Interaction of light and material
Areas of application
Laser light is used throughout industry in all possible power ranges, from micro material processing (mostly at a few watts) to welding metal in the automotive, shipbuilding and aircraft industries (at a few thousand watts). Laser light can be so intensely concentrated that a beam power of some thousand watts can precisely cut steel plates one centimetre thick. For efficient material processing, it is crucially important how strongly the laser light is absorbed by the material. Light particles reflected off the surface are no longer available for the process and are therefore lost.
Carbon dioxide lasers
The carbon dioxide laser with its wavelength of 10.6 micrometres (i.e. in the far infrared range) is particularly well-suited for working on lacquers, polymers or rubber. Highly reflecting materials such as copper, brass or gold reflect this wavelength particularly well. For cutting applications in industry, a particularly high laser power is used, usually over 1000 watts, in order to melt the reflective surface. As a result, the laser beam is very well absorbed in the diffuse melt and this then allows these materials to be worked correspondingly well with the laser.
Optimum set-up
In the interaction of the laser light with the material, an important role is also played by the process gas and the shielding gas, as well as a correctly dimensioned extraction.
In decennia of experience, Stork Prints Austria has adjusted laser beams and materials as well as the peripheral equipment optimally so that processing is very economical and above all also environmentally friendly.