Michael Reilly


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  • "Looks like it clipped the address. Hopefully this works:www.tinyurl.com/colormarkingstainless"
    on: Finnish Company Develops Laser That Can "Paint" Colors Onto Metal!
  • "This uses a YAG or Fiber laser which is 1/10th the wavelength of CO2 lasers that are commonly used for cutting wood and acrylic. The different wavelength makes it ideal for marking on and cutting metal, but it can't cut most of the common things CO2 lasers will. Because it's 1/10th the wavelength, the laser spot can also be close to 1/10th the size. Laser power is a measure of power over area, so watt for watt, YAG/Fiber is basically 10X more powerful. What they're doing here is heating small areas of the metal very quickly. Metal is a very good conductor of heat, which is why cutting metal is harder than it seems like it should be. But the combination of high power and small spot size, allows them to rapidly heat a small spot of metal. When heated, the metal reacts with oxygen in the air to grow an oxide coating (similar to rust). The coating is always the same composition, but varying the amount of time heated varies the coating thickness. The different thicknesses refract light differently, and cause us to see different colors. Here is a scientific paper exploring the process. The company above has refined it into a repeatable process. Very cool! http://www.vtt.fi/files/research/ism/manufacturingsystems/relation_of_laser_parameters_in_color_marking_of_stainless_steel.pdf"
    on: Finnish Company Develops Laser That Can "Paint" Colors Onto Metal!
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