Structuring and polishing hard material components with laser pulses in a single clamping operation

Tools made of hard materials and ceramics such as tungsten carbide are particularly wear-resistant. However, the tools used to manufacture them wear out all the faster—unless the tool is laser light. Researchers at Fraunhofer ILT have developed a process chain in which hard material components can be shaped and polished using an ultrashort pulse (USP) laser without changing the clamping setup.