The British Welding Institute will conduct a comparison test of handheld laser welding and arc welding

The UK-based Welding Institute (TWI) is planning to launch a joint welding industry project that will benchmark handheld laser welding against existing manual arc welding processes.

Specifically, the project will examine the quality, productivity, cost, health and safety aspects of handheld laser welding, covering a variety of materials and joint configurations.

At present, the welding industry is increasingly interested in handheld laser welding applications. In recent years, suppliers such as IPG Photonics, Oree, Photonics and New Sky Laser have introduced compact handheld laser welding systems with power up to 3kW.

These laser welding systems offer a number of advantages: low operating costs; Minimum setting requirements; Ease of use; Efficient, fast and flexible processing in challenging space environments; Minimum consumables and post-processing requirements; Above all, different types and thicknesses of similar and high quality welds of different materials.

Hand-held laser welding is touted as the latest advance in manual process selection; Capable of welding various metal materials with thickness up to 6mm; Delivers up to four times the welding speed, low deformation and front and back cleaning while being easier to use than traditional arc welding.

Announcing the new project, the British Welding Institute (TWI) said it has recently observed a growing interest in this technology from Oems across many industries. In fact, in addition to production applications, hand-held laser welding can also be used to repair tool steel, steam turbines, automotive parts and aeroengines - using materials that can extend to aluminum and titanium alloys.

Similar to the acquisition and introduction of any new technology, the British Welding Institute (TWI) expects that potential adopters of the technology will consider the following aspects: key process variables, development and qualifications; Ease of use; Residual stress and deformation; Inspection requirements; Defects, vulnerabilities and acceptance criteria; Repair; Relevant codes and standards; Health and safety; Train accordingly.

The British Welding Institute (TWI) said that, as with any new process, understanding and quantifying all aspects of the properties is the key to achieving a successful application of laser welding.

Therefore, the aforementioned planned industrial projects will explore various aspects surrounding handheld laser welding equipment and the capabilities it provides. For example, certain products on the market offer beam jitter, which allows changes in joint assembly to be compensated for, and wire feed options are also available.

"Currently, many laser welding products on the market still have travel speed/beam alignment issues, as well as the option to introduce additional features (such as rollers or alignment devices) to improve consistency; But this increases the time/cost and reduces the flexibility of the application. However, these features attempt to counteract the combination of manual (welder) and laser welding characteristics that have the potential to affect welding attributes - profile, defect type/frequency/distribution and resulting joint quality.

All in all, safety is always the primary concern and extends to traditional manual arc welding, where interlocking systems are required to turn off the welder's power if there is a danger that the operator or others will be exposed to laser radiation during the welding process."

Source: OFweek