Utilizing a laser marking system for your injection-molding operations can bring with it a lot of key benefits for your business. With that in mind, let’s examine some specific marking procedures as well as how to best incorporate laser marking into your injection-molding production so you can reap the full rewards.
Laser Marking System Techniques
Laser marking systems offer several ways to mark essential parts, giving users options for determining what’s best for their products and their customers.
The available techniques include:
- Laser Marking – Using a laser beam, the surface of a selected material is discolored to black or dark gray, producing the chosen text or graphic design. Since oxidation occurs beneath the surface, the material itself remains smooth and intact.
- Laser Engraving – During this process, a selection of your chosen material’s surface area is removed by the system’s laser, creating an exposed cavity. Because of a high level of heat utilized during laser engraving, this selection is vaporized on contact.
- Laser Etching – This process, a subset of laser engraving, is conducted by melting a chosen material and creating a raised mark on the product’s surface.
- Foaming – For this technique, also referred to as color change, a controlled burn is conducted upon a plastic’s surface. This allows for a fairly smooth surface following marking, and leaves a white, tan or dark mark upon the surface, depending upon the plastic used.
If you’d like some further insights into the differences between marking, etching and engraving, be sure to check out our in-depth post.
You can also learn about annealing, carbon migration, foaming, and colorization in our “4 Most Common Types of Laser Marking” blog post.
What Materials Are Ideal for Marking and Other Processes?
If you’re considering laser marking, engraving or etching for injection-molded materials, know that laser systems offer impressive versatility.
Our equipment is able to work with materials like:
- ABS plastics
- Polyethylene plastics
- Glass-filled plastics
- Various other plastics
Additionally, materials such as aluminum, black oxide, PCD, steel, titanium, copper and many more are also regularly marked using our systems. For full details, visit our materials page.
And for a look at a final product, visit our page for laser marking on white ABS plastic.
The Benefits of Using a Laser Marking System for Injection-molded Parts
Laser marking systems offer a host of benefits for industries who incorporate them into their standard operations. These include:
- Less wear and tear on tooling equipment due to the non-contact, focused laser beam used in the processes
- A precise, repeatable process resulting in sharp resolution that can be trusted for essential part-making and design
- The ability to mark or engrave difficult to access areas, including those found in concave and convex designs
- An environmentally-safe process since the laser utilized creates no toxic byproducts compared to a process like acid etching
- A faster production speed compared to traditional methods, saving both time and money
- Hand polishing of materials is often eliminated since the surface material following the laser marking process is much smoother than milled surfaces
Of course, these are only some of the benefits that laser marking systems can provide. For further insights, be sure to check out our laser marking for plastics and laser marking for electronics pages.
Contact TYKMA Electrox Today
Have any questions about how to incorporate laser marking, engraving and etching into your injection-molding operations? Reach out to our dedicated team today because we’re ready to put our experience to work for you!