Newbie- Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) near a CNC laser machine?

[FO4020NT]

Hoping someone out there has experience using a laser in a shop environment where it may be exposed to SF6 gas. It seems to have a negative affect on the beam, has anyone experienced this, if so how did you overcome it? Or does anyone use a laser near an SF6 environment and not have any problems, I'd like to hear from you as well. Thanks!

[Vogavt]

We use it in the electrical industry as a gaseous dielectric medium. Also due to it being on tauted as the most potent greenhouse gas there is, we have to measure every oz that gets released. We weight the bottles before and after each injection to keep up with the quantities.

If you've got SF6 floating around in your work environment, you have bigger issues than how it affects your laser....

My $0.02 worth.

[FO4020NT]

Originally Posted by Vogavt We use it in the electrical industry as a gaseous dielectric medium. Also due to it being on tauted as the most potent greenhouse gas there is, we have to measure every oz that gets released. We weight the bottles before and after each injection to keep up with the quantities. If you've got SF6 floating around in your work environment, you have bigger issues than how it affects your laser.... My $0.02 worth.

Thanks for your reply. Are you saying that you do in fact use lasers at your facility, you just keep the SF6 very contained so there is no chance of it contacting SF6? If so, what is the proximity of where you use this gas to the laser?

[Vogavt]

Sorry, no we do not use lasers.

I was just commenting on the environmental issue regarding SF6.

[Pandinus]

How much SF6 are you talking about??? It is more dense than "AIR" so think of a hot day, hot air rising off the road distorting light that passes through it, same as refraction from air to water but not as bad.