Material family
Adhesives & Foams
Adhesive-coated and compressible stock — kiss-cut and through-cut without crush.
Also called: PSA · acrylic adhesive · silicone rubber · release liner · compressible foam
- Wavelengths
- CO₂ — 10.6 µm typical; 9.4 µm evaluated for specific adhesive chemistries
- Pulse regime
- Continuous-wave and modulated CO₂ — kiss-cut depth is set by pulse energy and dwell, not by pulse width
- Why the pulse regime matters →
Why these wavelengths
How deep a wavelength penetrates before it is absorbed decides which layer it heats and how much of the pulse reaches the next one. This family’s materials are on the chart. Add others to compare. Every curve is computed from published optical constants, not from our own claims. The sources are in the table below the chart.
Materials on the chart — up to 6 at a time
Gold lines are the laser wavelengths LasX runs; click a laser label to jump to it. Dashed curves are proxies: a measured material standing in for a formulated product of the same chemistry — see the table for what carries over and what does not. Curves stop where the material is transparent for practical purposes — polymers below 1 cm⁻¹ (the datasets’ detection floor), glasses below 0.01 cm⁻¹ (penetration beyond 1 m).
Values at the laser wavelengths, and sources
| Material | 355 nm | 532 nm | 1064 nm | 9.36 µm (9.4 µm laser line) | 10.2 µm | 10.6 µm | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acrylic PSA (3M 200MP-class) | — | — | — | 468 cm⁻¹ 21 µm | 713 cm⁻¹ 14 µm | 307 cm⁻¹ 33 µm | Proxy — PMMA (Zhang 2020). Proxy curve: PMMA, Zhang et al. 2020 via refractiveindex.info (CC0). Product: 3M 467MP/468MP (200MP acrylic, 60/130 µm). Visible: 3M optically clear acrylics 8146/8211 report >99 % transmission, 380–780 nm. PSA bands: MDPI Polymers 12, 428 (2020). Proxy: PMMA stands in for the acrylate adhesive — same ester bands, and the PSA has its own band at 9.40 µm. Near 10.2 µm the proxy overstates absorption (a methacrylate-only band). Transparent to NIR and green lasers; a 60 µm layer absorbs most of a CO₂ beam. |
| Silicone PSA (3M 96042 / DOWSIL-class) | — | — | — | 8,008 cm⁻¹ 1 µm | 572 cm⁻¹ 17 µm | 216 cm⁻¹ 46 µm | Proxy — PDMS (Zhang 2020). Proxy curve: PDMS 10:1, Zhang et al. 2020 via refractiveindex.info (CC0). Products: 3M 96042 (silicone, 50 µm per side), DOWSIL 7657/7355 (PDMS + MQ resin). Band positions validated against FTIR of a silicone PSA (MDPI Polymers 12, 2410). Proxy: cured PDMS. Silicone PSAs add 50–60 wt% MQ silicate resin, which shares the Si–O–Si and Si–CH₃ bands — positions transfer, relative intensities may differ. Absorbs ~35× more strongly at 9.36 µm (on the Si–O band) than at 10.6 µm; transparent 240–1100 nm. |
| PE foam, closed-cell (Volara / Plastazote-class) | — | — | — | — | — | 12 cm⁻¹ 855 µm | Proxy — solid PE film (Coelho 2004). Solid-PE film values: Coelho et al. 2004, Polymer Testing 23, 307 (HDPE 8.2, LDPE 10.9, TiO₂-white HDPE 16 cm⁻¹ at 10.6 µm). Foam: Sekisui Volara Type M / Zotefoams Plastazote LD45 datasheets (crosslinked closed-cell PE, 32–96 kg/m³). Cell scattering: Baillis et al. 2002, JQSRT 73. Points are for solid PE film — a foam's effective coupling is higher because every cell wall scatters the beam and lengthens its path, and is not published. Natural grades are transparent to NIR and green lasers (scattering only); black grades absorb NIR via carbon black. |
| PET (polyester) | — | — | — | 558 cm⁻¹ 18 µm | 471 cm⁻¹ 21 µm | 199 cm⁻¹ 50 µm | Zhang et al. 2020 (Appl. Opt. 59; JQSRT 252) via refractiveindex.info, CC0 Clear, additive-free resin. Below 1 cm⁻¹ the data sit at the detection floor and are not drawn — the film is transparent there. |
— : outside the dataset, or below its detection floor (transparent for practical purposes). Non-metals: α = 4πk/λ; penetration depth 1/α is where 63 % of the beam has been absorbed. Metals: A = 1 − R at normal incidence. All optical constants from the refractiveindex.info database (public domain, CC0); literature points as cited. Full source list and verification notes: docs/charts in the site repository.
Process data
| Kiss-cut depth window | Trial data required |
|---|---|
| Liner survival margin | Trial data required |
| Edge tack after cutting | Trial data required |
| Achievable cut speed | Trial data required |
Entries marked “trial data required” have not been run on your specific construction. We publish only what we have measured.
Typical constructions
- Acrylic PSA on release liner
- Silicone rubber sheet
- Closed and open-cell foams
- Double-coated tape constructions
What usually decides it
The absorption difference between the adhesive stack and the liner controls the process. Where that difference is small, the kiss-cut window narrows and process control matters more.
A mechanical cutter has to compress a compressible material to cut it. That compression is the problem. A beam cuts without it.
See it run
Fill in the missing numbers with your actual material.
Every trial adds to the measured record behind these pages. It also adds to the process model we are building to predict the window before the first test piece is cut.