Polymer processing

Polymer conducts heat poorly, so heat from a longer pulse stays where it lands and melts or chars the edge. Femtosecond laser pulses remove material before the heat spreads, which keeps cut edges and machined features clean. The same pulses also build: focused inside a liquid resin, they solidify it point by point into 3D structures.

Material processing
Material processing Glass Metal Polymer Other materials
Polymer

Polymer cutting and milling

Polymers are used across automotive, medical and consumer electronics manufacturing, and they conduct heat poorly. Heat from a long pulse therefore stays where it lands, and the result is a wide heat-affected zone, warping and carbonization. Femtosecond pulses remove material before the heat spreads, so the edge stays clean.

FemtoLux suits this work on two counts. Its pulse duration is short enough to process polymer without a significant thermal load, and its 4 MHz repetition rate carries the throughput, with scanning speeds of several meters per second.

A 10 mm circle is cut from polymer film in 400 milliseconds, at a cutting speed of 300 mm/s. Shorter wavelengths tighten the cut further: moving to 515 or 343 nm reduces the heat-affected zone by 27%, to 12.7 µm in polyimide at 515 nm. The trade-off is throughput, because average power falls at shorter wavelengths.

Ekspla logo and arc slots cut through polyimide film.

Ekspla logo and arc slots cut through polyimide film.

Courtesy of FTMC.

Manufacturing examples

Polyimide cut with 515 nm; the heat-affected zone measures 12.7 µm.

Polyimide cut with 515 nm; the heat-affected zone measures 12.7 µm.

Courtesy of FTMC.

10 mm circle cut out of thin polymer film.

10 mm circle cut out of thin polymer film.

Courtesy of FTMC.

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

Photopolymerized microlattice under illumination, with an SEM detail inset.
Photopolymerization

Photopolymerization builds structures instead of removing material. Femtosecond pulses focused inside a liquid resin trigger two-photon absorption, which solidifies only the focal volume, so the focus can be scanned in three dimensions to write almost any geometry. The result is micrometer-scale parts for tissue engineering, optics, electronics and microfluidics.
All applications