Advance Laser Technology – Are You Still Missing Them?

Posted on Sep 15 2014 - 9:37am by Davis Miller

Laser

We’ve seen many significant changes in the application and performance of industrial laser systems. Starting with the materialization of Ytterbium fiber laser to constant advances in the reliability and performance of more conventional laser sources, manufacturing industries have never seen such a varied range of advanced laser technologies before.

Zero maintenance, increased performance with Ytterbium Fiber Laser

A fiber laser is an optical fiber packed with rare chemical elements such as ytterbium, neodymium, erbium, thulium, and dysprosium. These are all connected to doped fiber amplifiers that offer light amplification. Over the years, the classic Nd: YV04 laser was replaced with the innovative ytterbium fiber in numerous cutting, marking, and welding applications. With higher peak power, shorter pulse widths, and increased sustained power at high pulse rates, ytterbium fiber lasers have the capacity to significantly improve the performance of conventional solid-state-lasers. Considering that ytterbium fiber lasers feature an air-cool system, they can offer diode life of up to 100k+ hours and no maintenance will be required.

Reliability and effectiveness improve with ingenious CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) Laser Designs

The newest CO2 laser designs offer increasingly more power in tinier packages; they’re often air-cooled and they feature low operating costs. Advances in pulse characteristics and laser beam quality have extended this time-proven technology’s capabilities. Nowadays, the cost per watt of compact designs offers a cost-effective, attractive solution for numerous manufacturing challenges. The CO2 laser is a powerhouse for metal welding and high-tech industrial cutting. Smaller CO2 lasers are mainly employed for laser marking composites, metal, wood, and they’re additionally used in medicine, too. A large CO2 laser beam can produce 100kW, while a tiny beam may have 10s of watts.

Numerous common materials, such as plastics, wood, paper, and properly maintained metal surfaces soak up quite well a COs laser’s wavelengths, which basically means that the end result is an efficient marking, welding or cutting.

High-accuracy, high speed beam steering systems

For material processing application and laser marking systems that make use of galvanometer beam-steering systems, the most recent scan devices offer unprecedented accuracy and velocity. Improved process speed can perk up the cost savings of a fiber laser machine, as opposite to conventional laser performance.

Technology and time have propelled us in an exciting future where etching, laser marking, and engraving are using the most recent laser technology at some of the most convenient costs. High precision in laser engravings and laser markings are attainable on any type of material, including platinum, stainless steel, gold, brass, silver, titanium, copper, aluminum, and more. One revolutionary technique in particular, carbon migration, can only be performed on titanium and steel.

The heat procedure treats the metal and brings the carbon at the surface. This type of marking works best with a Vanadate or fiber laser; the fiber demands more time but it’s cheaper, while the Vanadate speeds up the marking process and it is more expensive.

Non-contact laser marking

Non-contact laser marking is a procedure best known for its high-temperature resistance, durability, micro coded laser marks that have the capacity to resist extreme heats on various types of materials; this means there will be no degrading in tiny etched words and numbers. The process doesn’t involve the use of acids, toxic solvents, or inks. In contrast, nobody can guarantee that some other traceable methods like hand engraving, ink jet, and dot-pen marking won’t fade away or become less discernable in time.

Older engraving methods included direct laser engraving techniques that used flexographic printing plates and cylinders. The method was created in the 70s and it used carbon dioxide lasers to evaporate and ablate sleeve and rubber plate materials. Nowadays, we’re talking about a range of innovative laser marking technologies. Annealing, forming, and engraving and commonly known procedure, yet with the advent of technology, a lot of machines and devices are currently populating the market.

An example of an advance laser technology firm, Fimark is a competent provider of laser marking (established in 1997) services to aerospace, general manufacturing automotive and medical industries. The company uses precise lasers to engrave products that come in a wealth of materials. There’s definitely a lot more to tell about laser technologies, and as we move further into the future, soon enough even more powerful and pioneering machines and tools will emerge.

About the Author

Davis Miller is an experienced writer with interest in small business, technology, and gadgets. He has written several high quality articles at many websites. He spends his free time in reading books and watching movies.