Thin glass sheets, measuring only 30–600 microns (0.0012–0.0236”) in thickness, are easily cut with CO2 lasers.
Over the past several years, glass marking has developed into one of the premier CO2 laser applications, especially in the commercial, industrial, and automotive glass industries. Until now however, glass cutting with CO2 lasers was not feasible since the thickness of typical glass products exhibited substantial fracturing caused by the stress of localized heating effects. For glass between 1 and 10 mm thick, laser cutting becomes a two-step process of scribing and snapping.
Today though, products ranging from microscope slides to covers for flat-panel displays on laptop computers and cell phones are made from thin glass substrates. These glass sheets, measuring only 30–600 microns (0.0012–0.0236”) in thickness, are easily cut with CO2 lasers and demonstrate the same fine edge quality seen in many other laser cutting applications.
The section of glass shown in the photo is 150 microns (0.006”) thick and was cut on our XY stage using 100 watts of power at a speed of 550 inches per minute (IPM). The laser was gated with 1.2 ms pulses at a frequency of 750 Hz through a UC-2000 Universal Laser Controller. A 2.5” positive meniscus optic (0.004” spot size and 0.07” depth of focus) provided beam focus while 10 PSI air provided the gas assist.
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