Lasers for industrial production processing: tailored tools with increasing flexibility

Wolfram Rath

doi:10.1117/12.906643

6 February 2012 Lasers for industrial production processing: tailored tools with increasing flexibility

Wolfram Rath

Proceedings Volume 8239, High Power Laser Materials Processing: Lasers, Beam Delivery, Diagnostics, and Applications; 823908 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.906643
Event: SPIE LASE, 2012, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

High-power fiber lasers are the newest generation of diode-pumped solid-state lasers. Due to their all-fiber design they are compact, efficient and robust. Rofin's Fiber lasers are available with highest beam qualities but the use of different process fiber core sizes enables the user additionally to adapt the beam quality, focus size and Rayleigh length to his requirements for best processing results. Multi-mode fibers from 50μm to 600μm with corresponding beam qualities of 2.5 mm.mrad to 25 mm.mrad are typically used. The integrated beam switching modules can make the laser power available to 4 different manufacturing systems or can share the power to two processing heads for parallel processing. Also CO₂ Slab lasers combine high power with either "single-mode" beam quality or higher order modes. The wellestablished technique is in use for a large number of industrial applications, processing either metals or non-metallic materials. For many of these applications CO₂ lasers remain the best choice of possible laser sources either driven by the specific requirements of the application or because of the cost structure of the application. The actual technical properties of these lasers will be presented including an overview over the wavelength driven differences of application results, examples of current industrial practice as cutting, welding, surface processing including the flexible use of scanners and classical optics processing heads.

Citation Download Citation

Wolfram Rath "Lasers for industrial production processing: tailored tools with increasing flexibility", Proc. SPIE 8239, High Power Laser Materials Processing: Lasers, Beam Delivery, Diagnostics, and Applications, 823908 (6 February 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.906643

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