Laser cutting is a technology that uses a laser to cut materials, and is commonly employed in industrial manufacturing. Laser cutting works on a wide variety of materials, by directing the output of a high power source at the material to be cut. The material then either melts, burns, vaporizes, or is blown away by a jet of gas, leaving an edge with a high quality surface finish.
Advantages of laser cutting over mechanical cutting vary according to the specific process, but two important factors are the lack of physical contact (since there is no cutting edge which can become contaminated by the material or contaminate the material), and to some extent precision (since there is no wear on the laser). There is also a reduced chance of warping the material that is being cut as laser systems have a small heat affected zone. Some materials are also very difficult or impossible to cut by more traditional means.
Both gaseous CO2 and solid-state Nd:Yag lasers are used for cutting. Pulsed lasers which provide a high power burst of energy for a short period are very effective in some laser cutting processes, particularly for piercing, or when very small holes are required.
Microcutting can be easily obtained using TEMoo lasers or lasers characterized by a very good M2.
Laser sawing is instead commonly used in the diamond segment, as the best method to obtain the minimum weight losses and almost no breakages.
Kapton microcuttingMain Applications:
Copper microcutting
High precision diamond sawing
High speed cutting of copper foils
PCB cutting
Polyamide film cutting
Silicon wafer cutting
Steel and stents microcutting
Super hard material cutting
Specifications are subject to change without notice.
Pictures: Courtesy of RTM - Vico Canavese - Italy