Industrial lasers are used to process engineering plastics across many markets. Some examples of the common processes are shown in Figure 1, including laser marking, cutting, and welding.

The longevity of plastic is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it’s extremely durable, inexpensive, and easy to work with, but it also doesn’t biodegrade and lasts indefinitely in the ...

So a local "maker space" has two introductory workshops. One for laser cutting/engraving, the other on 3D printing. Ideally I'd visit both, since I'm clueless in both techniques and I haven't designed ...

Looking to cut or etch materials including wood, paper or plastic? You can harness the power and precision of a laser beam to do just that. At Sears think[box], we stock birch plywood and acrylic ...

Non-contact laser welding offers several advantages when it comes to joining one plastic part to another. It works on the principle of partial transmission which lets a laser’s light travel through ...

[PWalsh] has a clever idea for learning and experimenting with basic optics: instead of using actual lenses, he’s using clear pieces of laser-cut acrylic cut into lens profiles instead. They are much ...

Figure 1. Various test samples that have been laser welded in an applications lab (a) and a low-density polyethylene fluid container welded with a diode laser system (b). Direct welding of plastics is ...