cutting

Knife wheel cutting, conventional laser cutting and laser hidden cutting are three different material cutting technologies, each with its own characteristics in principle, advantages and disadvantages and application. The following is a detailed introduction to these three cutting technologies:

Knife wheel cutting

Principle

Knife wheel cutting uses a rotating knife wheel (usually diamond or carbide) to mechanically cut the material along a predetermined path. The pressure applied by the knife wheel causes the material to physically separate.

Advantages

Simple and low cost: The equipment and operation are relatively simple, and the initial investment and maintenance costs are low.

High speed: For some materials and application scenarios, the knife wheel cutting speed is fast.

No heat-affected zone: Since it is mechanical cutting, no heat is generated and no thermal damage is caused to the material.

Disadvantages

Wear and life: The knife wheel will wear with use and needs to be replaced regularly.

Limited precision and complexity: For cutting high-precision or complex patterns, the knife wheel cutting capability is limited.

Material restrictions: Suitable for softer or thinner materials, not suitable for thicker or harder materials.

Applications

Glass cutting: Widely used to cut thin glass sheets, such as display glass.

Electronics industry: used for cutting wafers and other semiconductor materials.

Other materials processing: suitable for cutting some metal foils, plastic films and paper.

Conventional laser cutting

Principle

Conventional laser cutting uses a high-power laser beam focused on the surface of the material. The laser energy causes the material to melt, burn, vaporize or be blown away locally, thereby achieving cutting.

Advantages

High precision: The laser beam can be focused to a very small point to achieve high-precision cutting.

Wide range of applications: It can cut a variety of materials, including metals, non-metals and composite materials.

Non-contact processing: Laser cutting is a non-contact processing, which reduces mechanical stress and tool wear.

Disadvantages

Heat-affected zone: The heat generated during the cutting process may cause material deformation or thermal damage.

High cost: The initial investment and operation and maintenance costs of the equipment are high.

Limited cutting thickness: The effective thickness range of laser cutting is limited. For very thick materials, the efficiency and quality will decrease.

Application

Metal processing: widely used for cutting metal sheets such as stainless steel, aluminum alloy, carbon steel, etc.

Electronic manufacturing: used for cutting circuit boards, semiconductor wafers, etc.

Advertising and decoration: used to make billboards, logos and decorations.

Automotive industry: used to cut automotive parts such as body panels and exhaust pipes.

Laser Dicing or Laser Stealth Dicing

Principle

Laser Stealth Dicing uses the laser beam to focus inside the material, and through multiphoton absorption effect or other nonlinear optical effects, the material is locally modified or cracked, but the surface remains intact. The cutting is then completed by mechanical separation.

Advantages

No surface damage: During the cutting process, the material surface remains intact, which is suitable for applications with high surface quality requirements.

High precision and fine processing: It can achieve micron-level precision, which is suitable for fine processing in the field of microelectronics and semiconductors.

Reduced thermal effects: Since the laser energy is concentrated inside the material, the heat-affected area is small, which reduces thermal damage.

Disadvantages

Complexity and cost: The equipment is complex, and the initial investment and maintenance costs are high.

Material limitations: It is mainly applicable to single-crystal materials such as silicon and sapphire, and is not effective for polycrystalline materials.

Post-processing requirements: A subsequent mechanical separation step is usually required.

Applications

Semiconductor manufacturing: widely used for cutting semiconductor wafers, such as silicon wafers and GaN wafers.

LED manufacturing: used for cutting and separation of sapphire substrates.

Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS): used to make high-precision microstructures and devices.

Summary

Knife wheel cutting is suitable for simple, high-speed, low-cost cutting needs, but is limited in accuracy and material applicability.

Conventional laser cutting has a wide range of material applicability and high precision, but there are problems with thermal effects and high costs.

Laser hidden cutting provides a solution with no surface damage and ultra-high precision, but the equipment is complex, the cost is high, and it is mainly suitable for cutting single crystal materials.