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SYNRAD, INC. - http://www.synrad.com
Thursday, June 8, 2006
Issue 139
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Marking Glass-Reinforced Plastic
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Marking Polyester
Fleece
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Cutting 3M™ Optical
Film
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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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Marking Glass-Reinforced Plastic
Glass-filled or glass-reinforced plastics such as polypropylene and ABS are commonly used in the manufacture of various electrical and automotive components. While the glass fibers primarily add strength to parts, they have the added benefit of helping to create highly contrasting marks in CO2 laser marking applications. The accompanying photograph shows the fine detail possible when laser marking a glass-reinforced plastic component. In this application, the overall mark size, 2D code and human-readable text, covers an area measuring only 4.25 mm (0.167”) by 7.28 mm (0.286”).
Using WinMark Pro, we first created 2D Data Matrix and stroke text objects using the same 18-character data string for both. To prevent the possibility of a data mismatch between the Data Matrix and text strings in a manufacturing environment, WinMark Pro allows you to link two or more objects together using From Another Object and Assign From properties so that shared mark data always remains synchronized.
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A high-contrast mark was created on the
glass-filled plastic shown above in a cycle time
of 0.44 seconds using only 10 watts of power.
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We sized the Data Matrix code so that it measures 3.6 mm (0.140”) on a side and set the 2D Barcode Bitmap property to No. This forces WinMark Pro to mark the code by drawing vector circles instead of raster scanning filled and unfilled squares. In addition to decreasing cycle time, this feature allows you to reduce circle diameter to eliminate potential print growth errors—in this case, we set the 2D Barcode Circle Radius property to 40% and achieved “B” grades using our barcode reader’s verification software. We created the three-line text string using our Simple stroke font with a Text Height of 1.04 mm (0.041”) and 0.13 mm (0.005”) of Extra Character Spacing.
The final step is to configure mark parameters. Because we specified an 80 mm focusing lens with its 116-micron (0.005”) spot, we needed only 10 watts of power at a marking Velocity of 254 mm/second (10 inches/sec) to create the high-contrast CO2 mark shown in a cycle time of 0.44 seconds per part.
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Marking Polyester Fleece
Polyester fleece is a material that reacts predictably to the CO2 beam. Using low power and fast scan speeds; polyester tufts in the fleece are easily vaporized with no discoloration to the fabric. In the example shown, a pattern was created using a combination of raster scanning and vector marking processes.
The initial file was drawn in a vector illustration program like AutoCAD®, Adobe® Illustrator® or CorelDRAW®. After importation into WinMark Pro, the file was “exploded” into its constituent elements. For circle and triangle elements, we changed the Polyline Fill Type property from “None” (vector outline) to “Fill” (raster scan fill) and then Grouped these objects. Grouping eliminates keyboard entry errors by allowing you to enter a single set of Marking and Format properties that apply to all objects in the group.
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We laser marked a pattern on the polyester
fleece using 30 watts of power and an FH Series marking head equipped with a 370mm lens.
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For these filled objects, we set a Power (duty cycle percentage) corresponding to 9 watts, a mark Velocity of 1524 mm/second (60 inches/sec), and a Resolution value of 200. The remaining vector elements (lines and arcs) were “unexploded” to form a Polyline Set—the vector equivalent of a Group. Because these elements consist of single lines, there is less heat input into the material so Power was increased to 30 watts, Velocity was reduced to 190.5 mm/second (7.5 inches/sec), and Resolution was increased to 600.
In order to create wide vector lines in the fleece, we selected a 370 mm lens that provides a 540-micron (0.021”) focused spot; however the combination of Power, Velocity, and Resolution we chose created a pleasing line width that actually measures three millimeters (0.118”) wide. Total cycle time to mark this interesting 42 mm by 211 mm (1.7” x 8.3”) design is 10.45 seconds.
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Cutting 3M™ Visible Mirror Film
Visible mirror film is a Multilayer Optical Film (MOF) technology developed by researchers at 3M. The paper-thin film is fabricated using hundreds to thousands of layers of transparent polymers laid with nanometer precision on a substrate. Due to the optical interference effects of the layered polymers, mirror film’s reflectivity is greater than 98% at all angles of incidence.
This highly reflective film was slit using a Synrad sealed CO2 laser and an FH Series marking head. Beam delivery was achieved using an 80mm focusing lens with a 116-micron spot size and 0.8mm depth of focus. The 21 slits, each 5-mm long and approximately 100-microns wide, were cleanly cut using five watts of power at a velocity of five inches per second. Total cycle time was 1.13 seconds. |
This visible mirror film, developed by researchers
at 3M, was cut using a Synrad laser and FH-
Series marking head using 5W of power.
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Browse Synrad's Applications Database
Search our online library for more applications of Synrad's sealed CO2 laser technology. Sort by material, process, or industry.
http://www.synrad.com/search_apps/Default.htm
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Contact Us:
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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Copyright © 2006 SYNRAD, Inc. All rights reserved.
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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