What are the advantages and disadvantages of laser welding?

Compared with other welding technologies, the main advantages of laser welding are:
1. Fast speed, large depth, and small deformation.
2. Welding can be carried out at room temperature or under special conditions, and the welding equipment is simple. For example, when a laser passes through an electromagnetic field, the beam will not shift; Laser can be used for welding in vacuum, air, and certain gas environments, and can be welded through glass or materials that are transparent to the beam of light.
3. Can weld refractory materials such as titanium, quartz, etc., and can weld heterogeneous materials with good results.
4. After laser focusing, the power density is high. When welding high-power devices, the aspect ratio can reach 5:1, with a maximum of 10:1.
5. Can perform micro welding. After focusing, the laser beam can obtain a very small spot and be accurately positioned, which can be applied to the assembly welding of micro and small workpieces in large-scale automated production. (The minimum spot can reach 0.1mm)
6. Non contact long-distance welding can be applied to areas that are difficult to access, providing great flexibility. Especially in recent years, fiber transmission technology has been adopted in YAG laser processing technology, and the popularity of fiber continuous lasers has made laser welding technology more widely promoted and applied, making it easier for automation integration.
7. Laser beams are easy to achieve beam splitting in time and space, allowing for simultaneous processing of multiple beams and multiple workstations, providing conditions for more precise welding.

However, laser welding also has certain limitations: 1. It requires high assembly accuracy of the welded parts and that the position of the beam on the workpiece cannot have significant deviation. This is because after laser focusing, the spot size is small and the weld seam is narrow, so it is necessary to add filler metal material. If the assembly accuracy or beam positioning accuracy of the workpiece does not meet the requirements, it is easy to cause welding defects. 2. The cost of lasers and their related systems is high, and the one-time investment is relatively large.