Marking Glass-Filled Nylon Components

Image above: A contrasting, engraved mark was achieved on this glass-filled nylon gear using 25 watts of power at a speed of 20 inches per second.

Adding a 20% to 30% glass fill to nylon formulations increases the blend’s stability, rigidity, and wear-resistance. In many cases, the glass fibre also helps to increase contrast on plastic materials that are CO2 laser marked. Although the percentage of glass fill in this nylon gear does not increase mark contrast drastically at low power levels, it still provides an increase in contrast and readability over pure nylon.

The marking set-up consisted of a Synrad sealed CO2 laser coupled to an FH Series marking head and driven by the WinMark Pro laser marking software. A 125 mm focusing lens was installed on the head to obtain a 180-micron (0.007”) spot with a 3 mm (0.118”) depth of focus over the extents of the mark field.

A new drawing in WinMark Pro was opened and created a seven-character part number using Simple, one of WinMark’s twelve built-in stroke fonts, and then set a Text Height value of 4 mm (0.158”). On the Marking tab, a Power was set - duty cycle percentage - corresponding to 25 watts and a Velocity of 508 millimetres per second (20 inches/sec).

Using these settings, the components were marked at a rate of 0.14 seconds per part. As shown in the photo, the glass-filled nylon part exhibits a readable engraved mark with some contrast.

For sales/technical queries contact: Gary Broadhead garyb@laserlines.co.uk