Cutting
Example of stent cut from stainless steel.
Example of stent cut from stainless steel.
Courtesy of Amada Miyachi America.
Femtosecond lasers play an important role in high-precision stent cutting. A stent is a tiny wire mesh or precisely cut tube inserted into a narrowed or blocked blood vessel. Cardiovascular stents help treat approximately two million people annually and have significantly improved the lives of millions of patients. Nowadays, nearly all coronary angioplasty procedures use stents, and heart stent technology has evolved a lot over the past 20 years and is continually advancing. Laser-based stent cutting is the most common choice for medical equipment manufacturers.
Stents save lives by keeping blood vessels open. They are manufactured from various metallic alloys (such as stainless steel, tantalum, cobalt–chromium, platinum–chromium, and nitinol) and plastics (including polyethylene, Teflon, and polylactide) as well as other biocompatible materials. The challenge of manufacturing these materials with micrometer precision makes femtosecond lasers the perfect tools for stent cutting.
The PHAROS or CARBIDE femtosecond lasers are the most common choice for stent manufacturers. It is possible to process both metallic and plastic stents using lasers equipped with a harmonics module. Moreover, femtosecond lasers eliminate costly post-processing and cleaning steps.
Cut and welded parts from brass using a single laser system.
Cutting and detailing of a watch hand with 0° taper angles.
Courtesy of Lasea.
Femtosecond laser metal cutting is an advanced precision machining technique that uses ultra-short laser pulses to cut metal with high accuracy. The rapid, intense pulses vaporize material with minimal heat diffusion, preventing thermal damage or deformation of the surrounding area. This results in clean, smooth cuts with fine details, making it ideal for delicate or high-precision applications, such as electronics, medical devices, and aerospace manufacturing. The process is highly efficient and capable of handling a wide range of metals.
Structure fabricated in fused silica.
Intraocular lens cutting.
Courtesy of Lasea.
Glass is a hard yet fragile and delicate material, which means only the correct tool can reveal its full potential. Glass cutting is widely used not only in consumer electronics but also in various other industries. Processing (cutting or micro-structuring) tempered or non-tempered, flexible, or thick glass with high precision can be challenging. However, femtosecond laser glass micromachining minimizes visible cracks and collateral damage near the cut line while providing smooth edges.
PHAROS or CARBIDE lasers are the most common choice for glass-cutting system builders working with materials such as quartz, fused silica, borofloat, soda lime, alkali-free boroaluminosilicate, and aluminosilicate. When equipped with a BiBurst option, these lasers offer another degree of freedom to enhance the process speed and quality.
Polymer fine-cutting.
Courtesy of Laser Micromachining LTD.
Femtosecond lasers are used in polymer micromachining for tasks such as micro-cutting and drilling. These lasers are distinguished by their ability to minimize heat effects while achieving sub-micron feature sizes, delivering exceptional quality and precision. They are the ideal solution when other lasers or mechanical polymer processing methods fall short of meeting technical and quality standards.
