Almost anything.
I’ve worked with a laser cutting factory 5 years and have seen the evolution of laser cutters and the materials they cut (or attempted to).
While lasers can cut anything—epitaxial grown diamond films being one of them—they are limited by thickness.
The beam from the laser needs to be focused and as the beam diverges past the focal point, the cutting effectiveness is reduced. Also, that effect creates an edge that looks very much like one produced by a cutting torch.
I’ve observed many materials in which the burned-looking cut edge wasn’t fine enough and it was better to employ conventional saws or water-jet cutting to achieve a crisp edge.
Also, can be a problem with the thickness materials . The laser will leave a pretty rough edge on anything over a fraction of an inch. I’m don’t know the maximum thickness commercial lasers can cut, but I suspect its not much over half an inch.
Also, some materials— like glass —have a tendency to fracture as the laser beam creates local heating distortions. So great care must be taken to adjust the cutting speed, laser power and focus reduce this effect.
Laser cutters help work faster and more productive.
Pay attention to
Tooling;
Kinematics;
CNC (computer numerical controlled);
Construction.
when choosing a laser machine.
