Analysis of Marking Quality of a Triangular-shaped Inscription Produced on 304 Stainless Steel Using a Low Power Fibre Laser
M. Pandey and B. Doloi
Laser marking is the process to mark an image by utilizing laser thermal energy used primarily for product identifications and traceability. It is versatile and well known process employed by the manufacturers to mark various materials. The mark produced by a fibre laser beam produces one of the fine marking components and it is well accepted form of marking used nowadays. The research paper revealed that laser beam marking quality is the function of various input controlling factors like laser spot size, transverse feed, scan rate, laser power which had a significant impact on quality attributes. The paper focuses on the creation of better quality equilateral triangular-shaped laser inscribed image on grade 304 stainless steel surface in a shortest possible time. The process variables involved in the present study includes pulse rate, duty cycle, laser power, and scan rate which were varied one at a time for obtaining better marking quality characteristics like high mark quality, closer to target mark angle and less deviation of marked area. The observed results revealed that pulse rate of 50 kHz, laser power of 12.5 W, scan rate of 35 mm/s and duty cycle of 99% provides better marking quality.
Keywords: Fibre laser, 304 stainless steel, laser marking, quality, target mark angle, minimum marked area deviation