Laserstrahlschweißen im Vakuum - Erweiterung der Einsatzmöglichkeiten für den Dickblechbereich

Laser Beam Welding under reduced pressure - Range of possible applications for thick-plates.

Laser Beam Welding (LBW) and Electron Beam Welding (EBW) are both processes that are well established in industry. EBW has its main application fields in thick-plate joining as well as in manufacturing automotive drive train components in small indexing vacuum machines. LBW is widely used in thin-plate welding (6 mm and below) as a stand-alone process or as part of hybrid processes with arc welding variants. Despite the continuous development of laser beam sources regarding output power and beam quality, the LBW process remains behind the EBW process in terms of achievable weld-in depths and inner weld seam quality. The process variant of LBW in low to medium vacuum (LaVa) as investigated and developed by the Welding and Joining Institute (ISF) closes the gap between the two beam-welding processes and opens up new application fields for the Laser. This includes the joining of thick-walled structures beyond the possibilities of the common LBW process as well as the energy and quality optimized joining with small weld-in depths. The following paper will give a brief overview of the LaVa process, the results achieved on unalloyed steel and the possibilities of laser beam oscillation.