SYNRAD, INC. - http://www.synrad.com  
Thursday, December 1, 2005
Issue 126

Marking Coil Housing

Kiss-Cutting High
Density Foam

 Cutting Foil/Paperboard Packaging

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.

Marking Coil Housing

This application demonstrates the feasibility of laser marking plastic coil housings with relevant part number and electrical data versus the expense required to develop, maintain, and inventory custom molds for each particular product. SYNRAD’s complete line of sealed CO2 lasers and FH Series marking heads combined with WinMark Pro laser marking software allow you to easily and quickly update marking information to reflect part number changes or add automatic serial numbering, date/shift coding, or batch/lot information in real-time during the manufacturing process. For this feasibility study, our marking setup consisted of a SYNRAD laser and an FH Series Index marking head.






This high-contrast mark illustrates the crisp
marks typical of the FH Series marking head.
Unlike inkjet marks that often vary in legibility, the
FH head produces clean, clear marks every time.

Our mounting system — incorporating the laser’s mounting feet, marking head, and mounting brackets — uses precision dowel pins to maintain perfect alignment of the laser and marking head in the event that the marking system must be disassembled and then reassembled during the machine development and integration process. We equipped this marking head with a 125 mm focusing lens to obtain a 180-micron (0.007”) spot size and 3 mm (0.118”) depth of focus over an 85 mm by 105 mm (3.4” × 4.2”) mark field.

The photo shows an epoxy encapsulated coil housing that exhibits a high-contrast CO2 laser mark. In WinMark Pro, we created a three-line, 18-character text string using WinMark’s Simple stroke font and chose a Text Height of 2.4 mm (0.095”). Using 10 watts of power and a mark Velocity of 5 inches per second (IPS), the entire text string was marked in a cycle time of 0.52 seconds.



Kiss-Cutting High Density Foam

This application required a cut through adhesive backed, high-density foam without damaging the waxed paper liner; a process commonly called kiss-cutting. Achieving a proper kiss-cut involves finding a balance of power and speed that provides consistent cuts through the material, yet does not damage the backing.

We set up our XY motion system with a 5-inch plano-convex lens having a 0.008” spot size with a 0.25” depth of focus. Although the foam measures 0.5” (13 mm) thick, it exhibits a waveguiding effect that allows the use of a shorter focal length lens while retaining the power density of the smaller focused beam. Using 100 watts of power and 20 PSI of nitrogen assist gas, we cut through the foam (without damaging the backing paper) at a speed of 120 IPM.







Using 100 watts of power and 20 PSI of nitrogen
assist gas, we cut through the foam (without
damaging the backing paper) at a speed of 120 IPM.



Cutting Foil/Paperboard Packaging

Paperboard is widely used for packaging and cartoning food products to provide rigidity and mechanical support. Laminating an ultra-thin aluminum foil to the paperboard adds oxygen and moisture resistance, which serves to prevent spoilage of food. In the aseptic packaging industry, the final touch is an inner layer of polyethylene that makes the package liquid-tight. This combination of materials combined with UHT (ultra-high temperature) sterilization allows milk and juice products to be shipped and stored without refrigeration until opened by the consumer.






The above 1mm (0.04”) thick foil/paperboard
composite tube was cut using 200 watts.

The photo shows a 1mm (0.04”) thick wound foil/paperboard composite tube where the application request was to determine the feasibility of laser cutting these tubes to length. To do this, our beam delivery setup consisted of a cutting head equipped with a 63.5mm (2.5”) positive meniscus focusing lens. A 40 PSI air assist, delivered coaxially with the beam, removes vaporized material from the cut area.

Using a Firestar f201 laser at a power level of 200 watts, we cut the composite tube at a rate of 10.2 meters per minute (400 inches/minute). For a 102mm (4.0”) diameter tube, this equates to a cycle time of 1.9 seconds to cut around the 320mm (12.6”) circumference. Notice that the cut paperboard edge exhibits an exceptionally clean cut with very slight discoloration.


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