View suppliers with this capability
Laser Machining processes - Laser Drilling, Laser Perforation
Register a free buyer account to submit an online Request For Quote for laser drilling and receive your quotes online - fast.
Laser drilling is the process of using focused laser pulses to remove material by the ablation process until a hole is produced. CO2, Nd:YAG, excimer, solid state, fast pulse and other types of lasers are all used for laser drilling.
On a large scale laser drilling in general steel fabrication using a CO2 laser is able to quickly and efficiently drill or cut holes into steel for bolt holes and mating components.
However, laser drilling is particularly useful on the micro and nano scales. Laser drilling is used to produce hole sin structures that are very accurately positioned and as small as 1 micron in size. Depending on the laser used, holes drilled are produced very quickly, with a very clean cut and with no effects from heat. Lasers can drill holes in almost any material as long as it can absorb the frequency of the laser energy. This includes soft materials such as plastics, right up to hard materials such as carbides, ceramics, tungsten and even diamond.
For very small holes or holes drilled into delicate components there typically is no alternative but to use laser drilling.
For most applications, the main limitations are that materials transparent to the laser frequency cannot be drilled, and the depth achievable reduces the smaller the hole gets. Depending on the method used, laser drilled holes typically have a small amount of taper which must be taken into consideration.
Recent advances have been made by drilling holes with the parts submerged in water. The water produces bubbles during machining. The bubbles carry debris away out of the hole allowing much deeper and smaller holes to be produced.
Typical applications for laser drilling are micro-fluidic channels, micro-filter perforations, medical devices, micro-device manufacturing, micro-light filters and surgical implants.
Suppliers With This Capability