Comparison of 9.4 and 10.6 micron carbon dioxide lasers for processing of polymers Available to Purchase

Cutting and drilling tests are performed on polymers using lasers operating at 9.4 and 10.6 microns. We also performed absorption tests by sending low-power beams from these same lasers through samples of the test materials and measuring the degree of attenuation; absorption coefficients were calculated from these results. The results of these tests were correlated with the spectral absorption characteristics of the polymers. Process quality was found to be related to the material’s absorption of the laser wavelength.