Micro-cutting stents using fiber lasers

Dec. 15, 2011
Rugby, UK – Micro-cutting stents is one of the most demanding manufacturing applications in the medical device industry. With tube diameters between 1 mm and 10 mm and a wall thickness of around 100 µm, precision cutting is essential.

Rugby, UK – Micro-cutting stents is one of the most demanding manufacturing applications in the medical device industry. With tube diameters between 1 mm and 10 mm and a wall thickness of around 100 µm, precision cutting is essential. It is also critical that the cut metal does not have rough edges as the stents are permanently inserted into arteries.

At this year's BIOMEDevice exhibition, held in San Jose, Calif., on December 6-7, visitors to JK Lasers' booth discovered how medium power range, single mode fiber lasers can micro-cut medical instruments to produce small kerf widths (20 to 30 µm).

These laser deliver dross-free cuts with very high contour accuracy (<5 µm). As a result, the amount of post-processing required to achieve a high quality finish is vastly reduced. Delivering highly concentrated, controlled amounts of heat, the resulting heat affected zone (HAZ) is small. Typical cutting speeds for medical stents with a single mode laser output are around 1 m per minute.

Also on display at BIOMEDevice was JK Lasers' recently launched 1 kW fiber laser. This high powered addition to the JK Lasers' range is particularly well-suited for welding hermetic seals on medical devices and for cutting larger surgical tools, such as bone saws.

JK Lasers is a subsidiary of GSI Group Inc.

About the Author

Industrial Laser Solutions Editors

We edited the content of this article, which was contributed by outside sources, to fit our style and substance requirements. (Editors Note: Industrial Laser Solutions has folded as a brand and is now part of Laser Focus World, effective in 2022.)

Sponsored Recommendations

Demonstrating Flexible, Powerful 5-axis Laser Micromachining

Sept. 18, 2024
Five-axis scan heads offer fast and flexible solutions for generating precise holes, contoured slots and other geometries with fully defined cross sections. With a suitable system...

Enhance Your Experiments with Chroma's Spectra Viewer

Sept. 5, 2024
Visualize and compare fluorescence spectra with our interactive Spectra Viewer tool. Easily compare and optimize filters and fluorochromes for your experiments with this intuitive...

Optical Filter Orientation Guide

Sept. 5, 2024
Ensure optimal performance of your optical filters with our Orientation Guide. Learn the correct placement and handling techniques to maximize light transmission and filter efficiency...

Ensure Optimal Performance with Shortpass Filters

Sept. 5, 2024
Achieve precise wavelength blocking with our Shortpass Filters. Ideal for applications requiring effective light transmission and cutoff, these filters ensure optimal performance...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Laser Focus World, create an account today!