By Christoph Ruettimann, Noémie Dury and Markus Danner With almost 40 years of experience in precision processing of synthetic crystalline materials, Swiss laser manufacturer ROFIN-LASAG AG has developed a process for cutting sapphire glass, which is now increasingly used in mobile electronic devices and high-quality mechanical watches. Synthetic sapphire is a mono-crystalline aluminum oxide with […]
Laser Cutting
A Technical and Commercial Comparison of Fiber Laser and CO2 Laser Cutting
By John Powell, Alexander Kaplan Since the advent of commercial fiber and disk laser cutting machines, there has been a lot of controversy about the performance of these devices – particularly in comparison to their more established CO2 counterparts. In the early days, the sales staff promoting fiber technology would often declare that the new […]
Investigations in Remote Cutting of Carbon Fiber Composite Materials
By: Annett Klotzbach Fraunhofer IWS Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) are increasingly applied in the aircraft industry as well as the automobile industry. The main reason is the highly mechanical load on one hand and the low density on the other hand. Moreover, the corrosion resistance plus the damping behavior of the material can fully […]
CO2 Laser Cutting of Flexible Glass Substrates
By: Xinghua Li and Sean Garner Ultra-slim flexible glass substrates have many potential applications, spanning from photovoltaics to e-paper to touch sensors. Previously, these applications generally incorporated glass substrates in the thickness range of 0.3-1.0 mm and benefited from inherent glass properties including high optical transmission, low surface roughness, high thermal and dimensional stability, and […]
A Study on Laser Cutting of Textiles
By: Dr. Nukman bin Yusoff Laser cutting technology is a non-conventional machining which being used widely in many industries. However, the application of this technology in textile industry is still new and yet to be explored. Indeed, nowadays many textile industries are preferred to cut the textile by using conventional way such as discs, band […]