12 Industrial Laser Solutions SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 www.industrial-lasers.com
application report
Disk laser
applications
abound
TECHNOLOGY PROVING TO HAVE
NO OUTPUT POWER LIMIT
DAVID HAVRILLA and TRACEY RYBA
The disk laser continues to exceed expectations in industrial implemen- tation. Fast approaching 6000 high- power disk laser instal- lations, with demand upwards of 2000 lasers per year, the disk laser
has proven to be a robust and reliable industrial
tool. Ongoing increases in power per disk, beam
quality, and efficiency, combined with ever-in-creasing choices in ultrafast pulse and alternate
wavelengths like ultraviolet and green, not only
prove the flexibility of the disk laser concept, but
also have dramatically increased its utilization for
material processing. Disk lasers are found in applications from tens of watts to over 30k W, and from
femtosecond pulses to continuous-wave (CW).
These lasers are used in material processing applications such as cutting, remote cutting, conduction welding, conventional welding, remote welding, heat treating, laser metal deposition, drilling,
ablation, and surface cleaning, and are found in a
large variety of industries.
In the summer of 2012, TRUMPF launched the
CW 6k W smaller, higher-efficiency disk lasers that set the stan-
dard with improved cost-effectiveness (FIGURE 1). With beam
qualities from 50mm-mrad and up, and powers up to 16k W,
the disk laser addresses a broad range of industrial applica-
tions. The range begins with micro-processing and extends
to, but does not end with, multi-kilowatt applications in the
thick plate range. Let’s consider just a few of the most important CW applications.
High-speed cutting of thin sheets
In the thin sheet area, the 1µm wavelength of the disk laser
enables higher cutting speeds compared to the 10µm wavelength of CO2 lasers. For many years, 1µm lasers have been
used for cutting foils and thin sheets with thicknesses up to
2mm, including everything from electronic components to decorative stainless steel shades in the lighting industry. Because
of the improved brightness of the CW disk laser, cutting speeds
have increased significantly. Although the fundamental cutting
speed has increased, the cut quality of small contours and
edges can be less than desirable if not properly addressed. The
handling system, such as a robot or gantry system, can’t keep
up with the high velocities while maneuvering small features
and tiny contours. If the cutting parameters are not changed,
Disk lasers have also been integrated into TRUMPF’s flat sheet cut-
ting machines, and as of today, the
disk laser has virtually supplanted
the CO2 laser as the tool of choice
for flat sheet laser cutting operations.
Customers want the higher productivity provided by the 1µm disk laser
and they don’t have to give up any
flexibility or quality when cutting
thick materials.
Fine welding of thin foils
Besides high beam quality, the high
dynamics of the laser source is of primary importance for
welding thin foils with high accuracy. Coupling of a 1k W disk
laser with programmable focusing optics (PFOs, such as
FIGURE 1. TruDisk
2000 CW 6k W disk
lasers address a
broad range of
industrial applications.
