This new technology represents a significant improvement in simplicity and overcomes the limitations of other joining technologies. These limitations include unstable welds due to wear on the welding head and the large heat-affected zone caused by ultrasonic or standard fiber laser welding. The ability to move beyond the limitations of traditional fiber lasers for welding thin conductive materials is made possible by its unique dual-beam output (a central beam surrounded by an annular beam).
The central beam has a very high brightness (nominal BPP 0.6) which allows for a smaller spot size compared to its multimode counterpart. The small spot size results in very high laser intensity, minimizing material heating and, together with the preheating effect achieved by the ring beam, improving the stability of the weld pool and, therefore, the weld consistency, which is a challenge when welding thin conductive materials.
The Coherent HighLight FL4000CSM-ARM was developed at the expanded "Center of Excellence for Fiber Lasers" in Tampere, Finland, and is available with a power output of 4 kW (1.5 kW center beam, 2.5 kW ring beam). As with other Coherent adjustable ring-mode lasers, the power in the center and ring beams can be varied and modulated independently. The CSM-ARM is supplied with a 15 m length of process fiber, making it easy to integrate into virtually any production environment, and is compatible with standard Coherent and other manufacturers' process heads.
