Label and packaging converters seeking to use laser die-cutting technology for pressure sensitive labels, RFID tags, paperboard and cardboard products, finishing plastic products and other converting/packaging applications, can now determine if the materials they use can be handled by the technology by sending samples for engineering studies and analyses to the new Spartanics Laser Cutting Applications Laboratory for Materials Research. 

       Spartanics laser die-cutting applications engineers have tested laser die-cutters with varying laser strengths and software configurations with a wide range of materials including: plastic films; polyesters; polycarbonates; foams; textiles; paper; adhesive tapes; non-wovens, wood, laminates, pressure-sensitive substrates, magnetic materials, polypropylene, polymides, abrasives, rubber, among others. ‘Formalization of the laboratory signals Spartanics intent to systematize this growing knowledgebase for cross-industry access,’ said the company in a statement. 

       The Spartanics laboratory provides free, detailed engineering analyses of maximum material thicknesses that can be handled with these different substrates, including brand name materials, correlated to laser power and other variables.

       Paul Dirienzo, Spartanics director of engineering, said: ‘The explosion in new materials with different properties – tensile strengths, toughness, resilience, etc. – has been especially pronounced in the last decade. During this same time period, laser die-cutting technology, largely due to more sophisticated software engineering, continues to evolve at such a rapid pace that the conclusions one might make today about whether a certain plastic, non-woven, or even nanomaterial can be adequately handled by digital die-cutting is likely not going to be the same in just a few years. 

     ‘Spartanics has opened this Laser Die Cutting Applications Laboratory for Materials Research to facilitate the systematic study of match-up between laser die-cutting and materials – both long-established brand names and newer material innovations. We will also be publishing these studies in the future in some manner, to be announced, and partnering with the major materials suppliers around the world to create a knowledgebase that will become a standard reference across industries.’