Disc laser welds 10mm thick mild steel

Offering up to 8kW power, a disc-type laser has low running cost and 25% efficiency, and will weld almost all metals with ease and even highly reflective metals such as copper or aluminium.

The Trumpf TruDisk 8002 has an exceptional beam quality normally associated with an altogether less powerful laser. It is powered by four disks and 16 pump modules to be the first of its type to deliver 8kW of output power. With an electrical efficiency of 25% it also has a low running cost, said Trumpf.

Trumpf told that he application scope of this latest addition to the TruDisk range is almost limitless as a result of its characteristic high power and high beam quality.

It can process almost all materials with ease and even highly reflective metals such as copper or aluminium.

The laser is able to achieve a weld penetration depth of 10mm in mild steel at a speed of 1m/min.

At the increased welding speed of 20m/min a weld depth of 3mm can still be achieved, claimed Trumpf.

This high processing speed naturally allows shorter cycle times and higher throughput.

The Trumpf TruDisk 8002 is especially suited to the more difficult welding jobs on thick sheet metal.

Similarly hybrid welding and cutting thick sheet present no problem to this disc laser.

Typical applications are heavy duty welding of construction equipment, heavy machinery, ship building and vehicle manufacture.

The disk laser is one of the most important developments in the field of industrial material processing.

In contrast to the rod laser, the disk exhibits no thermal lens effect, which is why the beam source is extremely insensitive to adjustment.

Beam management with up to six laser light cables that receive laser light from switches or dividers is another important capability.

The modular concept of the TruDisk makes it very easy for the system to be modified or extended.

At the same time, the advantages of flexible laser beam guidance using the laser light cable in tandem with the Trumpf Lasernetwork control system bring significant production advantages.

As well as the beam guidance components, a heat exchanger can be integrated into the laser device eliminating the need for an external chiller.

All the necessary components for beam generation and guidance are therefore contained in a single compact housing.

Of particular customer benefit on Trumpf disc lasers is the 'user space'.

On the laser machine the plug-in connector for the laser light cable is separated from the optics by a sealed wall.

This means that when connecting or disconnecting the cable the laser does not have to be switched off.

The ability to uncouple components such as the pump diodes, resonator system and fibre optic cables ensure long term cost effectiveness and minimum downtime.

The Trumpf TelePresence Portal provides the additional option for service technicians to access the machines remotely and security for maintenance purposes.

Dr Kurt Mann, director of sales for beam sources at Trumpf Laser Technology foresees an excellent future for the disc laser.

He said: 'It has no performance limits.

Fundamentally it's just a question of connecting more and more disks to the resonator to suit the application so in principle any kind of material processing can be performed.