Why might your business want laser marking?
What is laser marking?
At its simplest, laser marking workpiece parts with laser technology. Essentially, a focused laser beam hits the material being worked on, and its energy creates a reaction leaving a permanent and easily legible, high-contrast mark behind. It allows engineers to create numbers, images or characters on a surface without affecting the part concerned. The speed, focus and power of the beam can vary for the various possible processes, such as:
- Laser engraving
- Laser etching
- Laser ablation
- Laser annealing
Other options include carbon migration, foaming and colouration or discolouration.
The one you choose will depend both on what exactly you need, and how much time you have available.
The list of materials on which you can perform laser marking is very extensive, and components can be any size. It includes (but is not limited to) glass, leather, coated and uncoated metals including steel, stainless steel and aluminium, silicon and ceramics, not to mention rubber and polymers.
What are the benefits of laser marking?
Laser marking is an important yet often strangely overlooked process offering a large number of advantages to the end user – here are some of them:
- It’s a clean, environmentally friendly activity which minimises waste
- There’s no impact on the quality of the product or the material’s structural integrity, since the change is so minuscule
- The speed of production is extremely high
- Laser marking minimises the chances of someone counterfeiting your items
- It allows you to keep track of your products
- The finish is permanent, so won’t wear or fade away over time
- It shows compliance with industry regulations, for example those concerning safety or quality standards
- You can use it to identify parts and products via barcodes, serial or VIN numbers and logos
- The process can be automated
- You can look forward to excellent legibility on just about any surface – plus it’s scalable to suit size with no loss in definition
Applications of laser marking
This process is ideal where you’re in particular need of accuracy and permanence; equally, little or nothing is required in the way of after-care or maintenance.
Its precision is also perfect for serial and batch numbers, so text and figures are the most common applications across a wide range of different industry sectors. It’s even possible to create lettering so small you can only see it using automated technology or magnifying equipment.
Alternatively, you might want to use it where you need to incorporate warning symbols or instructions on a product.
Another very useful application is ‘night and day’ marking, which means you can see material markings in the light and dark, for example on laptop keyboards, drinks machines and car dashboards.
Laser marking from Acutech Precision Engineering
At Acutech, we can help your customers to associate your products with your brand more easily, thanks to laser marking, or etching. And, with all the associated benefits and possibilities, it’s hardly surprising that this process is increasingly popular.
We’re precision engineering specialists, with 20 years’ experience in laser marking and similar processes across a wide spectrum of different industry sectors.
Call us today for an informal, no-obligation chat about what you need and we’ll take it from there.