How Does Color Laser Engraving Works on Metal?

There are mainly two methods of metal engraving. Although there are several more methods, we will stick to these two as they are mostly used, and they do not have limitations.

In the first method, the surface of the metal is turned into a molten form using a very powerful laser. During the melting process, oxidation also occurs. The surface of the metal oxidizes due to the high temperature and reaction with oxygen. 

The melted material solidifies again, but due to oxidation, a special-colored layer is created on the metal, which looks like colored engraving. Therefore, you see vivid colors on the engraved surface rather than the normal engraving color.

The second method is known as the Grating method. In this method, the color does not appear naturally; instead, a colored oxide layer is added to the surface. 

When the laser beams fall on the metal, it starts to melt, and the applied oxide layer also gets dissolved. As a result, it gives exciting colors. This method is quite useful for those metals that do not naturally offer color after using a laser engraving machine. 

How Does Color Laser Engraving Work on Plastics?

Now, let’s talk about plastic. Unfortunately, there is no way to get color engraving naturally from plastics. But still, you can do the color engraving in two ways.

Firstly, you can use colored plastic for engraving. It will offer a different contrast than usual. 

Secondly, an artificial colored agent can be applied to plastic. It gets combined with molten plastic after the reaction of laser beams. After that, you see the desired colors. The best part about this is that you can select the desired color agent to get the desired color, which means the result is phenomenal and of your choice.