MEDTEC Ireland 2016, 4th – 5th October 2016 - Galway, Ireland
TRUMPF - stand no: 604
Corrosion-free marking - and much more
Laser specialist, TRUMPF, has a laser beam source for every manufacturing application in medical engineering but at MEDTEC Ireland 2016, the company will be introducing its brand new TruMicro 2020 picosecond laser which offers many benefits to instrument and medical device manufacturers. It can be used to mark, engrave and structure as well as cut and ablate.
Marking reusable instruments
While traditional marking lasers that operate in the nanosecond range were unable to produce corrosion-free marking, the TruMicro 2020 picosecond laser from TRUMPF achieves it with ease. Thanks to its ability to ‘cold process’, it is ideal for the corrosion-free marking of all reusable medical instruments - such as endoscopes.
With extremely short laser pulses ranging from 0.4 to 20 picoseconds and peak power of 20 microjoules. The TruMicro 2020 produces no undesirable thermal effects that compromise the integrity of the material surface; a very small heat-affected zone is characteristic of this system.
In the US, the marking of reusable instruments for traceability is mandatory, a move which Europe is expected to adopt the coming years. The TruMicro 2020 is ideal for this task as the marks it produces remain corrosion-free despite daily cleaning and sterilisation and also retain strong visual contrast over time.
This is because the high peak pulse power of the picosecond laser creates a nanostructure on the surface of the substrate, creating a light trap which emphasises the blackness of the mark. The unique quality of this process is that the steel’s chromium oxide layer remains intact, preventing any danger of subsequent corrosion.
Stent production
An essential quality of stents is a smooth surface that is free from burrs. Historically these devices have been made from steel but there is an increasing preference by medical professionals to use stents made from nitinol. This has presented production challenges as the lasers traditionally used to manufacture steel stents are unsuitable for those made from heat sensitive nitinol.
The TruMicro 2020 is a clear solution to this problem as it can be used to prepare the surface of the nitinol stent without damaging material.
A host of advanced features allow the TruMicro 2020 to be used for a wide variety of production applications. The ‘pulse on demand’ feature, for example, enables the operator to apply the laser pulse to any desired location with micrometre accuracy. This ensures precision across a range of different materials.
The TruMicro 2020 also has a double power regulation which makes it possible to precisely set the power so pulse energy is fully available from the first to the last pulse.
TRUMPF has introduced its TruMicro 2020 in the form of three different packages, the simplest of which is a true OEM beam source which can be integrated into other systems. The second package, the TruMicro Mark 2020 is a unit consisting of a beam source, scanner, cooling system and software controls for marking. In the third option, the laser comes as a fully integrated solution in TRUMPF’s TruMark Station 5000 laser marking station.