Experimental investigation of laser engraving quality on paper

Laser engraving technology is a type of laser processing technology, widely used for product coding, marking, and so on. A large amount of research has reported the results of metal surface engraving; however, few research results, to the best of our knowledge, have provided theoretical support for the application of paper packaging laser engraving. In this paper, the quality of paper laser engraving is investigated by experimental methods. First, various phenomena appearing in paper carving were studied, including plant fiber burning, charcoal, and edge marks; second, the main factors affecting the quality of laser engraving are researched, and the influence of laser intensity and the preset width of carving marks on the engraving quality are discussed. The results show that the engraving precision is the best when the laser power is 11 W and the preset width is small (0.26 mm). Finally, the laser engraving precision of UV coated paper is studied, and the effect of UV material melting and secondary crystallization on engraving the quality of paper laser engraving quality is discussed. When the laser power is small, the maximum and minimum values of UV film melting and secondary crystallization engraving trace are relatively small as well; further, when the laser power increases, the maximum width of engraving is basically consistent with the preset width, and the precision of laser engraving is optimal.