Laser Marking Dental Equipment in the Dentistry Industry:
The Dental industry has a revenue worth £7 billion, as proven by IBISWorld’s Dental Practices market research report in June 2015 and has, over the past 50 years, developed a better understanding of common oral diseases and the instruments they require to enhance their practices.
The Dentistry Utensils:
The utensils dentists normally use are made from the material stainless steel and are manufactured in mass before they are sent to get laser marked.
Why are they Laser Marked?
There is now a drive for better accountability within all medical sectors. In some cases the laser marking is purely for branding purposes.
Other examples are to identify department ownership. In some cases the instruments may have to be subject to cleaning. This cleaning may require being recorded for tractability reasons and ID marks or codes help with this.
The Process using a Fibre Laser:
- To achieve the black marking the parts are processed using a Fibre laser. A Fibre laser is used because its wavelength is best suited for materials in the metal range, specifically stainless steel and titanium. Its very bright spot (high energy) provides the process profile which is very well matched to the materials.
- The surface is heated very quickly to create the colour change. However, the temperature never reaches vaporisation point, and therefore no material is removed in the process. This is good for bacterial control.
- As a type of discolouration takes place to a depth it can therefore be classified as permanent, normally referred to as annealing or CW marking.
The Results:
The process does not damage the utensils but still provides a very high quality finish to the component for identity and branding.
