Marking of polypropylene tubes

After testing in our laboratory, the PowerLine Prime 15 laser subsystem was determined to be the most suitable laser with regard to cost or the PowerLine E Air 10 with regard to marking quality. Testing was carried out with the following laser configuration:

Coherent's PowerLine Prime series lasers are designed to meet the requirements of many standard marking applications. They offer an unbeatable combination of economy, marking quality and speed. Based on diode-pumped semiconductor laser technology, PowerLine Prime laser markers convince with their compact design and easy system integration. The system is supplied with the Visual LaserMarker (VLM) application software, which enables the layout, generation and transfer of the required marking data directly from the PC to the laser marker. Depending on the application requirements, the lasers of the PowerLine E product line are available as air-cooled, water-cooled, with different wavelengths (1064 nm, 532 nm, 355 nm) and different power ranges. Specific versions of the product line are available for e.g. semiconductor applications (PowerLine E IC), security documents (PowerLine E PC) and for the solar industry (PowerLine E PV).

Key benefits

• Different power ranges
• Several wavelengths
• One or two working heads
• Easy integration thanks to compact design
• Excellent marking quality control
• Assistance with laser positioning
• First pulse suppression function
• Powerful VLM marking software
• Grayscale plastic marking software (PL Prime 12 PC only)

Conclusion

Both the Coherent PowerLine Prime and Coherent PowerLine E lasers enable high quality, high contrast laser marking on PP tubes without difficulty, readable by eye or code reader. The working cycle can be optimised by selecting different font types and sizes.

Note: The roughened bottom surface affects the quality of the marking under the microscope. The camera image shows definitely better quality of the DMC than the microscope image. The DMC is readable using the Cognex Barcode Scanner App on a smartphone (iPhone 12).