Advantages of UV laser cutting FPC circuit boards

FPC flexible circuit boards can greatly reduce the size of electronic products and play an irreplaceable role in the electronics industry. There are four cutting methods for FPC flexible circuit boards, CO2 laser cutting, UV ultraviolet laser cutting, infrared fiber cutting and green light cutting.

Compared with other laser cutting, UV laser cutting has more advantages. For example, the CO2 laser wavelength is 10.6μm, and the spot is large. Although its processing cost is relatively low, the laser power provided can reach several kilowatts, but a large amount of heat energy is generated during the cutting process, which causes the processing edge heat loss and causing a severe carbonization phenomenon.

The wavelength of the UV laser is 355nm, which is easy to optically focus on and has a fine spot. The spot diameter of the UV laser with a laser power of fewer than 20 watts is only 20μm after focusing. The energy density produced is even comparable to the surface of the sun, with no significant thermal effects, and the cutting edge is clean, neat, and burr-free for better and more precise results.

Ultraviolet laser cutting machine, the commonly used laser power range is between 5W-30W, and an external laser chiller is required to provide cooling for the laser. The laser chiller keeps the operating temperature of the laser within an appropriate range using water-cooling circulation, to avoid damage to the laser caused by the inability to effectively dissipate heat due to long-term work. Different cutting machines have different requirements for water temperature of industrial chillers. The water temperature can be set through the thermostat (the water temperature can be set between 5 and 35°C) to meet the different needs of the cutting machine for water temperature. The improvement of the intelligent application of the chiller supports the Modbus RS-485 communication protocol, which can remotely monitor the water temperature and adjust the water temperature parameters.

There are also cabinet-type UV laser chillers, which can be inserted into the laser cutting cabinet, which is convenient to move with the cutting machine and saves installation space.