Laser systems must be used to their fullest capacity in order to achieve a high return on investment. Power losses and downtimes will destroy this balance in the same way as low productivity and sub-standard product quality. All these factors are very much influenced by the choice of gas and the appropriate gas distribution. High-quality laser gases are required to run the laser with maximum output and stable beam quality. An adequate gas supply system will keep the high gas quality up to the point-of-use. The profitability of laser operations is very much influenced by the assist gases selected for laser cutting and welding. For laser welding helium and mixtures of argon and helium are used as welding gases. Argon shields the weld metal and helium is required to control the plasma formation in CO2 laser welding. Small additions of reactive gases have been found to be advantageous with respect to welding of zinc coated sheet material and especially tailored blank welding. Especially CO2 additions result in smooth weld interfaces increasing the life time of the forming tools dramatically.
Process gases for laser welding of car body components
2001
4 Seiten, 2 Bilder, 1 Tabelle, 1 Quelle
Conference paper
English
Process gases for laser welding [3097-77]
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1997
|Gases for increased laser welding productivity
Automotive engineering | 1996
|Gases for Increased Laser Welding Productivity
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1996
|