Safety with Lasers Used in Manufacturing

Abstract

The first industrial applications of the laser were in the field of material processing. Pulsed ruby lasers were used for drilling small holes in the diamond dies used for pulling thin wire at the Western Electric Company as early as 1965 (Charschan, 1972). Since then many more industrial production line applications have evolved. The laser is now used for microwelding, microdrilling, scribing ceramic materials, surface treating, high-speed marking, precision wire stripping, resistor trimming, and integrated circuit manufacture. These types of industrial material processing laser systems now generally make use of a CO2 laser or a neodymium YAG laser, operating CW or repetitively pulsed. Dependent upon whether the material is to be drilled or welded, a short or longer pulse duration will be employed. The highest CW powers are available from CO2 lasers; therefore, CO2 lasers are used for the heavy-duty applications. In any event, all of these laser applications present similar hazards. These include viewing the heated material, or exposure to the airborne contaminates produced in this material processing. The amount of toxic material produced by very small units is normally not significant enough to warrant local ventilation. However, in larger units, where significant amounts of material are released, local exhaust ventilation is often needed. Chapter 26 considers these ancillary hazards of laser material processing. The present chapter concentrates on the hazards from the laser radiation itself.