Advanced process for high-speed-high-power laser welding

Abstract

Improvement of the laser welding technology through an efficient laser-material interaction is detailed. The proposed laser welding method consists of a use of an oblong focused beam spot to decrease average power density to a desired minimum, and to increase exposure time to a desired maximum duration. During welding, the longitudinal axis of the oblong focused beam spot is preferably oriented generally tangent to the weld line, generally parallel to the weld direction. It is then possible to weld sheet metals, with a low average power density, high speed, high power, and low weld defects occurence frequency. Its intent is to enable keyhole mode laser welding at high-speed-high-power even though the laser-material interaction conditions are equivalent to low-speed-low-power laser welding.Improvement of the laser welding technology through an efficient laser-material interaction is detailed. The proposed laser welding method consists of a use of an oblong focused beam spot to decrease average power density to a desired minimum, and to increase exposure time to a desired maximum duration. During welding, the longitudinal axis of the oblong focused beam spot is preferably oriented generally tangent to the weld line, generally parallel to the weld direction. It is then possible to weld sheet metals, with a low average power density, high speed, high power, and low weld defects occurence frequency. Its intent is to enable keyhole mode laser welding at high-speed-high-power even though the laser-material interaction conditions are equivalent to low-speed-low-power laser welding.