SYNRAD, INC. - http://www.synrad.com  
Thursday, December 19, 2002
Issue 52

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 Tile

     This ceramic tile mosaic was produced by dividing a bitmap image into 2" square images. Each image file was then imported into WinMark Pro software, and the individual tiles were marked using 25W of power at 10 inches per second with a resolution of 425dpi. The average cycle time was approximately 40 seconds for each tile. 

     This unique laser-markable ceramic material, developed by 3Score Inc. of Portland, OR, easily displays the fine detail in gray-scale photographs and other high resolution bitmaps. The detailed image shown in the lower photo was marked using 10W at a speed of 25”/s, also at 425 dpi resolution.

Mosaic created on laser-markable ceramic tiles using a 48-2 25W laser, FH marking head, and 125mm lens.

Creating Stainless Steel Blades

   The 0.015" thick stainless steel material shown in the photos to the left is used to manufacture scalpels. Standard mechanical forming is somewhat difficult because the material is brittle. However, using a CO2 laser, blades can be easily cut from the 0.5” wide S.S. ribbon stock to any desired profile shape.

     In this application, the primary goal was to control oxidation and minimize edge burring. Best results were achieved at a cutting speed of 100 inches per minute (IPM) using 100 PSI nitrogen assist gas. The 240W laser was pulsed at a frequency of 1KHz with a pulse length of 490 microseconds to provide an average output power of 160W. Nitrogen assist gas provided oxidation-free material processing and the high gas pressure virtually eliminated underside burrs, so that the laser-cut blade can be finish ground to a knife edge with no further post-processing.

   For comparison, in situations where edge quality is not as important, cut speeds of 410 IPM were achieved using 40 PSI oxygen; 230 IPM when using 40 PSI air assist. Similar cuts were produced using 40 PSI nitrogen, but at these low pressures, the melted steel from the kerf can adhere to the back of the cut, forming an underside burr.

This 0.015"-thick stainless steel blade material was cut with an Evolution 240W CO2 laser using 100psi N2 assist gas.

Marking Molded Nylon

Consult the FH Series Marking Head Operator’s Manual to review focal length, nominal and maximum field size, typical working distance, spot size, and depth of field specifications for our line of FH Series lenses.  

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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