By Lynn Gorman Mitsui Seiki USA, Inc., one of the leading builders of machine tools in the “high precision” category, has developed new machining technology that successfully combines both an additive and subtractive process on one machine tool platform. Named the Vertex 55X-HA, the new “hybrid” technology was introduced at IMTS recently in Chicago. Robb […]
Laser Editorials
Additive Manufacturing using Laser Hot Wire & Powder Processes
By Ashwin Prasad Prabhakaran Laser Cladding Overview Laser Cladding is the additive manufacturing process of depositing material by which a filler material, either in powder or wire form, is melted using energy from a laser beam in order to overlay a portion of a base material or build a near-net shape part. Even though laser cladding includes net […]
Beam Delivery: M2, BPP, Spot Size & Why You Should Care
By Michael Scaggs A lasers spot size and therefore resulting M2 or beam parameter product can be a very difficult and confusing parameter to quantify. The techniques to measure vary and often add to the difficulty and confusion. At present there is only one standard that defines the approach to measure a laser’s M2 value […]
Laser Weld Process Monitoring: Seeing the Unseeable
By Christopher M. Galbraith and Paul J.L. Webster The economic case for using lasers in industrial welding applications is no longer in question. Industrial lasers provide massive leverage in the form of an unmatched combination of speed, precision, robustness and—increasingly—accessibility. In serial production they can provide time and cost savings, and enable more efficient product […]
The Magic of Nonlinear Laser Processing: Shaping Multi-Functional Lab-in-Fiber
By Moez Haque and Peter R. Herman The manipulation of femtosecond laser light inside transparent media can be directed on varying interaction pathways of micro-explosions, photochemistry and self-focusing filamentation to open new directions in creating dense memory storage, three-dimensional (3D) optical circuits, 3D microfluidic networks, and high-speed scribing tracks[1-3]. Our group has been following these […]