What to Know About Laser Engraving

Seeing that people are still getting used to technology is one reason. Some do not know how it works, what differentiates it from other marking processes, how much it costs, and questions like that.

This process is the new process used to give most products a unique design or professional touch. It is used in various applications today. For instance, the name of the winner of a sports trophy is carved with this process, company logos are carved on pens and other devices using this technology, and even serial numbers or bar codes of different items are cut through this process.

These are just the commonest of its widely used applications. Have you ever wondered what its advantage is? With this process, it is possible to carve any form of design on different solid materials.

Before we proceed, we need to answer the essential pressing question on everyone’s minds;

A Quick Overview of What Lasers Are

A “Laser” is an acronym, even if most people do not know that. It stands for Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation. After years of advancement in technology, beams have become one of the most powerful tools in the hands of manufacturers. To create a beam, one must raise energy levels of atoms to excited states, making them able to release light and more energy as they fall back to their ground state.

Once the light beam is created, amplification occurs to make a focal point. As these atoms begin to agitate, weak light is created, and as energy increases, the waves of light become more potent and more concentrated. Unlike other light types, beam light rays are coherent, having the same wavelength, making them have such a very high energy concentration.

What is Laser Engraving?

Laser engraving is a technological process that vaporizes various materials into fumes. The heat of the beam acts like a chisel, creating deep marks on the material by removing some of its layers from its surface. The beam itself must hit some localized areas with large amounts of energy to generate the level of heat required for the vaporization.

During this process, the beam is said to impinge on the material, and in the process, exposes it to a tremendous amount of heat. Depending on the texture of the fabric and how long it is exposed to the heat, its color may change and create a contrast, or the material may burn or evaporate. The resulting marks remain permanent and are highly resistant to abrasion.

There are three types of marking processes that use beams; laser etching, laser marking, and laser engraving. All the operations are highly versatile and can be carried out with almost any metal using special tools like CNC laser engravers which are most popular for the procedure. All its applications are generally summed into one thing; permanent marking.

Thanks to government regulations that affect part identification and legible products, these processes are fast gaining popularity. These provide permanent solutions for marking and identification, making it fall in line with the set rules and regulations. Also, it does the companies a favor; they can add distinction to their parts and products.

These three processes may be similar, but don’t be deceived because they are not the same. The differences between them have to do with what they do to the surfaces they mark. How deep the beam is allowed to go and how the beam process changes the appearance of the surface.

To choose any of these three marking processes, you need to consider some factors;

• The resistance of the marking, which describes its ability to remain seen under different weather conditions.
• The beam’s marking speed will describe the marking time that avoids any bottlenecks in production.
• The item to be marked, which describes the marking method’s compatibility with the material.

Let us take a few minutes to understand these three processes:

Laser Marking

This is when the beam interacts with the material’s surface, altering its appearance or properties slightly. It is usually achieved by slowly moving the low-powered beam across any material through a process known as discoloration.

This process creates some high-contrast marks without causing any disruption to the material. The beam simply heats the material to cause oxidation under its surface and turns the material black. You can even say the process applies low temperatures to these metals to anneal their surfaces.

This process is less common. It can also be called dark laser marking or laser coloration. It can also be used to char plastic materials and anneal metals. The process is divided into four different types; annealing, foaming, coloration, and carbon migration. Its application, although not widespread, is used in the medical field for building titanium and stainless steel parts. It is also ideal for UID codes, QR codes, most logos, and other forms of identification.

Laser Etching

This is another type of marking process where the heat from the beam causes the material’s surface to melt. So, the beam applies extreme heat to melt the material’s surface. This melted material then expands and causes a deep mark, and the depth in etching is not so much. You can check this link https://techgeek365.com/laser-etching-glass-work/ to learn more about using this technique for marking glass.

Laser Engraving

The third type of marking process and the focus of this article would be laser engraving. It is the process where the beam removes the upper layer of any material physically to show a cavity that reveals images at eye level.

In this process, the laser produces extreme heat, which vaporizes the material. This process is quicker as it vaporizes the target material with each pulse, creating a cavity on the material’s surface which is visible to the human eye and can also be touched. The more the process is repeated with the device, the deeper the marks you want to get.

It is also the fastest process and is suitable mainly for items you expect to wear out anytime. Its primary applications are in the creation of logos and serial numbers on different items, amongst others. Fortunately, it can be used on virtually any metal, leather, glass surface, wood, or plastic.

This process is the most popular of the three, as people tend to want their items customized and personalized, and it needs to be beheld by the human eye. However, it is not ideal for critical items or parts. You can find more on this website about using this procedure in design.

Laser engraving is almost as easy as printing. First, create a layout of what you wish to engrave in any of your graphics program app. Some examples of these apps are Photoshop, AutoCAD, CorelDraw, Inkscape, Illustrator, etc.

Next, use a printer driver to move the designed graphic to the machine for lasing. With just the push of a single button, the target material is laser-engraved with what you have designed. There are other advanced settings one can use to make the process a lot easier, but these steps are the core fundamentals.

There are two significant types of laser engraving; raster and vector engraving.

• The Raster engraving is the more popular and recognized type. The graphic that the pixels built is engraved point by point and line by line in this process.
• The Vector engraving is not so famous, but in this process, the graphic is made up of lines and curves that can be traced by the beam ‘vector by vector’ simultaneously. It is also called scoring.

Where Are Lasers Used?

Being one of the most versatile inventions in this modern age, beams are used in practically every industry. A few of them are automotive, industrial and tooling, electronics, medical, military and defense, aerospace, oil and gas, and much more.

These different industries have their separate applications for it, and no matter the industry we are talking about, you will need beams to at least identify your parts.

Laser engraving has a lot of advantages over mechanical engraving, and some of them are listed below;

• They have a more comprehensive range of applications.
• They also support the non-contact processing of some materials.
• They do not cause the wear and tear of the materials.
• They come with maximum precision and can give the most delicate details.
• They can be used for economic production.

There is a lot to be discovered about the usefulness and application of these marking processes, especially laser engraving. In the end, the application of beams cannot be overemphasized.

Final Notes

We cannot categorically pinpoint who invented lasers and what year it was invented due to several assumptions. But one thing is sure; its wide range of applications and usefulness is never in doubt.

Some people believe it to be too expensive, while others don’t. It may well boil down to preference, finance, and how much you love to preserve the surface of your item.

So are you in need of something to mark your precious items without having to damage the material in any way? Then, maybe you should try laser engraving today.