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SYNRAD, INC. - http://www.synrad.com |
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SYNRAD's sealed CO2 lasers are used in a variety of industrial processes including cutting, welding, drilling, and marking. This news brief showcases some of the interesting materials and products that are processed daily by Synrad's line of CO2 lasers and marking heads. |
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Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) is the workhorse of polymer packaging films. It has good tensile strength, impact resistance, is easily printable, and inexpensive to manufacture. Like most polymer materials, LDPE is altered to provide other features such as UV resistance for outdoor use, anti-static/conductive properties for semiconductor applications, or is formulated to be heat-sealable/shrinkable for general product packaging. |
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For this cutting application, we installed a 2.5” positive meniscus lens in our XY cutting head. This lens provides a 0.004” (100 micron) focused spot with a 0.07” (1.8 mm) depth of focus. For gas assist, we chose 10 PSI of high-purity CDA (compressed dry air) delivered coaxially with the focused beam. Both black and white sheets of six mil (0.15 mm) thick LDPE film were cut using 25 watts of power at line speeds of 900 inches per minute. Cut edges are clean and smooth with no dross or discoloration. For a given thickness, polyethylene cut speeds are relatively linear, so achieving higher line speeds is a simple matter of increasing laser power proportionally. |
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Drilling Aluminized Mylar This application involves perforating aluminized Mylar® film using a Synrad sealed CO2 laser and FH Series marking head. With a specified position accuracy of four ten-thousandths of an inch (0.0004” or 0.01 mm) using our 80 mm focusing lens, the FH head is ideal for creating highly accurate, repeatable marks. |
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A Spot object is marked, or in this case, drilled, by commanding the laser to remain on for the amount specified by the Spot Lase Duration property (also on the Format tab). Using a laser power level of 10 watts, a Spot Lase Duration of 5 milliseconds is required to drill through the 1.5 mil (0.0015” or 0.038 mm) thick Mylar film. On the Marking tab, we set a Power percentage equivalent to 10 watts and chose a marking Velocity of 100 inches per second (IPS). |
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Stainless steels, known for their resistance to corrosion, are classified as metal alloys containing a Chromium content greater than 11.5% and an iron content greater than 50%. Adding 6% to 22% Nickel creates a material called austenitic stainless steel. Inconel™, a specialty alloy created with higher percentages of Nickel and Chromium than stainless steel, is included in another classification known as Nickel-based superalloys. When compared to stainless steels, Inconel has a significant advantage in highly corrosive environments, which explains its widespread use in aerospace and nuclear engineering applications. |
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The flange assembly shown in the photo is a two-part assembly – a 316 stainless steel section and an Inconel section. The application challenge was to hermetically weld these two sections together so that the weld passes the required burst and leakage tests. Our optical setup consisted of a 2.5” positive meniscus lens delivering a 100-micron (0.004”) spot with a 1.8 mm (0.07”) depth of focus. The weld was created with 240 watts of power at a rotational speed of 28 inches per minute using 4 PSI of Argon as the shield gas. Rotating the part through three revolutions created a weld bead approximately 1.65 mm (0.065”) wide. |
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Search our online library for more applications of Synrad's sealed CO2 laser technology. Sort by material, process, or industry. |
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Synrad, Inc. 4600 Campus Place Mukilteo, WA 98275 Tel: 1-425-349-3500 Fax: 1-425-349-3667 E-mail: synrad@synrad.com |
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SYNRAD and Synrad product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of SYNRAD, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
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