Laser Micro Cutting
Micro cutting can be used in the removal of larger areas of material from within a substrate as well as material separation.
Laser micro cutting, being a non-contact process, can be used to create a huge variety of very intricate shaped parts. When compared to traditional cutting or sawing, extremely small cut widths or kerf widths can be obtained.
Laser micro cutting can also be used for the separation of for example the final part or to leave tabs for subsequent final part removal. It can also be used to efficiently remove areas within a substrate creating larger holes, slots or windows.
Laser Cutting Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
Minimum width of cut |
Typically 5µm | |
Maximum Material Thickness |
Typically 1mm (dependent upon speed requirements, and can be greater for some hard materials. Contact us to find out more) | |
Materials |
Most materials from soft plastics to hard ceramics including transparent materials | |
The use of lasers for micro cutting has become very popular in a variety of industries. The ability to translate the laser beam across the material surface at several meters per second, lends itself to being able to cut not only with extraordinary precision, but also very quickly.
Laser cutting can not only produce linear cuts as common with traditional dicing or sawing techniques, but due to the ability to manipulate the beam in any direction, can produce any shape of cut in the original substrate material.
One unique benefit to the use of lasers when cutting, is the ability to produce extremely narrow kerf widths. This is important when either the material is expensive, or cuts need to be produced between pre-existing close pitched features.
Rather than cut completely through materials, it is possible to stop at a predetermined depth – this lends itself to a scribe and break process, which can not only serve to increase the speed of the cutting process, but also hold very small and delicate parts together before separation.
Oxford Laser have a wide variety of lasers available for laser cutting, ranging from ultrafast lasers which are particularly good for cutting transparent materials, to lasers with longer pulse lengths which can help to increase throughput.
