I’ve been involved with the technology and applications of lasers for almost 40 years now, yet I never cease to be amazed by the new developments and opportunities that lasers continue to create. Because of this I remain optimistic and ready for change, despite the torrent of bad economic news. AILU is first and foremost a networking organisation and a disseminator of technical knowledge and know-how, so if you too feel the need to review the direction of your business, then the Association and in particular its Special Interest Groups (SIGs) could make valuable contribution.

The wide range of applications of lasers is mirrored in the breadth of the laser user community. It is for this reason that AILU established its SIGs, to help individual sectors within the community meet their specific needs. We have established SIGs for laser job shops, for suppliers keen on developing the market for lasers, for the medical sector, for the micro and nano-processing sector and for universities and other research organisations. AILU’s job shop and Market Development groups are now well established but the other three SIGs, founded in the last year thanks to the generosity of the UK Photonics Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) are still in their infancy.
There is a lot we still need to do to develop the three new networks, and this will form a large part of AILU’s ongoing Photonics KTN activity. Membership of each SIG is free to all who join AILU  and/or the Photonics KTN, provided they are, or aspire to be, active in the respective sector. Activities include organising meetings for networking, providing members with access to forums on the AILU site and adding links on the web site to affiliated organisations and other resources.

Mike Green

Back to top

12 November 2008
BLM Group UK’s five-day Intube event results in orders worth nearly £1.5 million
Orders to the value of nearly £1.5 million have been placed with BLM Group UK Ltd, following the recent Intube in-house event held at its Ampthill, Bedfordshire headquarters

12 November 2008
£1M Investment
Laser Profiles, the flat bed laser and tube cutting sub-contractor has invested in excess of £1M on two Bystronic Bystar 3015, 4.4 kW laser cutting systems

10 November 2008
Debut for new LVD Strippit laser-punch combination system
World launch of LVD’s new Laser-Punch combination system

10 November 2008
Widest gap-free tuning range from the Palitra Series of Ultra-fast Optical Parametric Amplifiers
The Palitra Series of ultra-fast Optical Parametric Amplifiers (OPAs) from Quantronix deliver the widest gap-free tuning range (175nm – 22mm) and the highest conversion efficiency (>40% at peak) on the market, ensuring they meet even the most demanding ultra-short scientific applications

10 November 2008
GSI Lasers launch JK100P
GSI Lasers, Rugby today announced the launch of a new addition to their award winning JK family of pulsed Nd:YAG lasers: the JK100P

10 November 2008
Coherent Single Mode Green Laser Sets Power Record for High Throughput Silicon Micromachining
The new AVIA™ 532-45 from Coherent, Inc. (Santa Clara, CA) (Nasdaq: COHR) is the most powerful diode-pumped, solid state green laser currently available that delivers diffraction limited output

6 November 2008
JDSU Launch 6398-L4t : High Power, Tight Wavelength Tolerance, 976nm, Fibre-Coupled Diode Laser
JDSU’s 6398-L4t series fibre-coupled diode laser expands their L4 platform by offering a tighter wavelength range specification of +/-3nm at 976nm for the fibre laser pumping market

5 November 2008
New Laser Technique Makes Greener Technology More Cost-Effective
Use of 400G laser in AMOLED screen manufacture to reduce cost of production. Reduced production costs mean more environmentally friendly AMOLED screens are more affordable to businesses and consumers.

5 November 2008
LASYS 2010 moves to June
LASYS to be held for the second time in Stuttgart from 8 to 10 June 2010 – Two highly regarded laser symposiums in the accompanying programme: SLT and LPM

24 October 2008
Light and flexible: The new RL Series
The new generation of 2-axis galvo-scanner heads from RAYLASE is an easily integrated and flexible series which is ideal for modern industrial solutions

For more news items see the news section on the AILU website.

Back to top

Case Study: Remote welding in the automotive sector

Thomas Schwoerer, Trumpf

The automotive industry has always led the way in large scale laser use, with laser cutting and particularly laser welding used in the manufacture of the car body and frame, engine and power train, seat frames and many other parts. Most successful has been the use of solid state lasers with optical fibre delivery and beam-sharing capability, in combination with robots.
The paper by Thomas Schwoerer highlights the next step, the use of robot motion in combination with the motion of a highly-dynamic optical scanner system. This combination of technologies exploits the flexibility of 3D robot processing and the productivity available from high speed laser scanner optics. As such, advanced robotic laser scanner welding has become the benchmark for efficient and economic high volume production, offering a speed improvement of several times over conventional welding technologies, with gains in productivity of between 2 and 6 over conventional spot resistance welding.
Most applications in the automotive area are concerned with welding sheet metal between 0.6 mm and 1.5 mm thickness. In the case of welding two 1 mm thick sheets together with a disk laser power of 4 kW the effective welding speed is ~100 mm/sec. The real boost in productivity results from time saved in moving from one weld to the next. This has led to higher production throughputs with less equipment and floor space. As a result, many automotive manufacturers around the globe—among them large OEMs like Daimler, Audi, Volkswagen-and various OEM suppliers, are already applying this technology for high volume production of various components and car bodies.

IMAGE: Remote welding a car door

AILU members can log in to the AILU web site and download this article free of charge. Otherwise click here to order a copy’

Laser-assisted micro structure fabrication by using nano-particles

Qin Hu, PingAn Hu and Bill O’Neill, Cambridge University

Current micro-engineering manufacturing methods employed for semiconductors allow complex multi-material systems that are created using planar methods of construction. Materials are often added in sequence with many process steps being required for exposing resists, depositing oxides or etching surface patterns. In this way micro-systems manufacturers have provided the world with an incredible array of gadgets and high performance computer chips.
The drawback to these manufacturing routes is not performance but cost. Huge economies of scale are needed for cost reduction which in turn means that typical Silicon fabrication plants can cost up $5 billion, with a very hefty operational budget. The entry costs are high and the associated technologies are not available to the wider manufacturing community which ultimately limits the number of manufacturing enterprises in this sector. In addition current micro-systems are very much built on planar landscapes, they are inherently 2D and only take advantage of the third dimension through via-holes that enable 2.5D interconnectivity.
The EPSRC 3D Mintegration Grand Challenge consortium (http://www.3d-mintegration.com/index.php), comprising the universities of Heriot Watt, Cranfield, Nottingham, Loughborough, Greenwich, Brunel, and Cambridge, and the National Physical Laboratory, are currently exploring new low cost manufacturing methodologies for 3D micro-systems technologies that can be produced by using printing, stamping, and other selective deposition techniques that offer low capital investment levels and can meet Moore’s law resolution levels. If we are successful, next generation micro-systems could be manufactured in a totally new way and have enhanced attributes due to the 3D nature of their designs.
As one component of the research objectives, the Cambridge team has proposed the concept of Laser Print Forming (LPF) to overcome the cost and resolution limitations of conventional planar micro fabrication. LPF uses a combination of micro-tool making, printing techniques and laser consolidation combined with the wonderfully strange properties of nano particles, to create a flexible deposition and patterning technology. 

IMAGE: Copper nano particle printing on a silicon wafer

AILU members can log in to the AILU web site and download this article free of charge. Otherwise click here to order a copy’

Back to top

AILU Events, AILU Supported Events and Member events.

25 November 2008
Funding opportunities in High Value Manufacturing: Micro/Nano laser processing success stories
This Micro:Nano Group meeting is being run through the Photonics KTN in partnership with the Nanotechnology KTN. The day comprises presentations about funding calls through the Technology Strategy Board, FP7 and the EPSRC. Hear case studies from successful partners who have delivered successful projects and proposals to obtain funding in recent calls. Give yourself the opportunity to set up collaborations and shape future calls by attending this one day event.

3 December 2008
AILU Workshop: Laser processing of polymer, metal and ceramic composites
The last AILU workshop of 2008 will be held on 3 December at the Rolls-Royce Factory of the Future within the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing, Rotherham on the subject of ‘Laser processing of polymer, metal and ceramic composites’. Specific themes include: laser processing of polymer composites within the aerospace industry; laser processing of metallic composite components; machining, cutting, drilling and texturing of carbon fibre composites; material addition and cladding of composites; current state of the art in lasers for composite processing.

2-4 December 2008
THE TRUMPF OPEN DAYS
If you can’t get to EuroBLECH in October but still want to see the latest in sheet metalworking technology, TRUMPF UK has the solution.

For more Events see the Events section on the AILU website.

Back to top

If you would like to advertise in the monthly newsletter, please contact us at:

AILU
Oxford House,
100 Ock Street
Abingdon
Oxfordshire
OX14 5DH
United Kingdom
info@ailu.org.uk
www.ailu.org.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 1235 539595
Fax: +44 (0) 1235 550499

Please note that this email is sent from an email address that cannot receive emails. Please contact us here.

If you would like other people to see this e-newsletter, please send them the following link www.ailu.org.uk.

If you would like to advertise in the monthly newsletter, please contact the AILU Office by email in the first instance.

Back to top