Lasers in Manufacturing

1. Lasers in Manufacturing This will give a brief review of nine generic laser processes.This will give a brief review of nine generic laser processes.

2. Introduction Review of many of the major applications of lasers (and a few daft ones)

3. Laser Cutting Established as a manufacturing process in the 80�s 1000 companies using laser cutting the UK Many more buy in laser cut parts Metals cutting is a major market But many non-metals applications as well. Application to a wide range of materials and thickness Narrow kerf widths High speeds Very high repeatability Very high reliability Easily automated and programmable Flexibility in changeovers Reduced tooling costs and reduced setup times Non-contact process (no tooling wear or breakage, minimal material distortion) Versatility (the same tool can also be used for laser drilling and laser welding) Capacity for high degree of beam manipulation (true 3-D cutting) High sApplication to a wide range of materials and thickness Narrow kerf widths High speeds Very high repeatability Very high reliability Easily automated and programmable Flexibility in changeovers Reduced tooling costs and reduced setup times Non-contact process (no tooling wear or breakage, minimal material distortion) Versatility (the same tool can also be used for laser drilling and laser welding) Capacity for high degree of beam manipulation (true 3-D cutting) High s

4. Cutting Application to a wide range of materials and thickness Narrow kerf widths High speeds Very high repeatability Very high reliability Easily automated and programmable Flexibility in changeovers Reduced tooling costs and reduced setup times Non-contact process (no tooling wear or breakage, minimal material distortion) Versatility (the same tool can also be used for laser drilling and laser welding) Capacity for high degree of beam manipulation (true 3-D cutting) High sApplication to a wide range of materials and thickness Narrow kerf widths High speeds Very high repeatability Very high reliability Easily automated and programmable Flexibility in changeovers Reduced tooling costs and reduced setup times Non-contact process (no tooling wear or breakage, minimal material distortion) Versatility (the same tool can also be used for laser drilling and laser welding) Capacity for high degree of beam manipulation (true 3-D cutting) High s

5. Cutting VideoVideo

6. Cloth & Plastics Cutting Low power CO2 laser machines for cutting thin non-metals, (plastics, cloth) are now becoming commonplace. Combined engraving / cutting machines common in schools / colleges

7. Laser Marking

8. Marking

9. Marking

10. Developments in Laser Marking Fibre lasers: High beam quality, high efficiency laser sources give high quality marks on metals at increased speeds

11. Laser Welding

12. Welding

13. Welding

14. Welding

15. Spot and MicroWelding

16. Other Laser Welding applications Plastics and Polymer Welding Possible to use laser to weld transparent plastic to opaque plastic (n.b. �transparent and �opaque� refer to laser wavelengths) Clearweld� Uses absorbing dye in joint interface to weld two nominally transparent polymers Can even be used for clothing!

17. Laser Welding Developments Hybrid Welding Uses combination of arc and laser processes More tolerant to poor fit up Filler metals can positively modify weld metal Over performance better than expected for this combination �Remote Welding� Use high beam quality �slab� and fibre lasers coupled to a scanning head to weld at multiple x-y-z positions

18. Drilling

19. Drilling

20. Drilling 100 � 500 holes per sec, thickness <1 mm application fuel filter 50 � 300 microns100 � 500 holes per sec, thickness <1 mm application fuel filter 50 � 300 microns

21. Via drilling

22. Cleaning

24. Cleaning

25. Surface treatments

26. Surface treatments

27. Laser Cladding Deposition of wear and corrosion resistant materials Reduced heat input gives lower distortion

28. Direct Laser Fabrication

29. Direct Laser Fabrication

30. Direct Laser Fabrication

31. Selective Laser Sintering

32. Laser Forming - an emerging process

33. Laser Forming

34. Laser Shock Peening

35. Microprocesses The precision and small spot sizes (down to less than 1um) makes the laser an ideal tool for �microprocessing� and nanotechnology. Universities of Liverpool and Manchester won �2.5m NWSF funding to set up Northwest Laser Engineering Consortium

36. Fine Cutting Stent cutting speed up to 50mm / secStent cutting speed up to 50mm / sec

37. Structuring and texturing Periodic Structures (with period <1um) machined into metals and ceramics, and also produced by material modification in polymers

38. Beam coupler

39. Direct writing in Fused Silica

40. Parallel Processing with SLM The �cold� machining of materials using fS and pS lasers requires low pulse energies. Many laser systems are low repetition rate (<50kHz) high energy (100uJ+), and beam have to be attenuated to obtain ideal energy Low throughput Use a spatial light modulator (diffractive optical element) to produce multiple beams (50+) for parallel processing Improved throughput Developed under NWLEC, now a TSB project at UoL

41. Drilling Small hole arrays in thin foils. Uses a �Femtosecond� laser A �Cold� process

42. CW Fibre laser generation of Nanoparticles High intensity laser beams vapourise materials that then condense as sub-micron powders. CW fibre laser combine high intensity with high intensity

43. Tweezers Want to look at tweezers as the way of moving and manipulating nanoparticles Potential microbuilding process Combine with UV polymerisation RP machines

44. pS fibre lasers Fianium laser system: Pulse Length 20ps. Wavelength 1064 nm. Rep Rate 200kHz or 500kHz Maximum Pulse Energy 6 ?J Laser Power 2.1W Experimental Spot Size 26?J

45. White laser beams Any ideas?

46. Laser cutting of cheese Using an freq quadrupled laser! Max cut depth at 1mm/min is 3mm! Av Power 2W

47. Laser marking beetles

48. Thank You