The challenge to create corrosion resistant marks and labeling has spanned across many industries that require robust traceability methods including medical devices and instruments. The unique properties of ultrashort laser pulses enable precise surface structuring to withstand the required manufacturing post-processes of passivation and autoclaving. The benefits of ultrashort laser marking are demonstrated with the results in a comparison to traditional nanosecond laser marking systems through observation of pulse energy and pulse duration effects, corrosion resistance and long term durability under clinical conditions on medical grade alloys. Moreover, an analysis of microstructure by use of EDX and XRD exhibits a visual advantage of formed laser induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) evident only to ultrashort pulse marking techniques. Under this new approach the allowable process parameter window flexibility for varied material types specific to medical applications was noted with respect to pico- and femtosecond pulse techniques. Traceability through unique device identification (UDI) is realized by combining complimentary technologies to format compliant sequenced data. Such data has been demonstrated as verifiable and rated with a customized grade to ensure quality of the marked code. The read-out data as well as the quality grading of marking result can be further processed in the production environment for documentation reasons. Thereby, the obstacle of UDI and corrosion resistant marking for medical devices and instruments can be met with such an industrial solution.
The demand for marking systems to create durable marks has led to a significant growth of lasers in manufacturing. Qswitched nanosecond pulsed solid state or fiber lasers are used for most of the marking applications today. Manufacturer of marking systems have pushed this growth by providing more powerful or more compact systems. We were able to reduce the overall size of the 3D laser marking head to approx. ½ cubic foot. This reduction in size was possible due to improved pump sources providing higher brightness, improved laser designs, improved electronic design and state of the art packaging technology. The size of approx. 1/2 cubic foot is the most compact full 3D marking system available. In addition, our new laser marking system based on a diode pumped solid state laser shows superior performance compared to laser marking systems based on fiber lasers of the same or even higher average power. We will show marking applications in terms of black engraving, annealing and high quality bitmap marking. Due to the optimized optical layout of the 3D marking system, it is possible to mark 3D shaped objects using the same laser parameters even with objects of different heights. We will present results of a 3D annealing application. Additionally, to achieve high productivity, the laser has to be integrated very easily into the production system in terms of mechanics, optics and software control.
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