Dot peen marking is a well-established technology for permanent part identification, producing deep and durable markings designed for long-term traceability.
This process creates mechanical indentations in the material, ensuring lasting readability even after standardized abrasion tests, impact resistance testing, or repeated industrial washing cycles.
Dot peen marking supports long-term traceability requirements by allowing serial numbers, references, and DataMatrix codes to be marked directly onto the part. These markings remain suitable for reliable reading by machine vision systems, including after surface treatments or exposure to demanding industrial environments.
The process requires the adjustment of several parameters—such as impact force, dot density, stylus angle, stylus-to-part distance, and marking speed—according to the material and its surface condition.
Whether used in portable applications, fixed production stations, or automated systems, SIC MARKING offers solutions adapted to a wide range of industrial environments.
This flexibility, combined with the ability to tailor marking parameters to specific materials and requirements, makes dot peen marking a key solution for reliable identification, durable traceability, and resistance to harsh operating conditions.
Based on a controlled impact process, a dot peen marking machine creates a series of dots that together form a durable indented marking.
The impact force can be adjusted according to the required marking depth.
In practice, marking depths typically range from a few micrometers to several hundred micrometers, depending on the material and application requirements.
Marking density can also be adapted by adjusting the spacing between individual impact points.
Dot peen marking is an effective solution for a wide variety of parts, including flat, cylindrical, complex, small, large, or difficult-to-access components.
It provides durable and precise markings while adapting to different geometries and dimensions, ensuring consistent and reliable results for identification, traceability, and industrial compliance applications.
The choice of equipment—whether a fixed dot peen marking station, a portable dot peen marker, an integrable dot peen marking head, or accessories such as rotary axes and dedicated fixtures—depends on factors including part geometry, accessibility, and production volume. Each application requires a suitable configuration to achieve optimal marking performance.
Series production
Heavy and immovable parts
Complex geometries
Dot peen marking is particularly well suited to ferrous metals such as carbon steels, stainless steels, and cast irons, as well as non-ferrous metals including aluminum, copper, and their alloys. It can also be used on certain rigid technical plastics such as POM, PA, and PEEK, provided they have sufficient impact resistance to ensure durable marking.
Ferrous metals
Non-ferrous metals
Technical plastics
Non-compatible materials
Dot peen marking provides a wide range of marking capabilities, including alphanumeric characters, 1D and 2D codes, regulatory markings, technical references, and deep markings, ensuring permanence, readability, and resistance to harsh industrial conditions.
Thanks to the adaptability of dot peen marking machines to different materials and complex geometries, this permanent marking technology allows adjustment of marking depth and positioning to meet machining, assembly, and environmental constraints.
Primarily used for serial numbers, product references, and identification codes, dot peen alphanumeric marking enables the engraving of character sequences with controlled height and depth, depending on the material.
This marking is suited to industrial environments involving abrasion, high temperatures, and chemical exposure, while remaining legible for both human and automated reading systems.
Dot peen marking can produce 2D matrix codes such as DataMatrix, which are suitable for a wide range of surfaces.
The DataMatrix code is particularly well suited to applications requiring high information density, especially in sectors such as aerospace and medical industries.
The DataMatrix ECC200 standard is widely used for industrial components due to its robustness, compact size, and reliability.
Dot peen marking meets traceability and identification requirements defined by sector regulations such as EU Regulation 2017/745 (MDR) for medical devices, UDI requirements from the FDA, as well as quality standards including ISO 9001, ISO 13485, and IATF 16949 in the automotive industry. These markings are often required to be permanent, legible after aging, and resistant to abrasion and corrosion testing.
Dot peen marking technology enables marking depths ranging from a few micrometers to several hundred micrometers, which is sufficient to withstand standardized tests such as salt spray testing in accordance with ISO 9227 in certain applications.
Dot peen marking enables deeply engraved markings directly into the material, making it ideal for serial numbers on metal parts, engine codes, and industrial tooling. The marking depth varies depending on the material and process parameters, ensuring readability even after machining, painting, sandblasting, or heat treatments.
Dot peen marking provides long-term traceability, which is essential for regulatory compliance (such as UDI requirements or automotive traceability standards) and maintenance operations.
In the automotive industry, dot peen marking is used to engrave serial numbers, barcodes, and product references on metal parts and engine components. It ensures traceability and durability, which are essential in high-volume production environments where markings must withstand heat treatments and surface treatments such as sandblasting or painting.
This technology is well suited to applications such as body parts, engine blocks, and structural elements, where consistent readability is required to ensure compliance and support long-term maintenance.
In the aerospace sector, dot peen marking is used to identify engine components, metal structures, and other critical aircraft parts. Marking is performed to ensure full traceability throughout the production chain as well as during maintenance operations.
The precision of dot peen marking enables the engraving of serial numbers or DataMatrix codes on parts exposed to extreme operating conditions, including metal components, supports, housings, and structural elements, while complying with strict quality and safety standards such as AS9100.
In the railway sector, dot peen marking is used for the identification of bogie components, nameplates, and structural elements such as rails and braking systems. These markings play a key role in ensuring traceability and supporting maintenance operations over the long term, enabling fast identification within complex production and servicing environments.
The marked information is often combined with serial numbers or 2D codes to simplify inventory management and to ensure compliance verification throughout the entire lifecycle of railway equipment.
In the electronics sector, dot peen marking is used to identify electronic components such as housings, metal chassis, and nameplates. These markings are essential for ensuring traceability of parts within production lines and facilitating repairs or modifications during service.
DataMatrix codes can also be engraved, as they enable information storage on small and complex surfaces, ensuring readability and durability even after rigorous testing or heat treatments.
Discover our key dot peen marking equipment: Portable machines, Integrable modules for production lines, or Standalone marking stations.
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