Metal processing

Metal draws heat away fast, so longer pulses melt the edge and leave burrs and a wide heat-affected zone. Femtosecond laser pulses remove material before the heat spreads: stents and thin parts are cut with smooth, burr-free edges, surfaces are textured to change their properties, and metals are marked black or in color without inks.

Material processing
Material processing Glass Metal Polymer Other materials
Metal

Cutting of various metals

Femtosecond pulses end before heat can diffuse into the surrounding metal, so metals are cut with no burrs, a minimal heat-affected zone and high precision. Thin metal foils in particular can be given complex shapes and fine features.

FemtoLux has been used to cut stainless steel, copper, tantalum and Kovar. The pulse energy and scanning parameters are optimized for each metal, and cut quality holds across all four, on foils from 50 to 125 µm thick.

Demonstrated parts include perforated discs, slotted rings, interlocking brackets, diamond mesh and arrays of 400 µm holes, cut at FTMC and at Laser Micromachining Ltd. Where metal has to be removed in volume rather than cut through, MHz burst mode raises the removal rate.

Perforated disc cut in stainless steel.

Perforated disc cut in stainless steel.

Courtesy of FTMC.

Manufacturing examples

Slotted ring cut in stainless steel.

Slotted ring cut in stainless steel.

Courtesy of FTMC.

SEM image of the perforated stainless steel disc.

SEM image of the perforated stainless steel disc.

Courtesy of FTMC.

Interlocking brackets cut in stainless steel.

Interlocking brackets cut in stainless steel.

Courtesy of FTMC.

Mesh cut in 100 µm thick stainless steel.

Mesh cut in 100 µm thick stainless steel.

Courtesy of Laser Micromachining Ltd.

SEM image of the mesh cut in 100 µm thick stainless steel.

SEM image of the mesh cut in 100 µm thick stainless steel.

Courtesy of Laser Micromachining Ltd.

Radial cut-outs and 400 µm holes in 100 µm thick stainless steel.

Radial cut-outs and 400 µm holes in 100 µm thick stainless steel.

Courtesy of Laser Micromachining Ltd.

Cutting of 50 µm thick stainless steel.

Cutting of 50 µm thick stainless steel.

Courtesy of Laser Micromachining Ltd.

Cutting of 125 µm thick tantalum.

Cutting of 125 µm thick tantalum.

Courtesy of Laser Micromachining Ltd.

Kovar cutting.

Kovar cutting.

Courtesy of Laser Micromachining Ltd.

Recommended products

FemtoLux
Industrial Femtosecond Lasers
  • 50 W / >300 µJ at 1030 nm
  • 20 W / >50 µJ at 515 nm
  • 10 W / >25 µJ at 343 nm
  • < 400 fs – 1 ps
  • Single shot to 4 MHz (AOM controlled)
  • MHz, GHz, MHz+GHz burst modes

Similar applications

Optical photograph of laser milled aluminium Fresnel lens mould, diameter 35 mm.
Metal milling in MHz burst mode

Femtosecond milling of metal gives high quality but limited throughput, because the most efficient fluence is hard to reach at high average power. MHz burst mode splits one high-energy pulse into sub-pulses, which restores the optimum fluence and raises removal efficiency by 18% on aluminum, 44.5% on copper and 37% on steel.
Black-marked QR codes and logos on medical tweezers.
Black/color marking of metals

Femtosecond pulses roughen the metal surface until it absorbs almost all incident light, which leaves a black mark of high contrast and strong resistance to environmental effects. A gentler thermal load does the opposite job: it grows a thin oxide layer, and the layer thickness sets the color, with no inks or chemical additives.
Nitinol textured with a square grid, each cell filled with LIPSS ripples.
Metal surface texturing

Femtosecond pulses near the ablation threshold cover a metal surface in laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS). The texture changes how the surface behaves rather than its shape: light absorption rises, wetting and tribological performance shift, and bacterial adhesion drops. Coarser patterns can be combined with LIPSS into hierarchical textures.
Nitinol demo part cut with two strut patterns, with lettering marked on the solid band between them.
Nitinol stent cutting

Femtosecond lasers are the best choice for cutting nitinol stents. Their ultra-short pulses cut with very high precision, so the edges come out smooth, with almost no burr and only a small heat-affected zone. That matters for stents, whose fine geometry and exact dimensions have to work inside the body.
All applications