Processing Plastics with CO2 Lasers Synrad Applications Lab
Types of Laser Interactions with Plastics
There are 3 main types of material interactions when hit by the
CO2 laser beam:
• Vaporization
– The material vaporizes into gas residue which is blown out when cut.
This is the cleanest cutting / marking process.
• Melt Sharing
– The material melts into molten droplets which are blown out when cut.
There is typically some melt-back
• Chemical Degradation
– The plastic material chemically degrades typically releasing carbon smoke.
The material chars and has soot residue
http://microfluidics.cnsi.ucsb.edu/tools/Trotec_laser_cutter/Synrad%20LaserProcessingGuide_Plastics.pdf
https://discourse-cdn-sjc1.com/business5/uploads/glowforge/original/3X/c/5/c500bc3c2eb92414e85edc51ca4f9ebac4b42296.pdf