SYNRAD, INC. - http://www.synrad.com  
Thursday, March 13, 2003
Issue 58

 
Marking IV Bags Cutting Stainless Steel  Cutting Faux Fur

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 IV Bags

   Using Synrad CO2 lasers for marking applications in the medical industry is a growing trend, due to the need to eliminate aggressive inks that may pose health risks and are environmentally undesirable. Laser marking provides permanent and sterile identification without introducing any additives or chemicals into the clean room environment. In addition to indelible marks and extraordinary cleanliness, CO2 lasers bring superior precision, better reliability, and low maintenance requirements to the manufacturing process.
Polyvinyl chloride medical storage bags,
marked with a 10W Synrad CO2 laser. The
marks penetrate only 1.3% of the total material
thickness.

 

    
   In this application, a 10W laser was used to mark polyvinyl chloride (PVC) medical IV bags with pertinent health and safety information. The interaction of CO2 laser energy with the outer PVC material results in a color change from a semi-opaque white to a bright red-orange tint, producing a high contrast between the mark and the surrounding background. 

   At a power of 10W and velocity of 30 inches per second, the depth of penetration into the 0.015"-thick IV bag is less than 0.0002", since the majority of the laser's energy reacts with the PVC during the chemical color change process. The mark (over 400 characters) was completed in a total cycle time of 11.2 seconds using a text resolution of 400 DPI.
The entire mark of 400+ characters took 11.2
sec.  		 
This close-up view of a letter "t" shows
individual scan lines at a resolution optimized
for speed.

 

Cutting Stainless Steel

 

   The 0.02" -thick stainless steel material shown in the photos to the left is used in the manufacture of decorative medallions, where a high-quality polished finish is required. Because the material stock is pre-polished before processing, tumbling and other de-burring methods are not practical or possible. Burr-free cuts were made on these samples using 240W of laser power at a speed of 190 IPM. Beam delivery was through a 2.5" positive meniscus lens (0.004" spot) with 100 PSI nitrogen used as the assist gas.

 

 

0.004"-wide cut kerf in 0.02"-thick stainless
steel.

Edge view of 0.02" stainless steel cut with an
Evolution 240W laser.

Cutting Faux Fur

 
   CO2 laser processing of the synthetic fur shown here produced a cut exhibiting some bonding of the fur and fusing of the base material. This cut is much cleaner than the heated die method currently employed, which leaves behind heavy clumps and fused balls of fur. To produce these clean cuts, the assist gas nozzle was placed 0.06" above the base material with the fur side up; 10 PSI air assist was used to remove debris and move the fur away from the cut zone. Cutting was achieved at a speed of 430 inches per minute (IPM) using 100W of power through a 2.5" positive meniscus lens with a 0.004" spot diameter.

Faux fur, cut using Synrad's Firestar f100 laser.

 

Close-up view of laser cut edge.  

 

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

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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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.