The present invention relates to an additive for laser-markable and/or laser-weldable polymer materials, and in particular to the use of pigments which comprise niobium-doped titanium dioxide as laser absorbing additive in polymer materials, to polymer materials which comprise a laser absorbing additive of this type and to a laser-marked or laser-welded product comprising at least one polymer material and niobium-doped titanium dioxide containing pigments as laser absorbing additive.

A laser processing apparatus includes: a conveyor to convey a container containing a content in a container body in a conveying direction at a predetermined conveying speed; and a light emitter to emit laser light to a predetermined processing region in the container body conveyed in the conveying direction by the conveyor. A frequency of a vibration of the container body conveyed, in which an amplitude of the vibration of the container body is maximized, is v/L or less, where v is the predetermined conveying speed, and L is a length of the predetermined processing region in the conveying direction.

A laser processing apparatus includes: a conveyor to convey a container containing a content in a container body in a conveying direction at a predetermined conveying speed; and a light emitter to emit laser light to a predetermined processing region in the container body conveyed in the conveying direction by the conveyor. A frequency of a vibration of the container body conveyed, in which an amplitude of the vibration of the container body is maximized, is v/L or less, where v is the predetermined conveying speed, and L is a length of the predetermined processing region in the conveying direction.

Boldface printing having a sufficient line width is more easily implemented as compared with the related art. A laser marking apparatus includes a laser light output section, a laser light scanning section, a storage section, and a marking control section. The marking control section scans UV laser light along an outer scanning line farther from a center line of a line element of a character corresponding to print data for boldface than an inner scanning line prior to the inner scanning line closer to the center line for scanning lines adjacent to each other in a direction in which the line element of the character becomes thick among a plurality of the scanning lines forming the print data for boldface.

It is an object of the present invention to improve visibility for observation with naked eyes or for camera shooting without spoiling the appearance during marking inside a. transparent medium using a laser. By irradiating an inside of a transparent medium with a laser, the present invention forms a micro-denatured region in each of a first layer and a second layer inside the medium. The micro-denatured regions in the respective layers are arranged out of alignment with each other on a two-dimensional plane (refer to FIG. 1).

The present invention relates to a method for marking a container comprising at least a transparent wall comprising the following steps: a) applying at least one spot of ink on an outer surface of said transparent wall, b) heating said transparent wall, c) engraving a data matrix in the spot of ink of said transparent wall. The invention also relates to a marked container and to a method for identifying such a marked container.

A composition for producing a laser-inscribable identification tag for attachment to an assembly to be identified includes: a polymeric plastic; and a filler. The filler comprises graphene particles, barium particles, and/or barium sulfate particles. In an embodiment, the polymeric plastic includes polypropylene, polyethylene, PVC, TPU, TPE, TPV, PP/PA, polyketone, PA, ABS, PET, and/or PMMA.

The present invention relates to laser-markable and laser-weldable polymeric materials which are distinguished by the fact that they comprise, as laser absorber, at least one copper-doped zinc sulfide.

When a roughened pattern is formed on an image protection layer, a thermal transfer sheet is protected from being damaged or broken. A thermal head 18 is driven and controlled such that an image protection layer 15e of a thermal transfer sheet 15 is thermally transferred to a printing medium 14, and that a roughened pattern 40 is formed on the image protection layer 15e. The roughened pattern 40 is made based on a corrected pattern 40B that is obtained by correcting a basic pattern 40A that is a pattern including an island portion formed of a mass of a plurality of high-energy pixels 40a, such that the high-energy pixel 40a surrounded by the high-energy pixels 40a forming an edge area of the island portion is converted to a low-energy pixel 40b.

Laser marked articles having a predetermined feature marked onto a wall that is either user readable, machine readable, or both. Also, methods of making the marked articles by laser marking.