With the explosive growth of industries such as 3C electronics, new energy, and precision optics, glass cutting is no longer a rough job of "cutting with a glass knife and then breaking it open". Laser cutting has become the mainstream process due to its advantages of high precision, high efficiency, and non-contact. But facing the three common laser devices of nanoseconds, picoseconds, and femtoseconds, many buyers, process engineers, and even bosses will find it difficult to choose. The difference between them is far more than just "price difference" - essentially, these are three completely different physical mechanisms that directly determine cutting quality, yield, and cost.
Characteristics of three types of lasers
1. Nanosecond laser: an economical and efficient "thermal cutting" player
Nanosecond laser is the most mature and cost-effective solution among these three technologies. Its principle is like a miniature welding gun, using long pulse energy to rapidly heat up, melt, and even vaporize the glass locally to achieve cutting.
Advantages: Fast processing speed, high single pulse energy, and high efficiency for glass cutting tasks with low precision requirements (such as drilling and sanding ordinary glass).
Limitations: Due to the "hot" processing, heat will diffuse to the surrounding area, forming a clear heat affected zone, which can lead to edge breakage, microcracks, and molten residue at the cutting edge, usually requiring subsequent polishing and grinding processes.
2. Picosecond laser: the "mainstream choice" for precision manufacturing
The pulse width of picosecond laser is extremely short, and the energy is deposited and removed in the moment when the material has not yet "heated up" and diffused, achieving the so-called "cold processing". This makes it the mainstream technology for high-end glass cutting at present.
Advantage: Achieving an excellent balance between cutting quality and efficiency. It can achieve high-quality cutting with neat edges and minimal edge breakage (<5 μ m), without the need for further processing, and can be directly used for assembly. Widely used in the field of 3C electronic glass such as mobile phone covers and LCD screens.
Key technology: The "wire cutting" technique is commonly used, which uses a beam of light to form micrometer sized "wire hole" chains inside the glass, and then separates them through fragmentation to cut thicker glass.
3. Femtosecond laser: pursuing the ultimate 'future technology'
Femtosecond laser compresses the pulse width to the extreme, and its action time is so short that it hardly generates any heat, making it a true "pure cold processing". It directly breaks the molecular bonds of materials through extremely high peak power, so it can process any material without causing damage.
Advantage: Provides unparalleled machining accuracy and surface quality. The cutting edge is extremely smooth (roughness can be lower than Ra0.1 μ m), with almost no chipping or microcracks. This is crucial for highly demanding applications such as processing ultra-thin glass (UTG) and conducting glass through holes (TGV).
Limitations: Currently, equipment costs are high and processing efficiency is relatively low, mainly used in cutting-edge scientific research and high-end manufacturing fields that require extreme precision.
Overall, the choice of laser depends on your core needs:
If pursuing the lowest cost and highest efficiency, and not demanding high edge quality, nanosecond laser is a suitable choice; If high-precision and high-quality cutting is required while also considering mass production efficiency, picosecond laser is currently the most mature and widely used solution; If facing the most cutting-edge materials or demanding precision requirements, and with sufficient budget, femtosecond laser is the best choice.
Nanoseconds, picoseconds, femtoseconds - who better matches your glass?
The choice of Chuangkeda is very simple
Don't sell the most expensive ones, only sell the right ones
