Lasers in Action @ LASYS 2018 - Day 2
The Lasers in Action Forum takes place over three days at LASYS, Messe Stuttgart, from 5-7 June. Entry to the forum is free of charge to any LASYS visitor.
Lasers in Action is organised by Laser Systems Europe on behalf of Messe Stuttgart.
Day 2 - Wednesday 6 June
10.00-10.30
Active laser protection system – a new approach ready for production
Dr Heiko Brüning, Jutec Hitzeschutz und Isoliertechnik
JUTEC will be presenting a new developed smart textile, which enables active laser protection. These smart textiles are fabricated as active laser protection curtains, active movable laser cells as well as a special design to retro fit allready existing passive laser cells. The smart active laser protection textile is certified according to DIN EN 60825-4 and may be used for laser powers up to 12 kW. Laser protection has become more important in the past few years due to a significant increase in laser beam power. Today, even mobile high power laser solutions are found in modern production facilities, which need to be protected actively.
10.30-11.00
Highly flexible picosecond hybrid fiber laser for miromachining
Scott White, MKS Spectra-Physics
Picosecond lasers are a valuable micromachining tool, used for a variety of applications and industries. As usage grows, picosecond laser technology continues to evolve, with higher powers and repetition rates available, as well as additional features such as burst mode. The MKS Spectra-Physics IceFyre 1064-50 picosecond laser offers TimeShift ps programmable pulse capability that enables burst mode operation with an arbitrary number of sub-pulses, customizable burst envelope, and variable intra-burst pulse separation, all while maintaining >50 W output power. This presentation highlights application results and the capability to enhance processes for maximising throughput and quality.
11.00-11.30
Challenges in optical system design and for manufacturing processes to enable cutting edge for high power laser applications
Dr Volker Melzer, Director Product Management Laser Technology; Matthias Koppitz, Project Manager Precision Optics/LMP; Udo Kirchner, Business Development Manager, Qioptiq Photonics GmbH & Co. KG
High power laser applications require specially designed optical parts and systems such as F-Theta-Ronar lenses or Faraday Isolators to ensure the required performance and precision during welding, drilling or additive manufacturing processes, as well as laser protection. Objectives or Faraday Isolators that are not optimised for high power laser applications cannot maintain good beam quality at high laser power densities. Thermal lensing, depolarisation and photo-contamination effects must be taken into account in the design and manufacturing of the optical parts and sub-modules used for high power lasers and applications. We report on our concepts to find a balanced trade-off between the performance requirements of optical parts and the maintaining of the required high-end beam quality to ensure best results during application.
11.30-12.00
The new laser cutting solution
Jonas Huther, Coherent-Rofin
12.00-12.30
Potentials of precision laser processing of fibre reinforced polymer components
Volker Franke, Fraunhofer IWS Dresden
Metal increasingly gets replaced by fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) for reducing the weight and to gain a higher resource efficiency of the components. Properties like resistance against wear and chemical media is required, at the same level as metal parts. Also, established joining technologies of metal aren’t suitable to FRP – so adapted processes to modify and join these materials are required. Precision laser processing with pulsed laser systems offers promising advantages. The selective matrix removal enables a high potential to improve adhesive bonding, molding processes and coating deposition of lightweight materials especially FRP–metal or FRP–ceramic hybrids.
12.30-13.00
Compact 3D laser processing with liquid tunable lens technology
Dr Hsiang-Yu Lo, Optotune
Nowadays using lasers for processing an object is a standard process and is widespread in industry. The interaction between the light and the material’s surface allows for drilling, engraving, marking and other processes on the workpiece. In recent years laser processing applications have a trend to access the third dimension (z-axis) typically using mechanically moving z-stages. In a complementary approach, Optotune developed the electrically tunable lens which offers a very compact and cost-efficient solution for 3D laser processing applications. Owing to the absence of mechanically moving parts, the time scale of focus change is in the range of several milliseconds.
13.00-14.00
PANEL DISCUSSION: Making the switch to laser technology: market opportunities and new skills
Moderator: Warren Clark, Publisher, Laser Systems Europe
PANELLISTS:
Basil Garabet, CEO, NKT Photonics
Basil holds an MSc in Lasers and Their Applications and has extensive international management experience from leading positions in the photonics industry. He has previously worked with EM4, Altitun, and Melles Griot. Since 2013, Basil has been acting as a consultant specialising in revitalising companies towards profit and growth, including the successful turnaround and sale of JK Lasers on behalf of The GSI Group.
David Lawton, Sales Manager, Lasermet
David Lawton is the European Sales Manager for Lasermet – specialising in laser safety systems. David has vast industrial engineering experience and has worked for Lasermet for five years, working with LSOs and all those involved with laser labs and laser safety cabins. He works with customers to ensure personnel are kept laser safe and that installations comply with BS-EN-IEC 60825, the laser safety standards.
Originally focussing on the UK laser safety market, David now covers Europe working with Lasermet’s distributors and customers. Some of the key accounts include the largest laser research facilities, institutions and universities.
Jean-Paul Nicolet, Laser Business Development and Market Support, GF
Jean-Paul Nicolet joined GF Machining Solutions in 1989 as EDM application manager in France, and from 2003-2009 was head of customer services at GF AgieCharmilles. He assumed his current role in laser business development and sales support at GF Machining Solutions’ headquarters in Geneva in 2009. Nicolet holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanics and production engineering from IUT Nantes, completed by a Master of Business Administration from IMM Paris.
Dr Ulf Quentin, Head of Industry Management Microtechnologies, TRUMPF Laser- und Systemtechnik GmbH
14.00-14.30
Latest High Power Diode Laser Technology and its applications
Michael Nagel, Laserline
14.30-15.00
How forward-looking control solutions increase machine performance in additive manufacturing and micro processing
Michael Breit, Scanlab
Scan systems need especially high processing precision to tackle challenging applications such as laser sintering in additive manufacturing, or laser processing of displays and semiconductors, as well as structuring of diodes. These applications' key factors for end-product quality are linearity and low drift. The excelliSHIFT z-scanner, extending a 2D scan system into a 3D system, is perfectly suited for high-end applications in conjunction with an excelliSCAN scan head. The innovative SCANahead servo control enables highly dynamic laser processing.
15.00-15.30
Tailored laser beam shaping by freeform and diffractive optics
Roberto Knoth, LightTrans International
Refractive and diffractive beam-shaping optical elements play a major role in industrial laser-beam processing and metrology. In this talk we will discuss the implications of the modelling and the design of diffractive and refractive freeform surfaces in paraxial and non-paraxial system configurations to shape the profile of a laser beam in its farfield, its focus or, in general, at any arbitrary position. The fast physical optics approach employed by the authors facilitates the design of beam-shaping elements from an inverse design point of view and enables the fast and accurate detection of the electromagnetic field radiation at any detector position in the optical system.
15.30-16.00
Automated beam delivery systems for precise micromachining applications
Tadas Lipinskas, UAB Optogama
16.00-16.30
The latest Trumpf innovations focused on optics and optical components
Dr Andrey Andreev/Stefanie Feuchtenbeiner, Trumpf
Trumpf’s new BEO D50 processing optics have been designed to be robust, compact, and usable with laser powers up to 8kW. The crossjet function has been optimised and new features such as the ability to monitor gas, water flow and temperature have been added to these new optics. This presentation will also feature Trumpf’s intelligent scanner I-PFO, an intuitive and flexible system that has its main use in the welding of 3D parts where its ‘on-the-fly’ mode can be utilised to great effect. With this tool the production of parts is becoming very cost-efficient. The I-PFO scanner can be integrated with various types robot in just a few steps.