Laser Welding of Transparent Resin Plates.

A new method of the laser welding of thermoplastic resin plates is developed to apply the laser welding process to the welding of transparent resin plates. The welding surface of the transparent resin plate is pretreated by sandblasting in order to increase the absorptivity of the laser beam. It is found that the laser welding of two transparent PMMA plates can be realized and the optical property of the welded region returns to transparent. It is also found that the transparency of the welded region can be improved when the hot pressing is used for the pretreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]