Laser Processing of 3M™ 1776 Polyester Spunlace Nonwoven Fabric Medical Tape
Laser Processing of 3M™ 1776 Polyester Spunlace Nonwoven Fabric Medical Tape
Introduction
3M™ 1776 Polyester Spunlace Nonwoven Fabric Medical Tape is part of a line of medical device materials manufactured by 3M for use in medical device manufacturing. 3M 1776 Medical Tape consists of a 250µm thick breathable, nonwoven polyester spunlace layer, a 10µm thick acrylate adhesive layer, and a 150µm thick Kraft paper liner. 3M 1776 Medical Tape offers breathability, flexibility, moderate stretch, and is easy to handle. A diagram depicting 3M 1776 Medical Tape is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. 3M 1776 Medical Tape illustrating the polyester spunlace layer (250µm), the acrylate adhesive layer (10µm), and the Kraft paper liner (150µm).
3M 1776 Polyester Spunlace Nonwoven Fabric Medical Tape is suitable for laser cutting. The non-contact nature of laser processing allows applications to be processed with small features and fine geometry which might be difficult to achieve with traditional mechanical methods. Processes other than laser cutting are not indicated as they are not conducive to the intended use of 3M 1776 Medical Tape. Universal Laser Systems (ULS) makes it possible to consistently and repeatedly process this material to a high degree of dimensional accuracy, with virtually no material deformation during processing.
Laser Processing Notes
3M 1776 Medical Tape was tested to assess laser processing compatibility and determine the best configuration of laser peak power and wavelength. There was found to be no substantial difference between 9.3µm and 10.6µm laser energy when used to process 3M 1776 Medical Tape. A microscopy image taken at 300x magnification of the edge of 3M 1776 Medical Tape after laser cutting is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Microscopy image (300x) of the edge of 3M 1776 Medical Tape after laser cutting. The heat-affected zone measures 50µm.
Processing Example
3M 1776 Polyester Spunlace Nonwoven Fabric Medical Tape applications requiring fine geometry and intricate detail with no degradation of the material’s physical properties can be achieved with ULS technology. An example demonstrating the results of laser cutting 3M 1776 Medical Tape using the recommended system configuration is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Example of the geometry possible when laser cutting 3M 1776 Medical Tape.
Conclusion
3M 1776 Polyester Spunlace Nonwoven Fabric Medical Tape is suitable for laser processing and was extensively tested to determine the optimal processing configuration. Through this testing it was determined that laser cutting is viable with this material and that a single 75 watt 9.3µm or 10.6µm wavelength CO2 laser source is the best system configuration. 3M 1776 Medical Tape efficiently absorbs both the 9.3µm and 10.6µm wavelength laser energy to produce a processed edge that has a minimal heat-affected zone and nominal discoloration.
