CO2 laser on titanium

[john banks]

Was going to ask about this but answered my own question by finding this and thought some others might find it interesting.
http://laser.mace.manchester.ac.uk/fileadmin/publications/10.1179_174329408X315607.pdf

[Joe Hillmann]

Too bad the pictures aren't in color it would be nice to see what colors are possible.

[john banks]

Agree, I love titanium welds and flame effects.

[Joe Hillmann]

http://www.industrial-lasers.com/articles/2008/03/ornamental-color-laser-marking-of-metals.html This link shows the colors that can be made in different metals, but it looks like for the most part it is with yags.

[Ernie Balch]

Great Idea.... I took some Titanium that I use for making pocket knife handles and tried it on the laser.

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n564/clancy60/laserTitanium.jpg

The samples were all run at 85% power and I varied the engrave speed which is marked on the photo. The scan gap was 0.050 mm the same as I use for engraving acrylic

The 200 speed gave the nice blue color 250, 275 and 300 were moving from blue/purple toward dark red. The speed of 100 was getting to a light gray/blue.

ernie

[Joe Hillmann]

That is a pretty impressive range of colors. I wonder if a piece of mirror polished titanium would allow even more colors and for the colors to "pop" even more?

[Dan Hintz]

That is a pretty impressive range of colors. I wonder if a piece of mirror polished titanium would allow even more colors and for the colors to "pop" even more?
One step ahead of me, Joe... I was going to suggest to Ernie to polish the Ti before lasering and he'd see a more consistent (and vibrant) red/purple.

[Ernie Balch]

I tried buffed and sanded surfaces along with the mill finish.

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n564/clancy60/IMG_1950.jpg
this is with the sanded finish. it is difficult to see with certain viewing angles.


http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n564/clancy60/IMG_1951_2.jpg
this is the buffed finish again hard to see because of specular reflections


http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n564/clancy60/IMG_1951.jpg

engrave speed test speeds of 100, 150, 200 and 250 across the top all with 85% power
down the right edge is speed of 250 with powers of 50% and 25%
just to the left is one with the scan gap increased from 0.050 to 0.075


http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n564/clancy60/IMG_1945.jpg
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n564/clancy60/IMG_1946.jpg
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n564/clancy60/IMG_1948.jpg
This is the mill finish .... easy to see


http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n564/clancy60/IMG_1949.jpg

different angle photo of polished area, specular reflection makes it difficult to photograph and view.

[john banks]

Great result!