Diaphragms made of plastic or rubber are very important components in vacuum pumps. Because the diaphragm must form a tight seal between the pump's inner and outer chambers for efficient pumping. The edge of the diaphragm must be smooth and actinic, not rough or uneven. The cutting process using a CNC laser cutting machine can meet the requirements of these material applications, provide high-quality trimming, improve product consistency, and reduce edge damage that may be caused by mechanically cutting the diaphragm.

Cutting the diaphragm with a laser cutter provides good edge quality while reducing the risk of damage from mechanical cutting. For this application, it is practical to cut a central mounting hole in a 1mm (0.039”) thick diaphragm made of layered neoprene and polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon®). The hole diameter is 22.9mm (0.9").

The cutting process uses a laser cutting head equipped with a 2.5” focal length lens, which provides a focused spot of 0.1mm (0.004”). And use CDA (clean and dry air) as the auxiliary gas, and spray it through a 0.9mm (0.0345") wide nozzle at a flow rate of 100 PSI to reduce the damage of the molten material to the lens. In this way, it can flow at 74mm/s (175inches/min ) cutting speed to complete the cut. The final cut edge is very smooth, and the amount of melting is very small.