High-power direct-diode lasers for cutting and welding

摘要

The two largest applications for high-power industrial lasers are cutting and welding of mild steel, stainless steel, and other metals. These two applications alone form-according to this magazine-a roughly two- billion-dollar market made up of machine tool builders who manufacture cutting equipment for metal fabricators and system integrators who produce automated welding equipment primarily for automotive and other transportation manufacturers. The lasers used in these two applications range in power from 1 to 20kW, but are mostly in the 2-6kW range. They are differentiated not just by power, but also beam quality measured in beam parameter product (BPP), where welding requires BPP values no higher than low tens of millimeters times milliradians (mm-mrad) and cutting demands values 10 times lower in the few mm-mrad. A laser that emits multikilowatts of power and has a BPP value as low as 4 mm-mrad-a combination ideal for high-speed cutting of stainless steel several millimeters thick, for example-is referred to as having ultra-high brightness.