When it comes to industrial welding, laser welding is swiftly replacing traditional methods. This method has many advantages over traditional welding. However, how well it works is very sensitive to the laser beam’s power characteristics.
This is where high power laser welding becomes significant. Because of their high power densities, lasers can penetrate materials with little heat loss. This property reduces heat-affected zones and part distortion.
In this article, we will discuss more about laser welding power. We will look at how impactful it can be in manufacturing and various applications of high powered lasers. Keep reading to learn more.
High Power Lasers in the Manufacturing Industry
High power lasers offer a greener, more efficient, and more precise alternative to many industrial technologies. On high-speed assembly lines, they are frequently employed for the following jobs:
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Laser Welding
In laser welding, two metal surfaces are melted together to form a single joint. Industrial welding often makes use of continuous-wave lasers. That’s because these lasers have the ability to penetrate materials more deeply. Pulsed lasers are utilized when welding electric vehicle (EV) battery components. That is because these sensitive parts need a smaller heat-affected zone and shallower penetration.
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Laser Marking
Laser marking puts permanent labels on products and parts so that they can be tracked in the industrial world, for example. In most cases, higher power lasers are used to engrave deeper into hard metals, mark them, or process more parts faster.
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Laser Cleaning
Laser cleaning is also referred to as laser ablation. It generates dust and fumes by vaporizing various contaminants, including oils, coatings, electrolytes, and oxides. This procedure is used to make sure that metal surfaces are absolutely clean prior to welding, coating, or assembly.
For coating applications, laser cleaning can stand in for masking. After parts are fully coated, they can have their coatings selectively removed using a laser. Having to mask off sensitive areas and coat everything else isn’t required.
Super-duper powerful pulsed lasers with up to 3 kilowatts of power can clean huge surfaces in a fraction of the time it takes with 500-watt or less lasers. Additionally, they are capable of rapidly cleaning complex geometries and localized areas.
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Laser Texturing
Metal surfaces can have their texture and roughness altered through laser texturing. It alters their surface properties. It gets surfaces ready for adhesive bonding and thermal spray coating.
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Laser Cutting
With the use of powerful lasers, materials like wood, glass, plastic, or metal can be vaporized to produce a neatly cut edge. It has multiple applications in fields such as
- Semiconductors
- Electronics
- Medicine
- Aerospace
- Automobiles
The Role of High Power Laser Welding in the Manufacturing Industry
Your laser’s power and quality are the two most important factors determining the weld quality. If there is not enough heat production because of low power outputs, weak fusion and cold cracks can form.
However, the amount of power sent to the workpiece per unit area of the beam can also affect the quality of the weld. It is also called power density.
Lasers are well-known for their very high power densities. It allows them to maximize penetration while minimizing heat transfer to the surrounding material. This quality lessens the distortion of the part and the heat-affected zone.
Conversely, if the beam is overly large in area and the power is applied too quickly, the heat-affected zone will expand. This will have an impact on the surrounding microstructure and increase the likelihood of fracture or corrosion failure.
How Much Laser Power Do You Need for Welding?
It relies. When you want to use laser welding as a production method, there are many things to think about. For instance,
- What kind of materials are you welding?
- How thick are they?
- How is the joint set up?
- Do you need full penetration or partial penetration?
However, there is a “rule of thumb” that can help you figure out how much laser power you need to weld most types of carbon and stainless steel. This is it: Traveling at 80 IPM (2 meters per minute), you will need about 1 kW of laser power for every millimeter you want to go through. Welding a butt on 6 mm stainless steel, for instance, would require about 6 kW of laser power if moving at 2 meters per minute.
How is Laser Power Measured in Welding Equipment?
Welding with a laser requires equipment with very high power. Imagine what the lasers can do to your measuring tools if they are made to melt and cut through metal. Make sure you do not go over the sensor’s damage threshold before you start measuring your laser. This level—usually written in the manual of your measuring tool—defines the lowest optical intensity or energy per unit area that will not hurt the sensor.
There are a number of options to weaken the laser beam before using it on the measuring tools. Some of these ways include
- Putting the detector far away from the focal point
- Adding more optics to change the way the laser beam behaves
Common Power Issues That Can Affect Your Laser’s Performance
One major reason why laser beams do not work well is that the optics are dirty. It is almost certain that your optics will get dirty when you are welding in an industrial setting. Soot, vapor, oil, splatter, and other outside particles often settle on the cover glass window, which is the closest surface.
This contamination makes the glass surface absorb more light. It changes the window’s refraction index and distorts the optics. The focal point of the laser moves closer to the optic and farther away from the workpiece because of this effect. This makes the laser less able to penetrate and more likely to cause contamination.
Minor changes in the power of your laser can have big effects on the weld. So, the stability of your laser’s output power is another thing that can affect how well your laser welding process works. This is especially important for delicate and precise tasks like micro-welding.
Conclusion
High power lasers revolutionize manufacturing with precision and efficiency. They’re vital in welding for deep penetration and pulsed for delicate tasks. High power laser marking ensures traceability. Conversely, laser cleaning removes contaminants for pristine surfaces. Laser texturing alters surface properties. On the other hand, laser cutting finds applications in diverse fields.
However, the best weld quality depends on the power and beam area, making sure that there are not too many distortions and hot spots. It’s important to note that power fluctuations and dirty optics can make it harder to work. Hence, it needs careful maintenance to always give the same results.
If you want to get the most out of the laser’s welding capability, you will need a top-class laser welder. This is what we aim to bring to you at Fiber Laser Welder. Join us, and we will change the future of manufacturing together.
