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Settings for Laser Marking of different materials

I am a quality manager for a medical device company. We are currently trying to establish laser marking setting for different types of material. 17-4 455 and titanium are some of the materials that we use. Our current problem is passivation. We can active a nice acceptable mark but after passivation the mark just wipes off. We use citric passivation with a 7% mix @ 150 degrees min time in the tank is 4min. The type of laser is a Telesis y100 Ndyag. Can anyone help with or share personal experience with an Ndyag laser with Merlin software. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Shawn Thomas
Quality Manager - Memphis Tennessee USA
November 3, 2011

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November 15, 2011

Shawn,
Laser marks and passivation are a constant problem to a lot of people. I wish I knew more about the different lasers and laser settings, but in general you should run some tests to get the best, most acid resistance laser mark you can, and then passivate post-marking to a minute or two short of the point where the mark starts to fade. If this doesn't allow you the normal full length passivation time, run the part for the full length time prior to marking.

Also, post-mark passivation isn't necessary on titanium since there's no source for iron contamination from a laser.

Let us know if we can help.

Ray Kremer
Stellar Solutions, Inc.

McHenry, Illinois