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 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.