Laser precision allows for better quality welds, faster throughput, reduced post-processing costs and access to new domains of application.
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The main drawback of laser welding is the hefty price tag for the equipment. Our accurate measurement solutions help you maximize the ROI of this investment.
Let's discuss about the main advantages and disadvantages of laser welding.
Welding, both traditional and laser-based, implies heat delivery at the junction between two surfaces. The melted metals mix and, after they've cooled, form a strong bond, effectively joining the two components together.
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The problem with the traditional methods is that they do not deliver this heat only at the weld seam, but also in the surrounding material. The result is bending, stress, and other negative impacts on the material near the welds.
Lasers on the other hand, have enormous power density. In other words, they can deliver their heat extremely locally at the seam, leaving the surrounding materials in better condition.
Laser welds are extremely clean. Usually, they are so clean that they require no subsequent grinding, resulting in a significant reduction in post-processing costs.
Having such cosmetic welds also helps give the product a more premium look, giving a great first impression with products that are destined for end-users
Lasers can weld many times faster (up to 5 to 10 times faster!) than traditional methods. Even without considering the decrease in post-processing, it's easy to understand that faster weld speeds mean a quicker turnaround time and increased productivity.
Laser welding is extremely versatile. Different laser setups can weld just about anything and everything: thick steel plates for the shipping industry, precious metals for jewelry, dissimilar metals like aluminum and steel, or the copper contacts on electric car batteries.
There have even been some successful attempts (though this is still experimental) to weld ceramics, a notoriously hard-to-weld class of materials.
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All of these advantages come at a cost, literally. The initial acquisition cost of laser setups can easily be double or triple the cost of traditional systems.
However, the per-unit cost is lowered. If you have sufficiently high volumes, the investment pays dividends.
Precision being the trademark of laser welding comes with a bit of a drawback, because that precision means that bad workpiece fit-up will really harm the quality of the welding.
This decrease in gap-tolerance means you need to make sure your upstream processes/suppliers can reliably meet strict tolerance levels.
The use of lasers for welding has some distinct advantages over other welding techniques. Many of these advantages are related to the fact that with laser welding a 'keyhole' can be created. This keyhole allows heat input not just at the top surface, but through the thickness of the material(s). The main advantages of this are detailed below:
Laser welding is a very fast technique. Depending on the type and power of laser used, thin section materials can be welded at speeds of many metres a minute. Lasers are, therefore, extremely suited to working in high productivity automated environments. For thicker sections, productivity gains can also be made as the laser keyhole welding process can complete a joint in a single pass which would otherwise require multiple passes with other techniques. Laser welding is nearly always carried out as an automated process, with the optical fibre delivered beams from Nd:YAG, diode, fibre and disk lasers in particular being easily remotely manipulated using multi-axis robotic delivery systems, resulting in a geometrically flexible manufacturing process.
Laser welding allows welds to be made with a high aspect ratio (large depth to narrow width). Laser welding, therefore, is feasible for joint configurations that are unsuitable for many other (conduction limited) welding techniques, such as stake welding through lap joints. This allows smaller flanges to be used compared with parts made using resistance spot welding.
Lasers produce a highly concentrated heat source, capable of creating a keyhole. Consequently, laser welding produces a small volume of weld metal, and transmits only a limited amount of heat into the surrounding material, and consequently samples distort less than those welded with many other processes. Another advantage resulting from this low heat input is the narrow width of the heat affected zones either side of the weld, resulting in less thermal damage and loss of properties in the parent material adjacent to the weld.
With lasers, many different materials can be welded or joined, both metallic and non-metallic, and including steels, stainless steels, Al, Ti and Ni alloys, plastics and textiles. Furthermore, taking the example of steels, the thickness of the material that can be welded can be anything from under a millimetre to around 30mm , depending on the type and power of laser used.
Unlike the majority of electron beam keyhole welding operations, laser welding is carried out at atmospheric pressure, although gas shielding is often necessary, to prevent oxidation of the welds.
Laser welding does not apply any force to the workpieces being joined, and more often or not is a single sided process, ie completing the joint from one side of the workpieces. However, in common with many other fusion processes, weld root shielding can be required from the opposite side.
Using lasers, spot or stitch welds, if fit for purpose, can be made just as easily as continuous welds.
Apart from welding, with a few adjustments, a laser source can be used for many other materials processing applications, including cutting, surfacing, heat treatment and marking, and also for more complex techniques such as rapid prototyping. Furthermore, the way in which the beam(s) is/are delivered to the workpieces can be approached in a number of different ways, including:
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