Welding with fiber lasers from 200 to 17000 W

Abstract

Latest developments in laser physics have made available single-mode fiber lasers of several hundreds of Watts and multi-mode high-power systems up to 17 kW and potentially more at excellent beam qualities for the respective power ranges. Adding to these properties their high energetic efficiency, their considerable estimated lifetime and their compact size, they might well be considered to be a viable alternative to both conventional laser systems for welding in the micro as well as in the macro range. However, due to the novelty of these systems, only few experiences on their usability for materials processing and in special for welding are existing.To help this situation, on the one hand a 200 W single-mode fiber laser has been used for micro-welding experiments at highest beam intensity. For a variety of materials the process boundaries were investigated with respect to penetration, welding speed and gap bridging in overlap position.On the other hand, after preceding work with fiber lasers with 7 kW and 10 kW beam power, respectively, currently a high-power fiber laser of the 17 kW class is used at the BIAS for developing welding applications for a variety of industries such as pipelaying and welding of aluminium extruded profiles for the railway industries.Latest developments in laser physics have made available single-mode fiber lasers of several hundreds of Watts and multi-mode high-power systems up to 17 kW and potentially more at excellent beam qualities for the respective power ranges. Adding to these properties their high energetic efficiency, their considerable estimated lifetime and their compact size, they might well be considered to be a viable alternative to both conventional laser systems for welding in the micro as well as in the macro range. However, due to the novelty of these systems, only few experiences on their usability for materials processing and in special for welding are existing.To help this situation, on the one hand a 200 W single-mode fiber laser has been used for micro-welding experiments at highest beam intensity. For a variety of materials the process boundaries were investigated with respect to penetration, welding speed and gap bridging in overlap position.On the other hand, after preceding work with fiber lasers with 7 kW a...