CO2 Laser Engraving
If you have read more posts you probably have noticed I am a big believer of the benefits of the laser engraving system. You can engrave,cut, etch many different materials easily with laser. But the nature of laser vary as well. One of the most utilized laser is the CO2 Laser. So as you can easily realize engraving materials with a CO2 based laser is CO2 Laser engraving.
Carbon dioxide is an atmospheric gas comprised of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. A very widely known chemical compound, it is frequently called by its formula CO2. In its solid state, it is commonly known as dry ice. The carbon dioxide laser (CO2 laser) was one of the earliest lasers to be developed (invented by Kumar Patel of Bell Labs in 1964), and is still one of the most useful. Carbon dioxide lasers are the highest power continuous wave lasers that are currently available.
Due to CO2 lasers operate in the infrared zone, especial materials are necessary for their construction. Typically, the mirrors are made of coated silicon, molybdenum, or gold, while windows and lenses are made of either germanium or zinc selenide. For high power applications, gold mirrors and zinc selenide windows and lenses are preferred. Historically, lenses and windows were made out of salt (either sodium chloride or potassium chloride). While the material was inexpensive, the lenses and windows degraded slowly with exposure to atmospheric moisture.
Laser operation occurs when a medium (in our case CO2) is excited within a chamber. You can find models with chambers formed by sealed metal tubes. This light is focused to a small, intense beam that may be used for cutting or “writing” on variety of materials. Lasers function as components within a system and are commonly used in such applications as Engraving, Cutting, Marking and even 3D Prototyping.
Lasers are precision tools. A laser never comes into contact with the material it is working on - only its beam does. With focused spots as small as .002″ possible, damage commonly caused by mechanical machines - touching, dragging or tearing a material’s surface - is totally avoided.
