In this section the important features of high power lasers for job shop applications will be discussed. Only those lasers which carry out materials processing on macroscopic scale will be discussed in this section. Other high power lasers for high precision and microscopic / nano scale processes will be discussed in different blog.
Presently there are four lasers in the category of high power lasers which can carry out processing of materials on macroscopic scale. These lasers are CO2 Laser, Nd-YAG Laser, Fiber Laser and High Power Diode Laser (HPDL). The important features of these lasers will be briefly discussed in the following sections.
CO2 laser
This has been and continues to be the main work horse as far as laser materials processing is concerned. The major positive factor favoring this laser is the kind of power it can deliver. It can deliver 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 kW comfortably. There are CO2 lasers with 45 kW as well. This laser offers a range of beam qualities. Very high quality beam to carry out cutting and welding; besides higher order and relatively poor beam qualities to carry out surface hardening, surface alloying and cladding can be produced with relative ease in case of CO2 lasers to suit the final application. The very high power lasers like those with 20, 15, 20, 25 kW and more power are used mainly for cutting and welding of thick plates. The major user of this class of lasers is the ship building industry. Those lasers with 1 to 10 kW powers are used for welding, cutting and surface modifications like transformation hardening, surface alloying and cladding.
CO2 laser has evolved a lot since its invention. Different versions of this laser are there in use depending upon who the manufacturer is / was. This laser is generally with folded cavity with very highly reflecting cavity mirrors – highly polished OFHC (Oxygen Free High Conductivity) copper mirrors coated with gold and mirror. The lasing medium is a mixture of CO2, N2 and He. This is made to flow either axially (along axis of the cavity) or in transverse direction by means of a blower. The high frequency gas discharge is carried out for pumping the lasing medium. The lasing medium is re-circulated to cool it so as to sustain the discharge. The gas pressure is ~ 30 Torr. Mostly high power lasers are transverse flow.
It is relevant to discuss the state of art in this class of laser. The state of art in this class of laser is “Fast Axial Flow Laser”. This has been developed by Trumpf Lasers, Germany. In this laser system the cavity is a folded cylinder of rectangular shape in two layers. The amplification takes place in both the layers which are connected by folding mirrors. The lasing media flows along the axis of the cylindrical cavity at very fast speed by means of blower rotating at 45000 rpm. The reason why the cavity is folded and two – layered is to increase the amplification length and thus to be able to extract high powers. By making the flow of lasing media fast and axial the quality of the laser beam is very good and it can be used to produce very good quality cut and welds. The folding mirrors in this laser are coated dielectric mirrors and not the metallic mirrors as is the case with other versions of CO2 lasers.
Buyers Beware!!
Many readers will either like to buy or may recommend buyers for CO2 lasers. While you will find many manufacturers in the list of Ads by google in this blog page; I feel it fair to put my perspective.
There are two classes of manufacturer – Primary manufacturers and Assemblers. While Primary manufacturers develop a laser system with bottoms up approach and manufacture all the major and critical components. The assemblers simply design the system; get the components manufactured form different sources and assemble them before selling it to gullible buyers. These assemblers hardly provide any after sell support and many times shut their shop after selling a couple of machines and thus leaving the buyers in lurch after the ill designed system keeps on faltering.
To protect your interest I must list a couple of primary manufacturers. Some really good manufacturers are –
TRUMPF LASERS from Germany
ROFIN-SINAR from Germany
JK LUMONICS from United Kingdom
These are some really good manufacturers and one can buy a laser system from them even blindly. In case you like to explore for manufacturers from USA; read the Ads by Google on this page or search on the google search engine; links for the same is provided on this page for your help. In case I get some good name, I will share the same with you all in my subsequent blogs.
In case you really want to know about some Assemblers – MLI, Israel is one such name. Any company claiming to a manufacturer from India or China on this date is nothing but an assembler. So be careful. Be careful even when you are buying from Russia or East European countries.
In case you need any more information do not hesitate to write on this page. That you will be responded is my guarantee.
Presently there are four lasers in the category of high power lasers which can carry out processing of materials on macroscopic scale. These lasers are CO2 Laser, Nd-YAG Laser, Fiber Laser and High Power Diode Laser (HPDL). The important features of these lasers will be briefly discussed in the following sections.
CO2 laser
This has been and continues to be the main work horse as far as laser materials processing is concerned. The major positive factor favoring this laser is the kind of power it can deliver. It can deliver 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 kW comfortably. There are CO2 lasers with 45 kW as well. This laser offers a range of beam qualities. Very high quality beam to carry out cutting and welding; besides higher order and relatively poor beam qualities to carry out surface hardening, surface alloying and cladding can be produced with relative ease in case of CO2 lasers to suit the final application. The very high power lasers like those with 20, 15, 20, 25 kW and more power are used mainly for cutting and welding of thick plates. The major user of this class of lasers is the ship building industry. Those lasers with 1 to 10 kW powers are used for welding, cutting and surface modifications like transformation hardening, surface alloying and cladding.
CO2 laser has evolved a lot since its invention. Different versions of this laser are there in use depending upon who the manufacturer is / was. This laser is generally with folded cavity with very highly reflecting cavity mirrors – highly polished OFHC (Oxygen Free High Conductivity) copper mirrors coated with gold and mirror. The lasing medium is a mixture of CO2, N2 and He. This is made to flow either axially (along axis of the cavity) or in transverse direction by means of a blower. The high frequency gas discharge is carried out for pumping the lasing medium. The lasing medium is re-circulated to cool it so as to sustain the discharge. The gas pressure is ~ 30 Torr. Mostly high power lasers are transverse flow.
It is relevant to discuss the state of art in this class of laser. The state of art in this class of laser is “Fast Axial Flow Laser”. This has been developed by Trumpf Lasers, Germany. In this laser system the cavity is a folded cylinder of rectangular shape in two layers. The amplification takes place in both the layers which are connected by folding mirrors. The lasing media flows along the axis of the cylindrical cavity at very fast speed by means of blower rotating at 45000 rpm. The reason why the cavity is folded and two – layered is to increase the amplification length and thus to be able to extract high powers. By making the flow of lasing media fast and axial the quality of the laser beam is very good and it can be used to produce very good quality cut and welds. The folding mirrors in this laser are coated dielectric mirrors and not the metallic mirrors as is the case with other versions of CO2 lasers.
Buyers Beware!!
Many readers will either like to buy or may recommend buyers for CO2 lasers. While you will find many manufacturers in the list of Ads by google in this blog page; I feel it fair to put my perspective.
There are two classes of manufacturer – Primary manufacturers and Assemblers. While Primary manufacturers develop a laser system with bottoms up approach and manufacture all the major and critical components. The assemblers simply design the system; get the components manufactured form different sources and assemble them before selling it to gullible buyers. These assemblers hardly provide any after sell support and many times shut their shop after selling a couple of machines and thus leaving the buyers in lurch after the ill designed system keeps on faltering.
To protect your interest I must list a couple of primary manufacturers. Some really good manufacturers are –
TRUMPF LASERS from Germany
ROFIN-SINAR from Germany
JK LUMONICS from United Kingdom
These are some really good manufacturers and one can buy a laser system from them even blindly. In case you like to explore for manufacturers from USA; read the Ads by Google on this page or search on the google search engine; links for the same is provided on this page for your help. In case I get some good name, I will share the same with you all in my subsequent blogs.
In case you really want to know about some Assemblers – MLI, Israel is one such name. Any company claiming to a manufacturer from India or China on this date is nothing but an assembler. So be careful. Be careful even when you are buying from Russia or East European countries.
In case you need any more information do not hesitate to write on this page. That you will be responded is my guarantee.
1 comment:
Good descripton of laser.
Give some more detailed info.
Thanks.
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