22–32
	5		0.6–0.7	0.7–1.3	1.8-2.5	3.0–5.0	4.0–5.5	8.0–12	12–17	15–22	18–25
	6			0.7–1.0	1.2-2.0	2.0–4.0	2.5–4.5	6.0–9.0	8.0–14.0	12–15	15–21
	8				0.7-1.0	1.5–2.0	1.6–3.0	4.0–5.0	6.0–8.0	8.0–12.0	10–16
	10					0.6–0.8	0.8–1.2	1.8–2.5	3.0–5.0	6.0–8.0	8.0–12
	12					0.4–0.6	0.5–0.8	1.2–1.8	1.8–3.0	3.0–5.0	6.0–8.0
	14						0.4–0.6	0.6–0.8	1.2–1.8	1.8–3.0	3.0–5.0
	20							0.4–0.6	0.6–0.7	1.2–1.8	1.8–3.0
	25								0.5–0.6	0.6–0.7	1.2–1.8
	30								0.4–0.5	0.5–0.6	0.6–0.7
	40									0.4–0.5	0.5–0.6
Alu	1	4.0–5.5	6.0–10	10–20	15–25	25–38	35–40	45–55	50–65	60–75	70–85
	2	0.7–1.5	2.8–3.6	5.0–7.0	7–10	10–18	13–25	20–30	25–38	33–45	38–50
	3		0.7–1.5	2.0–4.0	4.0–6.0	6.5–8.0	7.0–13	13–18	20–30	25–35	30–40
	4			1.0–1.5	2.0–3.0	3.5–5.0	4.0–5.5	10–12	13–18	21–30	25–38
	5			0.7–1.0	1.2–1.8	2.5–3.5	3.0–4.5	5.0–8.0	9.0–12	13–20	15–25
	6				0.7–1.0	1.5–2.5	2.0–3.5	4.0–6.0	4.5–8.0	9.0–12	13–18
	8				0.6–0.8	0.7–1.0	0.9–1.6	2.0–3.0	4.0–6.0	4.5–8.0	9.0–12
	10					0.4–0.7	0.6–1.5	1.0–2.0	2.2–3.0	4.0–6.0	4.5–8.0
	12					0.3-0.45	0.4–0.6	0.8–1.4	1.5–2.0	2.2–3.0	4.0–6.0
	16						0.3–0.4	0.6–0.8	1.0–1.6	1.5–2.0	2.2–3.0
	20							0.5–0.7	0.7–1.0	1.0–1.6	1.5–2.0
	25								0.5–0.7	0.7–1.0	1.0–1.6
	35									0.5–0.7	0.7–1.0
Bra	1	4.0–5.5	6.0–10	8.0–13	10–16	20–35	25–30	45–55	55–65	65–75	75–85
	2	0.5–1.0	2.8–3.6	3.0–4.5	4.5–7.5	6.0–10	8.0–12	25–30	30–40	33–45	38–50
	3		0.5–1.0	1.5–2.5	2.5–4.0	4.0–6.0	5.0–6.5	12–18	20–30	25–40	30–50
	4			1.0–1.6	1.5–2.0	3.0-5.0	3.2–5.5	8.0–10	10–18	15–24	25–33
	5			0.5–0.7	0.9–1.2	1.5–2.0	2.0–3.0	4.5–6.0	7.0–9.0	9.0–15	15–24
	6				0.4–0.7	1.0–1.8	1.4–2.0	3.0–4.5	4.5–6.5	7.0–9.0	9.0–15
	8					0.5–0.7	0.7–1.0	1.6–2.2	2.4–4.0	4.5–6.5	7.0–9.0
	10						0.2–0.4	0.8–1.2	1.5–2.2	2.4–4.0	4.5–6.5
	12							0.2–0.4	0.8–1.5	1.5–2.2	2.4–4.0
	14								0.4–0.6	0.6–0.8	0.8–1.5

Note:

The following data in the laser cutting thickness & speed chart is for reference only!

Different fiber optics, material quality, gases, optical lenses, cutting patterns, etc., will affect the cutting speed and need to be adjusted according to site conditions;

The yellow part is nitrogen (pure nitrogen) cutting, the blue part is oxygen (pure oxygen) cutting;
Laser cutting in the processing of the limited material is inefficient and the effect will be reduced, cannot be continuous processing;
For the cutting of high anti-corrosive materials such as copper and aluminum, attention should be paid to adjusting the process. It is not recommended to continuously process for a long time.

Download below laser cutting thickness and speed chart

750W Laser Cutting Thickness & Speed Chart

	750w
Material	Thick(mm)	Speed（m/min）	Pressure（MPA）	Gas
Stainless steel	0.5	>21	1	N2
	1	12~18	>1.1
	2	3.6~4.2	>1.5
	3	1.2~1.8	>1.8
	4	0.78~1.2	>2.0
Carbon steel	1	12~18	1	O2
	2	4.2~5.4	0.6~0.8
	3	3~3.9	0.25~0.4
	4	1.8~2.4	0.15~0.2
	5	1.2~1.8	0.15~0.2
	6	0.9~1.2	0.10~0.15
	8	0.72~1.84	0.10~0.15