Pulsed Laser Processing of Paper Materials

Publication date: 2016 Source:Physics Procedia, Volume 83 Author(s): Florian Schechtel, Yvonne Reg, Maik Zimmermann, Thomas Stocker, Fabian Knorr, Vincent Mann, Stephan Roth, Michael Schmidt At present the trends in paper and packaging industries are the personalization of products and the use of novel high-tech materials. Laser processes as non-contact and flexible techniques seem to be the obvious choice to address those developments. In this paper we present a basic understanding of the occurring mechanisms of laser based engraving of different paper and paperboard materials, using a picosecond laser source at 1064nm. The influences on the beam-paper-interaction of grammage, the composition of the paper matrix, as well as the paper inherent cellulose fibers were investigated. Here the ablation threshold of commercially available paper was determined and a matrix ablation effect under the 1064nm radiation observed. These results were characterized and qualified mainly by means of laser scanning microscope (LSM) micrographs in combination with color-space analytics.

Source: Physics Procedia - September 17, 2016 Category: Physics Source Type: research