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