What Are the Different Types of Laser Technician Jobs?

Laser is a new light source in the 1960s. Lasers are widely used due to their good directivity, high brightness, and good monochromaticity. Laser processing is one of the most promising areas for laser applications, and more than 20 laser processing technologies have now been developed.

laser technology

(Using laser processing technology)

Laser has the characteristics of good monochromaticity, strong directivity and high brightness. Now found

The full name of the laser in English is Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (LASER). Introduced in 1960, it is a type of light intensified by the radiation produced by stimulation.

Scientists in the electric tube use the energy of light or current to strike certain crystals or atoms that are susceptible to excitation, causing their atomic electrons to reach an excited high-energy state. When these electrons want to return to a quiet low-energy state, Atoms will emit photons to release excess energy; then, these emitted photons will hit other atoms, stimulating more atoms to generate photons, triggering a series of "chain reactions", and all moving towards the same side, Forms intense and concentrated light in one direction; therefore a strong laser can even be used to cut steel plates!

Lasers are widely used because of their characteristics. The laser is almost a monochromatic light wave,

• Laser processing technology

The laser has good space controllability and time controllability. It has great freedom in the material, shape, size and processing environment of the processing object, and is especially suitable for automated processing. The combination of laser processing system and computer numerical control technology can constitute efficient automatic processing equipment, which has become a key technology for enterprises to implement timely production, and has opened up a broad prospect for high-quality, efficient and low-cost processing production.

Both hot and cold processing can be applied to metal and non-metal materials, cutting, drilling, grooving, marking, etc. Hot processing of metal materials for welding, surface treatment, production of alloys, cutting are extremely advantageous. Cold processing is for photochemical deposition, Laser rapid prototyping technology, laser etching, doping and oxidation are all suitable.

• Laser rapid prototyping

The material used to make the model with a laser is a liquid photosensitive resin. After absorbing the laser energy in the ultraviolet band, it solidifies and changes into a solid material. Program the model to be manufactured and input it to the computer. The laser beam output from the laser is controlled by the computer with the optical path system, so that it scans and scratches on the model material. Wherever the laser beam goes, the original liquid material solidifies. The laser beam is scanned and scored under the command of the computer, and the photosensitive polymer material is cured layer by layer, and the samples are accurately stacked to form a model. Therefore, using this method to make models is fast and the models created are exquisite. This technology has been widely used in aerospace, electronics, automotive and other industrial fields.

• laser cutting

Laser cutting technology is widely used in the processing of metal and non-metallic materials, which can greatly reduce processing time, reduce processing costs, and improve workpiece quality. Pulse laser is suitable for metal materials, continuous laser is suitable for non-metal materials, the latter is an important application area of laser cutting technology. However, the application of lasers in the industrial field has limitations and disadvantages. For example, the use of lasers to cut food and plywood is unsuccessful. Food is cut and burned at the same time. Cutting plywood is far from economical .

With the rapid development of the laser industry, related laser technologies and laser products have become increasingly mature. In the field of laser cutting machines. The situation of YAG solid-state laser cutting machine and CO2 laser cutting machine has become more and more powerful.

YAG solid laser cutting machine has the characteristics of low price and good stability, but low energy efficiency is generally <3%. The output power of the products is mostly below 600W. Due to the small output energy, it is mainly used for punching and spot welding and cutting of thin plates. Its green laser beam can be applied in the case of pulse or continuous wave. It has a short wavelength and good light concentration. It is suitable for precision machining, especially for hole processing under pulse. It can also be used for cutting, welding and photolithography. . The wavelength of YAG solid-state laser cutting machine laser is not easily absorbed by non-metals, so it cannot cut non-metallic materials. What YAG solid-state laser cutting machine needs to solve is to improve the stability and life of the power supply, that is to develop a large-capacity, long-life optical pump Excitation light sources, such as the use of semiconductor optical pumps, can greatly increase energy efficiency.

The CO2 laser cutting machine can stably cut carbon steel within 20mm, stainless steel within 10mm, and aluminum alloy below 8mm. The wavelength of CO2 laser is 10.6um, which is relatively easy to be absorbed by non-metals. It can cut non-metal materials such as wood, acrylic, PP, and plexiglass with high quality, but the photoelectric conversion rate of CO2 laser is only about 10%. The CO2 laser cutting machine is equipped with a nozzle that blows oxygen, compressed air or inert gas N2 at the exit of the beam to improve the cutting speed and the smoothness of the cut. In order to improve the stability and life of the power supply, the CO2 gas laser must solve the discharge stability of the high-power laser. According to international safety standards, laser hazards are classified into 4 levels, and CO2 lasers belong to the lowest hazard level.

Fiber laser cutting machine, because it can transmit through optical fiber, has an unprecedented degree of flexibility, fewer failure points, convenient maintenance, and extremely fast speed. Therefore, fiber cutting machine has great advantages when cutting thin plates within 4mm, but it is affected by solid laser wavelength. It has poor quality when cutting thick plates. The wavelength of the fiber laser laser cutting machine is 1.06um, which is not easily absorbed by non-metals, so it cannot cut non-metal materials. Fiber laser has a photoelectric conversion rate of more than 25%. The advantages of fiber lasers in terms of electricity consumption and supporting cooling systems are quite obvious. According to international safety standards, laser hazards are classified into 4 levels. Fiber lasers are the most damaging because of their short wavelengths, which are harmful to the eyes. Because of safety considerations, fiber laser processing requires a completely enclosed environment. Fiber laser cutting machine, as an emerging laser technology, is far less popular than CO2 laser cutting machine. ^[1]

• Laser welding

The laser beam is irradiated on the material, which will heat it to melt, so that the butted components are joined together, that is, welding. Laser welding uses a laser beam with a lower power than when cutting metal to melt the material without vaporizing it, and it becomes a continuous solid structure after cooling. Laser welding technology has the effect of purifying the molten pool, purifies the weld metal, and is suitable for welding between the same and different metal materials. Due to the high energy density of the laser, it is particularly advantageous for metal welding with high melting points, high reflectance, high thermal conductivity, and very different physical properties. Because laser welding does not require any solder, the possibility of contamination of the welding component is eliminated; secondly, the laser beam can be focused by the optical system into a beam with a very small diameter, in other words, the laser can be made into a very fine welding gun for precision welding Work; there is no direct contact between laser welding and components, that is, non-contact welding, so the material is fragile and not tight. We can also weld components far away from us, or put components in a vacuum chamber. Weld it together. Because of these characteristics, laser welding is particularly popular in the microelectronics industry.

• Laser engraving

Engraving with a laser engraving knife is more convenient and faster than using an ordinary engraving knife. Using ordinary carving knife to sculpt on hard materials, such as Huagangyan, steel plate, or sculpting on some soft materials, such as leather, it is more laborious, it will take longer to carve a pattern. . It is different if laser engraving is used, because it is a engraving method that uses a high-energy-density laser to locally irradiate the workpiece, vaporize the surface material or change the color of the chemical reaction, leaving a permanent mark. It has no contact with the material at all. The material is hard or soft and does not hinder the speed of engraving. Therefore, laser engraving technology is one of the largest application fields of laser processing. The engraving speed with this kind of engraving knife is the same whether it is engraving on hard materials or soft materials. If it is coordinated with a computer to control the movement of the laser beam, the engraving work can also be automated. Put the pattern to be engraved on the photoelectric scanner. After the signal output from the scanner is processed by the computer and used to control the movement of the laser beam, it can be automatically carved on wooden boards, glass, and leather according to our drawings. At the same time, the focused laser beam is very thin, which is equivalent to a very smart engraving knife. The engraving lines are thin and the details on the pattern can be carved. Laser engraving can print a variety of characters, symbols and patterns, and the character size can be on the order of millimeters to micrometers, which has special significance for product anti-counterfeiting. Laser engraving has been developed to achieve sub-micron engraving and has been widely used in the microelectronics industry and biological engineering.

• Laser drilling

It is common to make small holes in components. However, if it is required to make a large number of small holes with a diameter of 0.1 mm to several micrometers in hard materials, such as hard alloys. I am afraid it is not easy to use ordinary machining tools. Even if it can be done, the processing cost will be very high. The laser has good coherence. It can be focused into a light spot with a very small diameter (less than one micrometer) by an optical system, which is equivalent to a miniature drill used for drilling. Secondly, the brightness of the laser is very high, and the laser energy density (energy per square meter of area) at the focused focal point will be very high. The laser output by an ordinary laser can generate up to 109 Joules / cm2 , Enough to melt and vaporize the material, leaving a small hole in the material, just like a drill bit. However, the hole drilled by the laser is conical, rather than the cylindrical shape of mechanical drilling, which is inconvenient in some places.

• Laser etching

Laser etching technology is simpler than traditional chemical etching technology, which can greatly reduce production costs. It can process lines with a width of 0.125 to 1 micron, which is very suitable for the manufacture of ultra-large-scale integrated circuits.

• Laser surgery

Laser can produce high-energy, focused monochromatic light with precise penetrating power, which can generate high heat locally when acting on human tissues. Laser surgery uses the characteristics of laser to remove or destroy the target tissue to achieve the purpose of treatment. Including laser cutting and laser peeling.

• laser weapon

Laser weapons have their unique characteristics, which makes them widely used in military applications such as air defense, anti-tank, and bomber self-defense. The reason why lasers can be powerful weapons is because they have three levels of destructive power:

1. The ablation effect is the same as the principle of laser thermal processing. When a high-energy laser beam hits the target, the laser energy will be absorbed by the target material and converted into thermal energy. This thermal energy is sufficient to partially or completely perforate, fracture, melt, and evaporate the target. And even an explosion.

2. Shock effect If the target material is gasified, the target material will have a recoil effect in a very short time, forming a compression wave that will cause the surface layer of the material to crack and break, and the debris will cause further damage when flying outward.

3. Radiation effect At the same time when the target material is vaporized, a plasma cloud can be formed, which can generate radiant ultraviolet rays and X-rays, causing the electronic parts inside the target to be destroyed.

• Laser energy

Lasers can also be used for nuclear power generation. The nuclear fuel used in the world's built nuclear power stations is uranium, and studies using plutonium nuclear fuel have not been successful. From the research results, plutonium nuclear fuel is more resistant to burning than uranium nuclear fuel, and the energy produced by burning 1 kg of plutonium nuclear fuel is more than three times higher than that of uranium nuclear fuel. More attractive is the large reserves of plutonium nuclear fuel on earth. One kilogram of seawater contains 0.03 grams of plutonium, and the ocean on the earth contains 1021 kilograms of seawater; or, 1017 kilograms of plutonium are stored in the oceans of the earth. Developing it for fuel is equivalent to providing us with 10 A trillion (1017) tons of coal is enough for humans to use it for hundreds of millions of years. Since plutonium nuclear fuel is so good. Why not? The problem is that it is not easy to ignite it. The temperature at which a match is burned can ignite a piece of paper and petrol, and to burn this nuclear fuel requires a high temperature of 100 million degrees. Laser is the technology that is more likely to reach this ignition temperature.

• Use of clothing

Clothing laser embroidery

More than two-thirds of textile and apparel fabrics can use lasers to create various digital patterns. The traditional textile fabric manufacturing process requires post-processing such as grinding, embossing, embossing, etc., and laser burning is convenient, fast, flexible pattern change, clear image, strong three-dimensional sense, and can fully express various aspects in this respect. The natural color texture of the fabric, as well as its advantages over time. If combined with the hollowing out process is the finishing touch, it complements each other.

Apparel and garment laser embroidery are suitable for: textile fabric finishing processing plants, fabric deep processing plants, ready-to-wear garment factories, surface accessories and processing enterprises.

Cowboy image spray

Through the laser irradiation of numerical control, the dye on the surface of denim fabric is vaporized, so that the image patterns, gradient flower shapes, and whisker matte effects on various denim fabrics can be produced, which adds new points to denim fashion.

Denim spray laser processing is an emerging processing project with rich processing profits and market space, which is very suitable for denim clothing factories, washing plants, processing and other enterprises and individuals for value-added deep processing of denim products.

Leather fabric markings

Laser technology is also widely used in the shoe and leather industries. The advantage of laser is that it can quickly sculpt and hollow out various patterns on various leather fabrics, and it is flexible in operation, and it will not cause any deformation of the leather surface to reflect the color and texture of the leather itself. It has many advantages such as high engraving accuracy, hollow-out burrs, arbitrary shape selection, etc. It is suitable for the needs of processing manufacturers such as shoe uppers, shoe materials, leather goods, handbags, bags, leather clothes and other processing manufacturers.

Laser engraving refers to the operation mode of connecting laser equipment to laser engraving software and inputting artwork into automatic engraving. Laser engraving is the most mature and widely used technology in the field of laser processing. With this technique, any complex graphic can be carved. Hollow engraving and non-penetrating blind groove engraving can be performed to sculpt various magic patterns with different shades, different textures, layering and transition color effects. With these advantages, laser engraving meets the new trend of international garment processing.

Appliqué cutting

In the computer embroidery process, two steps are very important, namely cutting before appliqué and cutting after embroidering. In the traditional processing technology, the disadvantages of the knife mold processing method used for cutting before embroidery are that it is easy to produce fabric edges, and the processing accuracy is limited by the knife mold. Restricted the development of appliqué. However, the cutting after embroidery is mostly performed by hot cutting. This method has the disadvantages of large cut edges, yellow and hard edges, and difficulty in positioning. The opposite-sex graphics rely on manual hand-cutting, which is easy to loose edges and produce waste products. Therefore, an advanced processing method is urgently needed to replace these two old processing methods.

Although laser processing is also a thermal processing method, due to the high focus of the laser, the irradiation spot is thin and the thermal diffusion area is small, it is very suitable for cutting textile fiber fabrics. It is manifested in a wide range of processed fabrics, smooth cuts without flashing, automatic closing, no deformation, graphics can be designed and output at will through the computer, no knife mold and so on. This makes laser processing an industry-recognized alternative.

Laser marking

Laser marking has the characteristics of high marking accuracy, fast speed, and clear marking. It can print various characters, symbols, and patterns on the flat, curved surfaces and flying objects of hard, soft and brittle products. Laser marking is compatible with various advantages of laser cutting and engraving. It can be precisely processed on metal and organic polymer sheets, and can process complex patterns with small sizes. The printed mark has the anti-counterfeiting performance that can never be worn. It can specially make cloth labels, leather labels, metal labels, and various emblems and logos with complex and fine print patterns. It is the best choice for brand clothing and apparel processing.

For a long time, the trimming of the trademark, the trimming of the embroidery pattern, and the perforated parquet in the embroidery pattern have all had an alignment problem. Accurate and efficient cutting is a common expectation of the industry. The existing automatic visual tracking cutting system takes a big step forward on the basis of the traditional manual alignment cutting, which can automatically locate the cutting by branch alignment. However, the random deformation of textile products cannot be corrected automatically, so a large amount of waste products will be generated. Some companies in the industry have successfully developed an automatic edge-finding and cutting system that can automatically generate cutting paths based on the edges of woven trademark graphics, and accurately use laser to cut along the edges. It can also automatically locate and cut and punch the patterns in the embroidery graphics, thereby solving the problem of alignment.