Anneal marks are created on stainless steel by heating the work piece with a laser beam to form an oxide at the surface, which creates a color change to the surface of the work piece. Generally, the color of the mark is black, but other colors including red, green and yellow can be achieved depending on which temperature the material is made subject to.
In the anneal marking process the material surface is not melted so no material is removed and the mark is achieved through the solid state growth of an oxidized layer.
The challenge is to produce a permanent mark which can be easily read. Our Fiber laser was tested on stainless steel and is able to achieve a high quality, dark mark which can be read from most viewing angles.
The Fiber laser is mainly used for applications which require fast processing of large areas.
This type of mark can be made on some other types of steels and cast iron but the result is very dependent on the grade.
