Many materials like fabrics, plastic foils, and papers are processed on the fly using a reel to reel process. Applications may be found in the medical and food industry in the manufacturing of pouches for soups, coffee or beverages, but also in digital printing lines or production lines for grinding paper.
The applications for materials processing lasers run the full spectrum, from cutting to welding, cladding to marking, and more. For any process, macro or micro, and any material, you can rely on Coherent lasers to deliver superior results with the lowest total cost of ownership.
Cut organics and plastics including wood, acrylic and leather at high processing speeds.
| Organics and plastic materials can be cut with lasers at high processing speeds with exceptional edge quality. Non-metals such as plastics, fabrics, paper/cardboard, wood or leather are used in a wide range of industries including sign/advertising, fashion, automotive, furniture, and packaging. The use of a galvanometric scanner is recommended when cutting acrylics or laser cutting wood when the material to be cut is very thin or very heat sensitive. |
Cost-effective, precision cutting of metals at varying thicknesses.
Traditionally, CO2 and fiber lasers were used for metal cutting processes. Coherent serves this market with DIAMOND CO2 lasers and the HighLight FL-Series of fiber lasers to meet industry needs. The META 10C is Coherent’s laser-cutting turnkey tool designed for the sheet metal industry.
Diode lasers, with wavelengths in the range of 808 nm to 980 nm, are typically used to join various plastic material combinations in plastics welding applications.
Diode lasers are used to weld plastics, applicable for thermoplastic materials only. In one welding geometry example, the laser beam joins two materials by passing through the first transparent heating up the second absorptive joining partner. The latter one starts to heat up and melt. At the same time heat is transferred to the first partner and the two parts are joined.
Laser welding operates economically in many different applications.
Laser welding operates efficiently and economically in many different applications, and can be used in place of many different standard processes.
| Laser keyhole welding is used when material needs to be joined with a higher thickness to width aspect ratio. High beam intensities heat the material upon evaporation temperature resulting in a deep capillary called a keyhole. | |
| Heat conduction welding is applicable for sheet metal up to a material thickness of approximately 2 mm. A laser beam, focused on the seam, heats the material and that heat is quickly conducted through the sheets causing it to melt and join together. |
In flexible display manufacturing, transistors fabricated on a thin polymer/glass substrate must be detached from the substrate to yield a flexible polymer display. Laser-based lift-off eliminates the use of less selective mechanical or chemical processes, and leverages infrastructure already in place that previously handled rigid substrates. Thus, it is not only friendly at a material level, it is environmentally and cost-effective. Excimer lasers deliver the necessary pulse energy to be highly selective, and to process large areas at industrial speed and with superior quality and yield.
The challenge for Liquid crystal display (LCD) manufacturers is to produce higher performance displays, while simultaneously reducing cost and increasing display size. Excimer line beam annealing of low-temperature polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistor (LTPS-TFT) technology enables both lower cost and higher display performance through lower process temperatures (allowing for thinner substrates) and the superior electron mobility of polycrystalline silicon over amorphous silicon.
Stereolithography, where 3D Models are created with an extremely high level of detail and a smooth surface finish, is an excellent choice where a close approximation to the finished product is desired.
Stereolithography (SLA) typically uses a low power UV laser to selectively harden a photosensitive epoxy polymer in a bath to form a part. Key benefits of SLA are high accuracy and smooth surface finish of parts.
The selective laser sintering process is ideal for parts that would be difficult to manufacture by traditional subtractive (machined) protocols. SLM parts are durable, functional, and can be produced economically even in low numbers.
Selective Laser Sintering (SLM) builds a part from polymer or metal powder by using a sealed CO2 laser, such as a DIAMOND C-Series laser or a 1 µm fiber laser. Key benefits of SLM are high accuracy and smooth surface finish. Parts can be fabricated from a wide range of materials. SLM is used in industries such as automotive, aerospace, heavy equipment, medical, electronics, research and development, consumer products, sporting goods, and packaging.
Lasers are used to permanently mark an almost endless list of materials.
Laser marking can provide a permanent high-contrast mark on different types of plastics, allowing no direct contact with the plastic other than through the laser beam. A variety of results can be achieved when marking plastics.
Typically a CO2 laser with 10.6 µm is used for marking organic materials.
When marking metal surfaces, the high peak power of a 1 µm laser, such as a Matrix DPSS laser, engraves into the metal surface and creates a contrast. When using CW laser radiation, most steel, titanium and gold materials turn black creating an annealing contrast.
Joining composite materials requires different approaches than when joining metal materials.
CFRP requires pre-processing. The resin needs to be ablated by a laser so that the fiber structure becomes visible. In order to ablate effectively without impacting the fibers, a Q-Switched CO2 or UV laser e.g. AVIA applies. The open fiber structure enables higher shear strength after welding, as the molten thermoplast of the other welding partner flows around and in between the fibers.
By using a laser in the repair of large carbon fiber parts, precise repairs are conducted offering strength similar to that of a new part.
During the manufacturing process or during its final use of composites, damages may happen. While smaller objects might just be replaced and scrapped, larger parts need repair. Examples of these larger parts include an airplane fuselage damaged by a loading truck at an airport or bird damage of wind energy turbine blades. Traditionally, these carbon fiber repairs were done by either bolting a repair composite sheet on top of the damaged area or by manual grinding – scarfing the damaged area and refilling it with repair plys. The grinding process is preferred over the bolting process because it offers higher strength and reliability of the repair. Unfortunately the manual process involved in grinding is not repeatable and it requires high user skills. By using a frequency tripled DPSS laser emitting 355 nm like the AVIA, it is possible to precisely scarf the damaged area – allowing layers of composite to be ablated reliably and repeatedly. Laser repaired damages offer strength similar to that of a new part.
Increase wear resistance and fatigue strength on the work piece surface.
Laser heat treatment increases wear resistance and increases the fatigue strength due to the compressive stresses induced on the work piece surface.The ability to precisely control the physical extent of the illuminated region, together with the short timescale of energy transfer into the material, gives rise to the main benefits of laser surface modification over other techniques. Several key benefits include rapid processing, precise localized control over case depth/hardness, minimal to no part distortion, superior wear and corrosion resistance and increased fatigue strength.
Laser cutting and scribing of display glass and functional foils are important processes for the Flat Panel Display industry. The contact-free laser processes enable the trend towards thinner glass and advanced material mixes.
Coherent lasers are the ideal source for microstructuring inside glass.
When marking and engraving glass, a high intensity laser irradiance enables a multi-photon process and non-linear absorption effects in transparent material such as flat panel display glass. The high peak power of the Matrix DPSS laser, easily engraves inside the glass.
Achieve optimal cutting speed and cut quality by using lasers to cut carbon or glass reinforced plastic.
Due to the fact that the melting point of fibers is much higher than the melting point of the resin, laser cutting of glass reinforced plastic and carbon fiber is challenging as the plastic tends to char and burn at the cutting edge. Best results have been shown by using lasers with very high peak power and short pulse length e.g. from a HyperRapid ps Laser. If operated at a high rep rate, good cutting quality can be achieved using a multiple pass cutting method.
Using lasers for cladding, you will achieve better surface uniformity than with traditional technologies.
| Coherent lasers offer superior overall clad quality, reduced heat input, minimal part distortion and better clad deposition control resulting in reduced dilution, lower porosity and better surface uniformity. Cladding is a well-established process used in a variety of industries for improving the surface and near surface properties of a part (e.g. wear, corrosion or heat resistance), or to re-surface a component that has become worn through use. | |
| The laser-based process offers superior overall clad quality, reduced heat input, minimal part distortion and better clad deposition control resulting in reduced dilution, lower porosity and better surface uniformity than traditional technology. The high quench rate of the diode laser produces a finer grain structure in the clad leading to better corrosion resistance. |
Coherent partners with medical system builders across the globe to provide the laser technology necessary for them to manufacture a variety of medical components.
Medical devices encompass a broad range of solutions that can host a variety of different laser technologies from the UV to the mid-IR range. Using the right wavelength for a specific material provides efficient machining and throughput. Defined by the level of precision needed, laser solutions range from short pulse (nanoseconds) to ultrashort pulses (picoseconds). Ultrashort pulses minimize heat affected zones and, combined with “cold machining” processes, offer the highest level of precision beneficial for the most demanding applications such as stent manufacturing.
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