Laser engraving anodised aluminium is common practice in today’s industrial markets. These metre long squares provide various measurement scales for roofers. The laser engraving anodised aluminium process, is used to vaporise the top surface, to remove the area affected by the anodising process exposing the host material. Where a darker dye colouring is used, the contrast levels remain high between the two contrasting surface areas.
Anodised Aluminium
This electrolytic passivation is widely used across industry on aluminium for a variety of reasons. The process can also provide a huge range of colour variations through the use of colour dying. The process changes the microscopic texture of the aluminium by modifying the crystal structure near the surface.
Laser engraving anodised aluminium using CO2 lasers
CO2 lasers can also be used for laser marking anodised aluminium. In this case, it is the dye that is directly affected rather than the material. The energy from the laser creates a heating action that removes the dye from the surface. The use of CO2, is generally not as well received as Nd:YAG, due to the lower quality created by the mark process. This is directly related to the fact that the heating effect is difficult to control due to “heat creep”. The result is a fuzzy edge to the mark image, and not as crisp as with Nd:YAG. The main advantage is, that no material is removed leaving the anodising closer to its original state, while per unit cost will be slightly higher with CO2, due to the process time being slower.
The process area of the laser marking system, requires that the rafter be moved, in order to create a full 1 meter long scale. Tooling was generated in order to accurately place the rafter for each move required.
Scaling to 1 mm was generated along each length.
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.
