Water

Laser

Plasma

Burning

Material distortion

no

yes

yes

yes

Hardening

no

yes

yes

yes

Burr formation

very low

low

yes

yes

Rework necessary

very low

yes

yes

yes

Material loss

very low

low

high

very high

Tolerance

0.02 - 0.1 mm

0.01 - 0.1 mm

0.2 - 0.5 mm

1 - 2 mm

Material thicknesses

up to 300 mm

up to 30 mm

up to 150 mm

up to 300 mm

Variety of materials

very high

low

low

low

Composite materials

yes

no

no

no

Multi-layer cutting

yes

no

no

no

Multi-head cutting

yes

no

yes

yes

Hazardous or worrying vapours or gases

no

yes

yes

yes

Jet diameter / cutting gap

0.3 - 1.0 mm

approx. 0.2 mm

1.2 mm HiFocus
approx. 3 mm Standard

approx. 5 mm

Smallest hole diameter

less than 1/5 of the thickness

up to 1/2 of the thickness

0.8 till 1.5 x
of the thickness

approx. 2 x
of the thickness

Smallest land width

less than 1/20 of the thickness

up to 1/5 of the thickness

approx. 3 mm

approx. 8 mm