Processing Samples

The engineers at ADC and IMRA’s Japan Branch Office (JBO) are always looking for new ways to use and improve femtosecond laser processing.  Below are examples of a wide range of processed materials that demonstrate the FCPA laser’s capabilities.

FCPA laser processed a chip breaker into a cutting tool made of diamond.

A chip breaker is a portion of the tool bit in a turning machine which breaks the chips generated from a workpiece into small pieces.  This action increases the productivity of the work, the safety of the machine, and the life span of the tool.  The chip breaker shown on this carbide cutting tool is classified as a “groove-type” chip breaker, wherein the laser removed sections of the tool to create the grooves.  FCPA lasers can process diamond and CBN chip breakers onto the cutting tool, optimizing the structure of the whole tool.


When the surface of metal materials are irradiated with an FCPA laser under specific conditions, it is possible to turn the surface into fine structures in a self-organized fashion.  The example shows distributed void structures on a stainless steel.  The size of the voids is below tens of micrometers. The manipulation of the surface state change will depend on the type of material and the laser irradiation conditions.

Material: Nylon
Diameter: 0.4 mm
Depth of cut: 0.1 mm

The nonthermal processing from a femtosecond laser means that materials generally sensitive to heat can still be processed successfully.  For example, the nylon tube in the photo that was diagonally irradiated at the 30° angle by an FCPA laser.  Due to the lack of heat occurrence during the ablation, there is no melted nylon residue and the edges are left clean and sharp.

Top: Welding of two glass plates, sandwiching cobalt chloride paper.
Bottom: Welding of silicon plate to soda-lime glass.

FCPA lasers excel at Femtosecond Laser Transparent Material Processing (FLTMP), a viable method for welding two transparent materials, or transparent to heat-conductive materials.  This provides a unique advantage over a continuous wave or long-pulsed laser sources.

Material: SiC
Thickness: 350 µm
Slope Angle: 15,40 °

By controlling the FCPA laser scanning, it is possible to achieve a tapered cut in a wide variety of materials, from transparent to metal.  The tapered cut in the photo shown is on SiC, a semiconductor substrate.

Material: SUS304
Thickness: 150 µm
Diameter: Φ300 µm

Because femtosecond laser processing is characterized as nonthermal, successful results for drilling and ablation can be achieved without post-processing.  The lack of HAZ (heat affected zone) means a significant reduction of residue and burrs will form at the focal point, creating a finished, sharp edge.  The photo shows the result of drilling stainless steel with an FCPA laser.