Most organic based materials are better marked using CO2 in terms of their energy abortion values being high. The only major issue is contrast levels. Rubber is no exception, as you can see from the image, the laser effectively melts the rubber creating an engraved mark. Where the material has melted, the surface is left very smooth providing some contrast levels between surface and mark.
In this particular application, the mark is not visible during normal usage, and only required as a reference, if the part fails or is replaced due to normal wear and tear. In this instance, once cleaned, the image will reveal the part number and the batch number for re-ordering.
Care has to be taken when processing such materials as flair off is a common occurrence. Parameters have to be selected to minimise these occurrences.
In this instance, we are using a CO2 galvo based M series machine. The process speed is high, and we pass over the part twice in order to achieve depth but ensure minimum damage from flair off.
If you would like further information on this laser marking application, or any other application, please request a call back, or talk to one of our laser marking specialists on 01737 826902.
