Breakthrough in high-power laser welding technology
IT Home reported on December 5 that according to today's news from Hubei Optics Valley Laboratory, in today's rapid development of laser technology, laser cutting has entered the era of 50,000-watt application, while laser welding is still at the level below 10,000 watts.
Especially in the process of high-power laser deep penetration welding, welding defects such as spatter, porosity, cracks and other problems frequently appear, which limits the application of high-power laser welding technology in high-end manufacturing fields such as ships and nuclear power. At present, in the field of high-power laser welding, it has been proven that spot welding can effectively reduce such welding defects.
In order to realize the point ring spot output, the point loop fiber laser based on the special structure of the special fiber is usually used, but the price of the point loop fiber laser is much higher than that of the ordinary fiber laser under the same power, and the spot distribution mode is limited, and only several preset spot distribution modes can be output, and other spot distribution modes cannot be output.
In order to solve this technical problem, Qin Yingxiong, a professor at Hubei Optics Valley Laboratory and Huazhong University of Science and Technology, led a team to propose a revolutionary technical solution - point ring spot optical system.
According to reports, Qin Yingxiong's team innovatively proposed a three-dimensional light field control scheme based on external optical path shaping, developed a point ring spot optical system based on ordinary lasers, designed a more flexible three-dimensional light field distribution, and realized three functions of collimation, focusing and shaping through a free-form copper mirror, simplifying the optical path structure and reducing power loss.
Parameters such as the energy ratio of the point ring, the size of the ring, the focal plane position of the point ring, and the type of the ring (convergence ring or divergence ring) can be designed according to the requirements to meet the requirements of complex working conditions, which is the first in the world. It can more flexibly cope with many problems such as weld cracks, porosity, spatter control, and welding of dissimilar metals.
At the total laser power of 10kW, the Gauss-ring die laser with a point-to-loop power ratio of 8:2 achieves a weld depth of 14.5mm and a porosity ratio of 1.2‰, which increases the weld depth by 17.5% and reduces the porosity by 99% compared with the pure Gaussian mode laser of the same power.
In addition, this technology is suitable for high-power welding heads such as 20kW and 30kW, enabling high-quality penetration welding.
IT Home learned from the announcement that the point ring spot optical system has a wide range of application prospects in high-end manufacturing fields such as ships, nuclear power, and power batteries, which can realize the precise welding of large hull structures and the efficient welding of battery shells, and can be used for precision welding of nuclear reactors.