Plastics

Thermoplastics can be cut by comparatively low-power CO₂ lasers in the range of 100 to 300 Watts. Depending on the setup of the application, separation cuts or polishing cuts (visually clean cut edge) can be carried out. One important area in which laser-cut parts of this kind are used is in illuminated advertising, in which plastic sheet is often glued to the material before or after cutting. The cutting speeds depend to a great extent on the desired quality of the edges, but an example would be 2.5 meters per minute for separation cutting in 4 mm material at 200 Watts.