Parametric analysis on fiber laser marking characteristics for generation of square shaped marked surface on stainless steel 304

The process of marking the surface by laser provides advantages for applications in many fields due to its high processing speed, non-contact precision marking at constant quality with minimal human intervention. The produced laser marked objects are used for product identification and traceability and also to prevent illegal copying of products. In this regard, mark readability seems to be one of the factors responsible to produce good quality marks. The application of process parameters such as laser power, scanning speed and pulse frequency had a significant role for marking engineering materials surface for qualities and characteristics. The paper focused to generate good quality square shaped marked surface in a minimal possible time on the surface of stainless steel 304 using multi diode pumped fiber laser marking system. The studies provides the process parameters influence on marking characteristics for a single pass laser marked surface. Experimental results revealed that the application of process parameters such as laser power of 15 W, pulse frequency of 50 kHz, scanning speed of 35 mm/s and duty cycle of 99% produces better squared shaped marks on stainless steel 304.