FEATURE: CO2
LASERS
“As long as there are materials that need to be marked or cut, we anticipate continued growth”
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lasers, and are therefore good for micro- processing. But for all other materials in the macro range – plastics, laminate, acrylic, textiles, wood, paper – Fazeny suggests CO2.
The larger spot size from a CO2 laser
can be an advantage for applications like marking, engraving or cutting, because it makes the process more forgiving. The focus position, for instance, is less sensitive to disruption with a larger spot. Trotec provides laser machines for
engraving, cutting and marking. One example is a dedicated workstation for processing paper and cardboard for the printing industry, along with a machine for marking and cutting roll-to-roll labels. ‘In these machines you want to use several hundred watts, because these processes are high speed,’ said Fazeny. ‘This is a growing market for CO2 lasers. Traditionally the printing industry used die-cutting for high-volume batches. But now, with the laser and the digital workflow from design to part, it’s cost effective even for just one piece. That’s a big driver for lasers, in general, and also for CO2 lasers.’ Other markets include marking sell-by
codes on food labels and perforating food packaging, along with PCB marking where a CO2 laser can mark the board’s surface without damaging the copper circuitry underneath. May added that fading and patterning jeans ‘has been massive’.
Further technology development CO2 lasers are considered the workhorses of the industry because they’ve been around for so long. But the technology is still progressing. Novanta’s Hill noted a number of advances that the company is working on, including: a smaller laser footprint; smaller, integrated RF drivers; more efficient operation and higher output power; longer lifetimes and increased reliability; and more wavelengths in the 9 to 10µm band. There’s also been progress made in
The CO2 laser wavelength is suited to working with materials such as acrylic, paper and textiles 10 LASER SYSTEMS EUROPE AUTUMN 2021
academic research with chalcogenide fibres for CO2 laser transmission. This work, if it comes to light, would open up fibre delivery for CO2 laser systems, which at the moment isn’t possible. Hill said Novanta’s R&D teams are
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