Prior to today, laser marking technology was used by industrial manufacturers only, but now it is used by small businesses, makers, hobbyists, and product designers in a variety of ways. Regardless of the application, laser manufacturing technology has proven to be one of the most cutting-edge in manufacturing.
Is laser marking technology something you’re familiar with? The following article will provide you with all the information you need to get started with laser marking. The following information will give you an overview of laser marking technology and the process of marking.
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Laser Marking Types
There are many types of laser markings available, depending on the application. You can use a variety of laser marking methods. Let’s look at a few of them.
Annealing
A laser annealing process involves focused heating of material or metal surfaces to create a mark, usually by using a laser beam. During the heating process, the focused beam alters the color of the metal, causing structural changes. In addition to black markings, this process can also result in green, red, or yellow markings depending upon how much heat the material is exposed to.
Color Marking
Laser marking stainless steel materials primarily use the color marking technique, which is based on the composition of the material. During the manufacturing process of metal materials, pigments are added that interact with laser beams.
In this way, the material is marked by changing its color through the photoelectric effect.
Engraving
Creating marks on coated materials is easy with engraving, a laser marking method. In order to reveal the substrate layer, the laser beam has to be focused on the material. It is possible to create a contrast between two layers if their colors differ.
Anodized aluminum and other coated materials exhibit excellent markings when marked with lasers. Typically, engraving is done on stone, ceramic, metal, and plastic materials.
Foaming
The technique of foaming is used when light color markings need to be created, and carbonizing won’t help. During the foaming process, a material’s surface is heated to a melting point, resulting in gas bubbles.
Frothing is created as a result of the oxidized gas bubbles reflecting light backwards. With high contrast from the other surfaces, the mark created rises above the other surfaces. Surfaces made of polymer show this discoloration effect. Dark-colored objects are ideal for foaming laser marking.
Day and night markings
When your desired color is a visible and transparent surface that displays a symbol of the reference component, this laser marking technology utilizes the concentration of the laser beam to remove subsequent layers of paint. Selected ablation is the term used for laser marking at night and in the daytime.
Applications of Laser Marking
There are many industries and sectors that benefit from laser marking. Various industries use laser marking for a variety of purposes, including barcoding, QR coding, serial or part number identification, copyright marking, and logo encoding.
Adding date values to plastics and metals is done by using this method. In addition to engraving best before dates and maintenance due dates, it is used to identify materials. Moreover, it is used to protect against fraud when creating smartcards and IDs because it offers a high level of security.
Laser Marking Benefits
Different industries benefit from laser marking in different ways. Taking a look at some of the advantages of laser marking, we can see that it comes with several advantages. The markings produced by lasers are highly accurate, even when delicate graphics are used. Information is clearly and legibly marked regardless of font style or geometry. In addition, laser marking ensures that materials are consistently marked with high-quality marks.
There is no doubt that laser marking is the fastest marking method available today. By increasing productivity and reducing costs, it significantly increases profitability. Abrasion, acid, and heat-resistant permanent marks are produced with laser marking. Your materials can be marked without damaging them with appropriate laser settings.