Why can UDI codes and strings on medical devices remain unchanged after pickling and corrosion? How can the extremely tiny parts of artificial organs be tightly welded?

Laser Jun will show you today, the magical power behind these fine and tiny "medical miracles" – laser.

HGLASER was invited to participate

"The 4th Ultrafast Laser Processing Technology and Industry Summit Forum"

Delivered a speech entitled "Application of Ultrafast Laser in Medical Field"

The medical industry presses the accelerator button

In the "post-epidemic era", the construction of the public health system, disease control system, and primary medical care has been intensified, and the localization of medical devices has developed rapidly. In recent years, the medical device market has maintained a growth rate of more than 20%, and the market needs to be deeply digged and expanded.

The segmented development of the medical device industry, technological iteration and industrial upgrading put forward higher requirements for device manufacturing and processing capabilities: it can not only ensure the production demand of high-end medical devices, but also reduce production costs and personnel input through intelligent processing equipment.

Laser processing has the advantages of high precision, flexible processing, energy saving, environmental protection, safety and cleaning, and can perform various processes such as marking, cutting, welding, and cleaning on a variety of materials. Therefore, in the medical device industry, laser processing has "bloomed everywhere".

Application scenarios of lasers in the medical industry

1. Laser welding

Medical + Laser Welding Pain Points

• Difficulty in welding dissimilar materials: differences in melting point, coefficient of expansion, thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity of dissimilar materials, as well as differences between material structures.
• The product has small fine size, high precision requirements, and requires high-magnification visual aid to enlarge.

2. Laser cutting

Medical + Laser Cutting Pain Points

• In the cutting of ultra-thin materials (generally refers to thickness < 0.2mm), the material is easily deformed, the thermal influence is too large, the edges are severely carbonized, there are burrs, the cutting gap is large, and the precision is low
• Biodegradable material has low thermal melting point and is sensitive to temperature.
• Brittle materials are prone to edge chipping, surface micro-cracks and residual stress problems, resulting in low yield of finished products.

3. Laser surface treatment

Medical + Laser Surface Treatment Pain Points

The thickness of the oxide layer on the metal surface is inconsistent, resulting in inconsistent marking effects, or the breakdown of the oxide layer, resulting in failure of salt spray and anti-corrosion tests.

• Miniaturized product size, and the graphic size of the logo is extremely small.
•  It is difficult to process micropores in metals, ceramics and other materials.
• Difficulty in micro-processing the surface of biocompatible components.

Ultrafast lasers fill gaps in medical applications

Ultrafast Laser

Ultrafast laser refers to a pulsed laser whose output laser pulse width is 10-12s (ie picosecond level) or less than picosecond level.

Advantage:

• "Cold working" reduces melt zone and heat affected zone, no recast layer.

• No microcracks, better surface quality.

• Less energy absorption by wavelengths and materials.

Ultrafast Laser Welding

Ultrafast Laser Cutting

Ultrafast Laser Surface Treatment