Use of kW class Ultra-Short Pulse lasers jointly with a suitable beam engineering strategy makes possible to achieve highthroughput production of laser functionalised surfaces. Nonetheless, the production of complex parts is still limited by several issues like the difficulty to reach certain regions where the geometry presents high aspect ratio shapes or tortuous profiles, and the need to adapt the laser processing workstation to a specific geometry. To overcome this issue, metallic moulds can be efficiently laser treated and employed to reproduce the surface morphology, and its specific properties, on a final polymeric replica. Forming process is a well-known method to produce any-shape part from metallic foils by applying specific constraints. In this work, forming of laser-treated metallic foils and the mechanical properties of the final formed functionalised parts are investigated in order to evaluate the possibility to produce laser-functionalised 3D complex products. By using a Rollto- Roll pilot line we textured stainless-steel 200 μm-thick foils by Laser Induced Periodic Surface Structures (LIPSS). The LIPSS morphology has been firstly optimised. Then, three types of mechanical tests were carried on laser-treated and untreated foils: standard tensile, fatigue and cruciform specimen tests. We measured and compared ultimate tensile strength, breaking strength, maximum elongation, and area reduction on specimens with and without LIPSS obtained from the same foil. By SEM and AFM analysis we compared the LIPSS morphology on samples subjected to mechanical tests and those just textured. For both, we evaluated the surface wettability through a measurement of the contact angle.
Amongst the technologies enabling surface structuring at the nanoscale, Ultra-Short Pulse laser (USP) plays a key role when targeting high process robustness, high throughput, and large area processing. In the frame of “Tres Clean” project, texturing of ≈1 m2 surfaces has been recently shown, with the possibility to effectively replicate the nanostructures by injection moulding. Nevertheless, extend USP nanotexturing over several m2 through continuous production represents still an issue due to the need of high-power P, and difficult process control. The “New Skin” project could represent a turning point pushing the readiness of USP-nanotexturing with a significant up-scale of the production volume. Here we show the results obtained with a demonstrative pilot production line based on a roll-to-roll approach and including a 350 W, fs laser and a polygon scanner delivering the beam at scan speed vs < 350 m/s. Line speed values vl are comprised between 3 and 20 mm/s. By systematic variation of some key process parameters (pulse energy and repetition rate) we optimised the nano-structures morphology which has been characterised through FFT and SEM analysis. A throughput of 5 minutes/m2 with an acceptable structure’s quality is reported over several m2 surfaces. Possible applications and values propositions are introduced and discussed.
Ultra-fast laser in micromachining have a reputation of highest precision and quality, which justifies additional invest in numerous applications. However, deficits in the synchronization of the positioning of beam deflection device and laser triggering -in particular at high repetition rates- still lead to defects like overtreatment due to the inertia of the mirrors of galvanometer scanners or path deviations at complex shapes. This in turn has led to an increasing demand of advanced pulse to pulse control for precise laser energy deposition. Two recent innovations have the potential to overcome these current limitations. Firstly, the scan ahead feature allows to calculate the actual beam position in acceleration and deceleration mode. According to the precise position feedback the control needs to adjust the repetition rate of the laser source e.g. at rectangular corners of a scan trajectory. Therefore, the pulse on demand feature at the laser interface is obligatory to dynamically adjust the pulse to pulse delay in order to accomplish constant energy deposition at any programmed scan pattern. We have put these two innovations to a test by combining an Excelliscan from Scanlab with an UV Tangor laser from Amplitude to validate the synchronization and constant pulse separation at various scan speeds and geometrical patterns. Applications trials like engraving with scan speed are presented in comparison to conventional scanning techniques to demonstrate the benefit of the fast synchronization and pulse on demand technologies.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.