Emerging laser technologies are giving manufacturers new ways of looking at conventional techniques. Katherine Crichton looks at the growing awareness and acceptance of fibre lasers in industry.
COMMONLY found in the science lab for R&D purposes, rapid advances in fibre laser development is seeing the technology match or outperform traditional laser manufacturing techniques.
As a result, fibre lasers are being deployed worldwide on the manufacturing floor used in a wide range of applications, including the aerospace, pharmaceutical and defence industries.
Professor of Laser Engineering, Milan Brandt, from the Industrial Research Institute Swinburne (IRIS) at Swinburne University says fibre lasers can offer a range of benefits compared to conventional laser technologies.
“The prime advantage of fibre lasers is that they are flexible, compact, and robust solid state sources that offer intrinsically better beam quality,” Brandt explained.
“They can also give manufacturers better reliability, reduced running costs and less maintenance, drastically reducing the total cost of ownership and increasing productivity,” Brandt told Manufacturers’ Monthly.
According to Brandt, fibre lasers are making the biggest impact in the precision welding and marking markets.
“We are now seeing a trend where companies are realising the benefits of fibre lasers; buying them and exploring what they can do.”
This is a trend Ian Butler, from LMC Laser Services, has also noticed and says fibre lasers are especially proving to be a viable alternative in marking applications.
“They can offer a similar power output as conventional Nd:Yag without the same input energy requirements, making them a strong competitor to conventional laser technologies, especially at the lower power ranges,” Butler said.
Light work
While Fibre laser technology has generally been restricted to low output powered processes, the technology is now also making a mark in cutting processes.
With stability and flexibility in the rate of delivery of laser energy critical for many metalworking applications, functions such as cutting, welding, shaping and sintering require a dynamic modulation of laser power to achieve optimal processing performance.
A major breakthrough in laser technology has seen the development of a high powered fibre laser capable of a continuous output power of more than 1kW in a high quality beam.
Brandt says this has only been achieved in the last three years, but expects to see the technology permeating applications previously the domain of CO2 lasers and believes the reliability and accuracy of fibre lasers will only improve.
“There is not too much research being put into CO2 lasers as it is a mature established technology, whereas there is a lot of research going into fibre lasers to make them more effective in manufacturing processes,” Brandt said.
Butler says another advantage of fibre lasers over CO2 is the simplification of the laser cutting process.
“Because fibre lasers are inherently simple systems you don’t need complicated subsystems to use them, whereas CO2 requires the combination of three gases, and sophisticated gas transport systems such as vacuum pumps and blowers” he said.
“CO2 lasers are also very high voltage, and generate a lot of heat requiring an enormous amount of cooling to counterbalance that.”
Butler believes that in the next five years fibre lasers will make significant inroads into CO2 applications and will take over from gas lasers and some solid state lasers in some areas of the industry.
While fibre lasers can offer manufactures an effective alternative to conventional laser technologies, it is still a developing technology and this is reflected in the price.
Seeing the light
According to Brandt, the cost of fibre lasers is still a driving factor in the decision for manufacturers to take it up.
“A CO2 laser can cost around $100/W whereas a fibre laser is around $140/W.
“Another consideration for manufacturers is the type of materials that can be cut using fibre lasers. At the moment there is not a lot of data available about using fibre lasers for cutting applications,” he said.
Initial results from tests conducted largely by research institutes indicate that fibre lasers seem to be more suited to cutting thinner metals (up to 4mm) in straight cutting, rather than profile cutting processes and thicker materials.
“The process is not as well understood as with the CO2, and this could deter some SMEs and smaller job shops from looking at fibre laser technology as they have already invested money and training in CO2.
“The new laser system has to be so much more superior in performance and in cost before manufacturers will make the switch from conventional technologies like CO2 to fibre lasers,” he said.
Another factor manufacturers need to consider before implementing fibre lasers is the additional safety requirements needed to use the technology.
“Because fibre lasers have a shorter wave length than CO2, it is more dangerous to the eye. The laser and the processing area would have to be fully enclosed to prevent any lasers escaping or reflections compared to conventional CO2 lasers,” Butler told Manufacturers’ Monthly.
Both Butler and Brandt agree that it is just a matter of time before fibre lasers will be widely used.
“Because fibre lasers efficiency is three of four times more than conventional laser sources, there will definitely be a place for fibre lasers in Australian manufacturing. As more people buy fibre lasers, the cost of production will inevitably come down,” Brandt said.
Butler says with the potential to get more power per dollar out of a laser source and more reliability, people will be attracted to it.
“We are just starting to sell the fibre laser marking systems in Australia and shortly we will have several installed,” he said.
“Many companies don’t see the need to stick with a five year old system if there is something better and newer available.”
