Laser ablation manufacturers

Other Imaging Materials. Photopolymer technology is being utilized in the manufacture of other types of optical elements including rewriteable recording materials (e.g. photochromic imaging) (59) and permanent information recording by processes such as laser ablation. 

Optical properties of the material are less critical for microchips hyphenated with MS than for devices with on-chip optical detection where low background absorption or fluorescence is mandatory. Thus, completely opaque polymers like glassy carbon or polyimide " can be used as microfabrication substrates. Furthermore, polymer microchips are of great interest because their potentially low manufacturing costs may allow them to be disposable. Methods used for the fabrication of plastic chips include laser ablation and molding methods. 

Figure 11 Part of a static micromixer manufactured by laser ablation from aluminum oxide. (Source Ehrfeld Mikrotechnik, Heidelberg Instruments Microtechnologies.)...

The polyaniline was prepared by emulsion polymerization following the procedure outlined in US patent 5,863,465 with DNNSAused as a dopant [22]. Carbon Nanotubes (CNI) manufactured the nanotubes used in the work either by a high-pressure fabrication method (Hipco SWNT) or via laser ablation (Laser SWNT). We found that excellent dispersions of the nanotubes in PANI could be produced by two different procedures. The nanotubes could either be directly sonicated into the PANI solution or first sonicated into xylene and that dispersion afterwards sonicated into the DNNSA-PANI solution. 

Almost all technologies described so far are suitable for prototyping or for small series production only. It simply takes a lot of time and is therefore costly to manufacture a large number of microstructures by laser ablation or wire erosion and by milling or SLM. This is not so in the case of the etching techniques. Here, a large number of microstructure devices can be very easily generated. 

The process time depends on the complexity of the 3D microstructures therefore, it is commonly used for prototyping. An extensive review on stereolithography can be found in Reference 119. The latter method is a subtractive manufacturing process that uses a focused high-intensity laser beam to evaporate the material from the surface. Laser ablation is mostly used to fabricate microchannels in thermosetting polymers such as polyimide due to its physical properties. Microstructures of nanometer scale have been danonstrated, but the surface roughness and properties using laser... 

In these cases, sacrificial valves may be employed. These valves are characterized by a disposable physical barrier such as a foil or polymer structure which is typically installed during manufacturing. For opening, these normally closed valves are, for instance, destroyed by punching with a spike or by laser ablation. Also regenerative valves, e.g., based on UV polymerization, have been shown in Lab-on-a-Chip systems. 

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