Many industrially important reflective metals absorb blue light significantly better than they absorb longer wavelengths. That fundamental physical advantage has led to increasing adoption of high-quality, high-speed blue laser welding in emobility, energy storage, and consumer electronics applications, and it was anticipated that the blue laser would bring comparable advantages to additive manufacturing/3d printing. Here we report results from the first integration of the blue industrial laser into a scanner based powder bed fusion system, the EOS M100 additive manufacturing system. The tests were performed with two very different laser systems: the AO-650 (650Watts – 30 mm-mrad) and AI-200 (200Watts – 5 mm-mrad). Test articles were printed with SS316L powder and pure copper powders. The blue laser printed the SS316L parts twice as efficiently as the conventional IR laser. Following minimal process optimization, tensile bars were fabricated and tested resulting in a density of <99% and an ultimate tensile strength of 80,000 psi when printed with the blue laser, even in these preliminary tests. Blue industrial laser printing of copper test blocks achieved <97% full density on as-printed parts. The EOS M100 IR laser could not be tested on the copper because it did not have sufficient power to melt the powder. Here we summarize the integration of these lasers into 3d printing, and present initial test results.
This paper presents the results of welding tests performed with a 1kW blue laser to determine the power and spot characteristics necessary to be able to perform all the welds required in a battery and battery pack. The results of this study indicate that a minimum of 1,500 Watts with a nominal beam parameter product of 11 mm-mrad is required to interface with a scanner and achieve all of the welds required by this application. Several other key industrial applications are discussed, and the welding performance is characterized for various materials. These results are used to define the optimum laser system parameters to serve a broad range of applications. A new blue laser product architecture is presented that is capable of scaling to multi-kW power levels in order to meet the target performance. The building block for this architecture is a 400-Watt blue laser module. These units can be combined to produce systems of any power level in 400- Watt increments with excellent beam quality. The 1,500-Watt product being developed has a beam parameter product of less than 17 mm-mrad.
This paper presents a 500 W continuous wave blue laser system for industrial applications, based on high power, high brightness laser diodes at 450 nm. The system builds upon the company’s 150W modules introduced recently. The modular system architecture allows efficient power scaling; a coupling efficiency of 90% into a 400 m 0.22 NA fiber was achieved. This paper will report on the architecture and integration of the laser and describe its key performance parameters. Test results will be presented for welding of copper with power levels and brightness accessible with this system.
This paper will discuss the development of high power blue laser systems for industrial applications. The key development enabling high power blue laser systems is the emergence of high power, high brightness laser diodes at 450 nm. These devices have a high individual brightness rivaling their IR counterparts and they have the potential to exceed their performance and price barriers. They also have a very high To resulting in a 0.04 nm/°C wavelength shift. They have a very stable lateral far-field profile which can be combined with other diodes to achieve a superior brightness. This paper will report on the characteristics of the blue laser diodes, their integration into a modular laser system suitable for scaling the output power to the 1 kW level and beyond. Test results will be presented for welding of copper with power levels ranging from 150 Watts to 600 Watts
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