Civan: Weld die-cast aluminium with the Dynamic Beam Laser
Die-cast aluminium welding has battled against trapped hydrogen which creates porosity but now this problem can be beaten with Civan’s new Dynamic Beam Lasers.
Die-casting liquid aluminium in steel moulds can make tricky, precisely shaped parts at high volume and low cost. But, unlike welding other metals, welding aluminium die-cast parts is difficult, and the results can be weaker and less reliable. That’s because hydrogen diffuses into the melt pool during welding creating spatter and making the weld porous when it solidifies.
To avoid these problems, less effective methods than laser welding have commonly been used in the past on die-cast parts. But now, Civan’s Dynamic Beam Laser significantly minimises the porosity in die-cast laser welds which, in turn, enables manufacturers to upgrade some machining processes to die-casting aluminium instead.
Dr Cedric Chaminade, one of the physicists with Raymax Applications which distributes Civan products exclusively in Australia and New Zealand, believes laser welding die-cast parts also enhances stability and reduces process time because it welds quality, high-strength aluminium parts more efficiently.
“A dynamic laser beam can be shaped during the welding process. This allows a better control of the thermal gradient, tailored power distribution, and the beam itself steers the melt pool flow and ejects hydrogen bubbles from the material,” says Dr Chaminade.
“The results are a quieter melt pool which reduces spatter, enabling a smoother, stronger, overall better weld – even with highly reflective material such as aluminium or copper.”
“Now, with this new tech, manufacturers of all sorts of aluminium products including fencing and construction products, extrusions and hollow structures, can upgrade to this process with Civan’s dynamic laser.”
Dr Chaminade says the other challenge which Civan’s dynamic beam laser overcomes is the need for more laser power.
“By the coherent recombination and parallel amplification of single seed signals, known as Coherent Beam Combining technology or CBC, Civan’s laser architecture enables a beam to reach the highest output powers.
“Experiments with a 100kW Civan laser have demonstrated penetration depth up to 50mm for the butt weld of steel parts which could be used in civil engineering, shipbuilding and in the energy sector,” says Dr Chaminade.
Because the beam shape can be changed in microseconds, users have total flexibility. Different wavelengths are offered with dynamic beam control, beam shaping, focus steering and more. Whether you need to cut, weld, drill or print in 3D, CIVAN’s lasers make multiple material processing applications possible. “Thanks to the CBC architecture of Civan lasers, the wavelength conversion required to process highly reflective metals such as copper or gold isn’t limited by the damage threshold of a single crystal.”
Raymax Applications’ team of physicists and mechatronics engineers can advise how best to achieve your goals. Raymax offers systems design and integration, installation and retrofitting, training and ongoing support on the vast range of laser and photonics equipment it distributes. Further details at our partner page.
Teem Photonics: The latest sub-nanosecond, amplified microchip lasers
Pushing the boundaries of extremely compact, short-pulse MOPA lasers, a new series of PicoSpear lasers from Teem Photonics now delivers a stream of light with pulses down to 650ps, and frequencies up to 100kHz – while maintaining excellent stability and beam quality at 532nm.
The Amplified Microchip PicoSpear Series of MOPA – or Master Oscillator Power Amplifier lasers – completes Teem Photonics’ microchip portfolio as it meets needs across industries and applications that demand both robustness and high precision. Dr Cedric Chaminade, physicist with Raymax Applications which distributes Teem Photonics products in Australia and New Zealand, believes the new series is ideal for applications including LiDAR (laser imaging, detection, and ranging), as well as PCB repair, and micro-machining.
“The new PicoSpear family maintains high, peak power while increasing the rep rate,” says Dr Chaminade.
“The series offers high-output power that can be adjusted up to 500 mW and its excellent beam quality and performance rely on a Gaussian TEM00 profile and an M² value below 1.3.”
“So it’s ideal for anyone looking for sub-nanosecond lasers with higher performances than standard Microchip and Powerchip models.” Further key advantages of the PicoSpear Series are its compact design and small footprint, plus air-cooling and a sealed package ensure long-term durability and stability.
“It’s a compact laser solution that’s more compact and costs less than the ANx-series – PicoOne and PicoMagna products,” says Dr Chaminade.
Based in France, Teem Photonics offers compact and cost-effective laser sources in the picosecond range for ultra-fast laser processing. The available wavelengths range from near-infrared to 213nm, with a peak power of up to 200 kW per pulse. See more details at our partner page.
Control your laser cladding and 3D printing with Clamir
A high-speed infrared camera from Clamir will give you a compact, user-friendly process for controlling and monitoring laser cladding and laser 3D printing. This new level of control reduces risk of defects, damage to substrates, and avoids overheating – vital because too much heat could stop production.
Clamir’s infrared camera (1.1 µm - 5.0 µm) monitors the geometry and calculates the width of the melt pool. Inline monitoring of the melt-pool width, with real-time closed-loop control of the laser power ensures a stable and steady process along the entire process.
Raymax Applications has installed and provided training on many Clamir cameras in Australia, both within complete laser systems designed and integrated by Raymax, as well as retrofitting Clamir to clients’ existing systems.
“Real-time monitoring of melt pool dynamics and geometry affords modifiable control of both the laser power and a constant melt pool,” says Dr Cedric Chaminade, physicist and Technical Director at Raymax Applications. “Better control of the process means better quality, consistent dilution, and some level of adjustment to process entry variations such as subtle powder flow rate fluctuations.”
“And more controlled processes also save on materials and energy.” Both Swinburne University and the CSIRO are using Clamir’s cameras in their R&D labs to explore the advantages of process control and 3D printing and to boost industry knowledge of sophisticated processes and systems.
Raymax has installed laser cladding systems up to 25 kW in Australia, using rectangular laser spots for processes controlled by Clamir.
“With extra inline quality control provided by the records from the Clamir camera, clients can develop their parameters quicker and bring their product to market faster,” Dr Chaminade says.
Raymax’s clients using Clamir cameras include heavy industries such as mining companies which realise the benefits when repairing heavy equipment and aviation companies which have added process control and monitoring systems to their laser repair development systems.
“Process control could be particularly important for laser 3D printing by direct energy deposition where many metal layers are deposited on top of each other,” says Dr Chaminade.
“In Australia, businesses that rely on 3D printing are catching on to the many advantages of this next level of monitoring, control, and results.”
Raymax can advise you on using Clamir cameras which work with the main laser source technologies, including diode, fibre, and disk laser sources, for a range of applications. Raymax’s expertise with its many product partners covers materials interactions, systems design, integration, and retrofitting. Raymax’s trusted support includes training and ongoing service. See more at our partner page.
