Stainless steel precision tubes have low processing difficulty, strong plasticity, controllable hardness, and easy sizing. Such components are used in some industries such as robots, sanitary ware, and electrical appliances. Slotting in pipe fittings is a very common process, mainly for later component assembly, so the accuracy of the slot and the smoothness of the slot are very high. Today, I will give you a detailed introduction to the processing and slotting of stainless steel precision tubes.
When the wall thickness of the stainless steel tube is thin, the material is soft, or the hardness is reduced by the annealing process, the stamping process will be used to achieve slotting; with the help of conventional or special stamping equipment, a narrow and long slot is punched out on the tube. The stamping process has high production efficiency, convenient operation, and easy mechanization and automation. During stamping, the mold ensures the size and shape accuracy of the stamped parts and generally does not damage the surface quality of the stamped parts.
For example, when 304 stainless steel pipes for cable accessories and mop rods are grooved in a small range, stamping equipment will be used to complete it; the main features are thin tube walls, precise groove positions, and low requirements for cut smoothness, and the cost of this processing technology is also low.
When the stainless steel precision tube is hard, the tube wall is slightly thick, the tube diameter is large, or the groove position is large, the laser process will be used; the high-power density laser beam is used to irradiate the pipe material so that the workpiece is heated to the vaporization temperature, evaporated to form holes, and as the beam moves on the material, the holes continuously form a very narrow slit to complete the grooving of the steel pipe. The cutting edge is little affected by heat, the cutting edge will not be oxidized, and no workpiece will be deformed; there is no mold consumption, no need to repair the mold, and it also saves time to replace the mold, thereby saving processing costs and reducing production costs.
The quality of laser grooving can be measured by the following standards: cutting surface roughness Rz, cutting slag size, cutting edge verticality and slope u, cutting edge fillet size r, stripe back drag n, and flatness F. Six strict standards ensure the precision of stainless steel pipe grooving.
Some robot transmission arms, electrical housings, precision instrument parts, etc. will use laser equipment to complete the grooving process; such application characteristics have strict requirements on the accuracy of the groove position, smooth grooves, and the arc angle of the grooves, or the material is harder, the tube wall is thicker, and the size that is difficult to achieve with the stamping die will choose laser.
The above is an introduction to the grooving of stainless steel precision tubes by stamping and laser equipment. In general, stamping grooving is carried out using a die, and there are thickness and hardness requirements for stainless steel pipes, and the processing cost is relatively low; while laser grooving has no restrictions on steel pipes and has higher precision; you can choose the appropriate grooving method based on your application and cost.
Post time: Oct-29-2024