Efficient Handheld Laser Welding Machine For Extreme Precision
Laser welding is frequently chosen for applications which require particulate-free joints and fast cycle times. Laser welding is tolerant to warpage and defects, complex shapes and parts to be laser welded can be pre-assembled. The laser welding process does not involve movement or vibration during the weld cycle and can therefore be used for welding delicate internal components. Emerson’s laser welding employs a patented process called Simultaneous Through-Transmission Infrared® welding. STTIr uses fiber-optic bundles to deliver light from laser diodes to the Waveguide.
Many laser welding systems come equipped with a color video monitor to assist with training and quality control. The monitor enables other supervisors and operators to see what the operator views through the stereo-microscope and gain first-hand knowledge of favorable methods and techniques for proper laser welding. You can’t just weld metal without proper knowledge of using a welding machine.
Compared with argon tungsten arc welding or melting argon arc welding, laser welding has narrow weld seams, small heat-affected zones, reduced overlap joints, precise controllable welding process, and automation. Compared with traditional welding, laser welding has the advantages of small heat input and thermal influence, large aspect ratio, and automatic welding process. The shield gas, sometimes referred to as ‘cover gas’, has its roles in the laser welding process. The laser welding process often uses inert gas to protect the molten pool. Laser welding is usually done without filler metals so parts need to have good fit with a gap that’s less than 15% of the thickness of the thinnest component, which limits its scope of use.
A push-pull wire feeding mechanism is used to ensure good wire alignment and stable wire feeding speed. The focal point diameter is very small, so the welding seam bridging ability is very poor; in addition, the energy conversion efficiency of the laser is low. Laser brazing process applied to welding not only makes the product more beautiful and improves the sealing, but also significantly improves the strength of the welded area and enhances the safety performance of the whole vehicle. 8) It is easy to change the laser output focal length and welding spot position.
The focused laser beam is transmitted through the Autonomous Nozzle before meeting the workpiece together with the gas jet. By shifting the laser entrance aperture in the vicinity of the nozzle exit and optimizing the transition from an annular gas channel to the cylindrical nozzle exit, a patented flow design is created. With these design developments, the nozzle can produce a coaxial process gas flow in a wide pressure range, independent from the focusing optics and without a sealing window at the laser entrance. Being “autonomous,” the nozzle easily permits the integration of a crossjet between itself and the focusing optics. The different requirements of cutting and welding heads now have been combined in a modified version of the Autonomous Nozzle, a design developed at Fraunhofer ILT more than 10 years ago. The nozzle design has proven itself in industrial applications with high-power mirror cutting heads up to 12 kW.
If it can be welded, a laser welder from Alpha Laser can do it more efficiently, with the best end result, hands down. In laser seam welding, the part to be welded is moved or rotated under the focus head allowing laser spot welds to overlap or for a CW fiber laser provide sufficient penetration. Key parameters for pulsed laser seam welding are the pulse repetition rate, measured in pulses per second , and the linear part travel rate or welding speed and focused spot diameter.
The Waveguide is a custom-tailored tool that directs the laser at a precise target line to heat and join the plastic. This enables the heating and plastification of an entire weld line at once, and provides a uniform melt down and weld collapse. The company will design and manufacture three automated production cells equipped with laser processing machines for metal components manufacturer Gestamp.
Just move the ALM laser welder into position, secure the laser area, aim the slim laser arm at the weld, and start welding. Welding can be done manually using a joystick, semi-automatically, or fully automatically with an external operating unit. A typical TIG welding process softens the metal around the weld by about 10 to 15 points on the Rockwell hardness scale .
This gives more room for the manipulation of the workpiece, making the welding of joints with complex geometries possible. In traditional welding using a flame or electrical arc, changing over from one material to another involves changing the flame temperature of the intensity of the electrical arc. Lasers work much in the same way in that their intensities can be adjusted to make them suitable for different materials. The main benefit of lasers in this context is that they can have pre-set parameters for different materials, making changeovers a lot smoother. In looking at the benefits and drawbacks of laser welding technology, it’s more worthwhile to compare it to traditional welding techniques – those that use a gas flame or an electrical arc.
The constant tool-center point of the combi-head permits the accurate relative position of the different passes to be performed. A basic requirement for a good result is an appropriate clamping technique. This is necessary because the smooth gas jet used during welding cannot protect the optics from smoke and spatter.
As mentioned earlier, Al at room temperature can reflect 80% of the energy. Coupled with its good thermal conductivity, a large laser energy density threshold is required to produce “small holes”. The 2000 series, 6000 series and 7000 series alloys have a higher tendency of hot cracking, poor welding seam formation, and significantly reduced aging hardness after welding. According to the process characteristics, aluminum alloy can be divided into deformed aluminum alloy and cast aluminum alloy. Laser Welding Machines are widely used in aviation, machinery, electronics, mobile phones, communications, chemicals, electrical appliances, hardware, automotive manufacturing. Han’s Laser Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Han’s Laser Technology Group, a global industrial laser technology leader.
