For most of the World’s population the year 2008 has been a year to forget. Banks unable to trade without extra funds, credit crunch, unemployment, house prices falling through the floor and High Street Icons having a closing down sale. Job shops in the Midlands who have large automotive customers are really feeling the squeeze, companies such as JCB are not producing new construction plant because no-one has cash to build new homes, car makers have excess capacity because buyers are keeping their old vehicles. The list is endless.

But there was at least one highlight in late 2008 with the annual Job Shop Group (JSG) meeting on the 12th of November, this year was hosted by Trumpf UK. It provided, an opportunity to meet old friends and welcome new friends. If you run a laser job shop in the UK and missed the meeting on the 12th then I suggest you keep your diary open for the 2009 event. Many thanks to Trumpf UK for opening their facilities to the Job Shop Group; we really did have plenty of good speakers and luxurious surroundings. I was particularly interested in the 2 web-site talks because my Job Shop is in the process of updating its company web-site. In the present economic climate marketing will be all important to JSG members so getting your site to the top of Google’s list will be a number one priority.

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9 December 2008
Academic appointment
Past AILU President Malcolm Gower has been appointed a Visiting Professor at Imperial College, London in the Optical & Semiconductor Devices Group

9 December 2008
LVD Orion laser helps BK Engineering build on high-quality service
BK Engineering in Heath and Reach, Leighton Buzzard, aims to offer its customers a complete service for high-quality sheet metal fabrications with a speedy turnaround

5 December 2008
George Barker installs LVD laser cutting system
George Barker Limited a manufacturer of refrigerated display cabinets for supermarkets and part of the Epta group the leading world refrigeration group has recently ordered a LVD Axel 4020 – 5Kw Linear laser cutting system worth £700,000 complete with automatic material loading and unloading system

5 December 2008
Entrepreneur award
Having won the Times Higher Education International University of the year in 2006, the University of Nottingham has been named ‘Entrepreneurial University of the Year’ at the prestigious UK Times Higher Education Awards for 2008

4 December 2008
Newport Announces New Optics for Ultrafast Laser Applications
Newport Corporation, a worldwide leader in lasers and photonic solutions, today announced two latest additions to its industry-leading family of ultrafast optics

24 November 2008
Lantek launches a new business management division in the UK
A surge in demand for ERP solutions in the sheet metal industry has led Lantek to create a dedicated team for its Lantek Expert III ERP software in Spain

24 November 2008
Laser Cutters burn through to the Black Country Business Awards Final
Midtherm Laser Ltd of Peartree Lane Dudley has been chosen as a finalist in the "Express & Star" Black Country Business of the year awards which takes place on 27th November 08 at the Bescot Stadium in Walsall

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These articles are from the Autumn 2008 Issue of the AILU Magazine

Pulsed laser ablation of zirconia

The issues involved in the laser processing of medical grade zirconia has commonalities with those of many other laser machining processes; however, specific applications and difficulties make it a problem material for our industry to handle. Not only does the material possess some unique properties but the selection of laser source used in the manufacturing process is highly application dependent i.e. one laser does not fit all.

Laser technology is still in its adolescence with respect to ceramic processing in general. It provides many advantages over its mechanical counterparts for a variety of different material processing applications but with these advantages come inherent difficulties. Zirconia has risen to become the material of choice in the biomedical implant industry but from a laser processing point of view it has not yet been fully characterised or understood. Zirconia, is a refractory ceramic and has many applications such as its use as a component in thermal barrier coatings, gas sensing and aerospace technologies.

Renishaw has a direct interest in the dental applications of Zirconia. As a leader in the production and supply of all-ceramic dental reconstructions, Renishaw have developed their application base for high speed, fine feature machining of medical grade Zirconia to allow customisation of the finished product.

This article describes some of the advances made during the development of machining this material.

Fraser Dear
Winner of the 2008 AILU Young Laser Engineer’s Award

IMAGE: A mechanically machined zirconia dental bridge

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

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Enhanced capabilities of laser welding by hybridization and combination techniques

The degrees of freedom and the process limits of laser welding are considerably enhanced in laser hybrid and combination welding techniques. The application of these techniques is illustrated below in the two examples that are described in this article. The first example uses a hybrid welding technique to give single-pass laser-MAG hybrid welding of high-strength steel plates up to 30 mm thick, with large gap tolerances. The second example describes the manufacturing benefits of integrated cutting and welding using a multifunctional laser combi-head.

CO2 laser MAG hybrid welding is firmly established in the shipbuilding industry for joining metal plates of wall thickness up to 15 mm. The example described is taken from the work of the recently completed European project HYBLAS, funded by the Research Fund for Coal and Steel. The goal was to develop process procedures for laser hybrid welding of structural steels with yield strengths of up to 690 MPa and wall thicknesses up to 30 mm. The Fraunhofer ILT led the work-package “process development and production of welds”. The integrated hybrid welding nozzle combines laser and arc in a single water cooled nozzle with an integrated contact tube for contacting and stable guiding the wire electrode. The basic parameter configuration is described together with how adjustments are made to control the wire feed and deal with gap bridging.

The second example describes the enhanced processing capabilities that can be achieved by combined cutting and welding. Sheet metal products, such as automotive components are fabricated by sequential cutting and welding operations usually on different machines/ Intergrating the cutting and welding process reduces the process chain, reduces the cost of production and gains greater flexibility of manufacture. The article describes the work of Fraunhofer ILT in developing these combined processes by the design of a autonomous nozzle. This new arrangements allows welding, hole drilling and contoured cut-outs to be processed on metal sheets while they remain clamped in the one machine.

Dirk Petring

IMAGE: Single-pass laser-MAG hybrid welding of 30 mm high-strength steel (RQT701) with dual-MAG technology. Laser power 19.8 kW, 0.8 m/min

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

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23-26 March 2009
ILSC2009
The 2009 International Laser Safety Conference (ILSC) is a comprehensive four-day conference covering all aspects of laser safety practice and hazard control. Technical sessions and workshops will address developments in regulatory, mandatory and voluntary safety standards for laser products and for laser use. Laser safety experts from all over the world will meet and discuss their research, programs and standards. Professionals in all fields and applications will find ILSC® 2009 a tremendous source for information and networking opportunities.

25-26 March 2009
Medtec_09
Medtec is the Exhibition and Conference of Manufacturing and Automation Technology, Materials and Outsourced Expertise for Medical Device Manufacturers based in the UK.

9-11 June 2009
SUBCON2009
The International Subcontract Manufacturing Show. A one-stop-shop for regional, national and global sourcing of subcontract manufacturing services.

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