Why is leveling necessary after lasering, plasma-cutting or punching?
Cutting by means of thermal manufacturing processes such as lasering, oxyacetylene cutting and plasma cutting introduces a great deal of heat into the material. This gives rise to a huge temperature gradient within the material, which in turn leads to edge stress and hardening. Parts and sheets cut by such methods are affected accordingly by distortion. As for punching, internal stresses in the material are released in addition to the parts being deformed by the punching operation.
