Engraving and deep engraving of metals

The process of engraving involves the removal of material from a solid surface. Because of the very high intensity of the laser, materials such as steel, titanium and (almost) all other metals can be vaporized directly. This is possible due to the high pulse power of the fiber laser (with Trotec up to 10 kW peak power) in combination with a very small laser spot diameter (with Trotec ~ 45 μm with the F-160 lens). With this method, texts, logos, serial numbers or other contents can be engraved into the material. The volume of the material is reduced and its color is changed. The resulting brown areas consist of metal oxides (or rust), which can be cleaned with a second cleaning cycle using polishing parameters. Engraving on stainless steel requires high power, low frequency (which results in high power per pulse) and marking speeds of 250 - 900 mm/sec.