Fused Silica for Material Processing & Industrial Applications

Cutting a wide variety of materials is one of the most important applications of lasers in materials processing today. These range from very thin display protection glass of 0.3 mm and less to thick steel plates of more than 40 mm. Other advantages include high speed and excellent cutting quality, which can eliminate the need for further processing steps. The transmission fiber can significantly influence the beam characteristics of the laser. This can be achieved, for example, by using fibers with multiple layers and different light-guiding areas, or by using a shaped fiber core to optimize the beam profile. The laser beam is often passed through focusing optics before it reaches the processing point. The components of the focusing head are also often made of fused silica. The quality required depends on the characteristics of the laser, such as pulse duration, power and beam size. The last quartz element through which the laser passes is a protective window. This prevents fumes or splashes from the processed material from entering the laser head and damaging the coated components. This window is also known as a safety window and is a consumable.

Metal laser welding is a common method for joining a wide variety of components together. Thanks to the use of laser technology, it is now possible to weld not only similar materials (homogeneous welding), but also very different materials can be welded together, such as copper and aluminum (heterogeneous welding). Typical welding lasers operate with a power of 2 to 16 kW at 1070 nm. Highly reflective and thermally conductive copper or gold, which are becoming increasingly important in e-mobility, are often processed with pulsed lasers in the 400-550 nm range due to better absorption. Our fused silica materials for optics and optical fibers enable maximum performance and can support all types of laser systems.

The cleaning of surfaces using laser technology is becoming increasingly important. It offers a quick and easy way to effectively prepare surfaces for subsequent production steps such as painting, welding or bonding. Whether it is iron surfaces that need to be cleaned of rust, paint, oil or residues from previous production steps, laser cleaning is a suitable technology. In addition, this technique can be used to selectively create conductive areas on the surface. One of the outstanding advantages of laser cleaning is that the material can be cleaned locally without the need for masks, as is the case with conventional cleaning methods such as sandblasting or chemical cleaning. In addition, the environment is protected by avoiding the production of large quantities of toxic cleaning agents and waste.

The labeling of products is a widespread application. Some examples are the declaration of the ingredients on consumer goods, the traceability of medical products, or the provision of technical information on electronic products. Different lasers are used depending on the material to be marked. Suitable fused silica materials must therefore be selected to transmit the light. Pulsed lasers are very common for this application. Due to the high peak powers, the coupling conditions and the damage threshold of the fiber materials are critical parameters. We can support you in optimizing these parameters for your application.