Materials Library

What Epilog Laser Systems Mark, Engrave, and Cut

Every material below has a published power/speed recipe for each laser source we ship. Values are measured in the Golden, Colorado application lab against a reference sample. Treat them as a starting point — your substrate's coating stack may shift results by 5–15%.

Material Classes

Six material families, characterized for Epilog CO2 and fiber sources.

Anodized Aluminum

Mark white, dark, or contrast-etch. Fiber 20W MOPA at 60–80% power / 300–600 mm/s produces ISO-readable 2D DMX on Type-II anodize in < 4 seconds per code.

Stainless & Carbon Steel

FiberMark S2 color-marks 304 / 316 with pulse-tuned annealing. Q-pulsed marking on carbon steel reaches > 0.15 mm depth without discoloration at 30 W.

Cast Acrylic (PMMA)

Helix 24 and Fusion Pro cut up to 12 mm with air-assist on. Flame-polish edges are standard on cast acrylic; extruded produces whiter edges but uneven finish.

Wood & Wood Composites

Maple, cherry, and baltic birch plywood engrave cleanly with CO2. Char reduction via air assist recommended; never process PVC or chlorinated laminates.

Leather & Leatherette

Vegetable-tanned full-grain engraves with a clean relief; chrome-tanned produces acrid fumes and is not recommended. Leatherette used widely in awards trim.

Coated & Powder-Coated Metals

Cerakote, laser-markable anodize, and brass-lacquer coatings each have a documented recipe. Fiber sources remove coating selectively; CO2 sources mark only color-reactive top-coats.

Application Case Grid

Which Epilog laser machine matches your production profile?

Aerospace nameplate engraving with Epilog FiberMark

Aerospace & Defense

Serialized identification on titanium and Inconel

FiberMark S2 + 50 W MOPA marks 0.05–0.08 mm deep on titanium Ti-6Al-4V within AS9100 part-identification protocols. Ink-free marks survive passivation.

Awards and recognition engraving on acrylic and wood

Awards & Signage

High-mix, low-volume engraving with fast SKU switches

Helix 24 with the Epilog laser rotary attachment handles crystal, acrylic, wood, brass, and leatherette in a single shift. Operators switch jobs in under 2 minutes using Epilog Suite job queueing.

Medical device UDI marking cleanroom adjacent line

Medical Devices

UDI-compliant marking on stainless surgical tools

FiberMark S2 produces dark annealing marks on 304/316L stainless without perforating the passivation layer. Deployed alongside 21 CFR Part 11 audit trail in Job Manager.

Architectural signage ADA compliant braille

Architecture & Interior

ADA-compliant signage with tactile Braille

Fusion Pro 48 cuts acrylic letterforms and engraves Braille dots to ICC A117.1 geometry in a single setup — no second-pass CNC routing.

Send a sample, get a recipe.

Ship us a piece of your production substrate. Our Golden application lab returns a power/speed recipe sheet plus a marked/engraved sample with a characterization report.

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