Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH) will demonstrate the use of laser technology to enhance gas metal-arc welding, at the EuroBlech, which will be held from October 26 to 30, 2010, in Hannover.
The new welding process has underwent tests for high-strength, conventional steels, and aluminium materials. The laser-guided gas metal-arc welding process is useful for molding tools, large tools utilized in mining, or injection molding tools.
The inexpensive, traditional gas metal-arc welding is difficult to control, because the arc trails the path that has least resistance between the weld metal and the electrode. This makes it impossible to place the weld precisely, and brings a negative effect on the results of welding. When a low power laser beam moves in front of the arc, the arc trails the beam and gets stabilized. This process increases the welding speed and enhances the quality of the welding seam.
The welding speed can be maximized up to 100%, at the same welding depth. The welding process can be beneficial to complicated welding shapes, as well as contoured and oscillating welding seams. The laser-guided gas metal-arc deposition welding minimizes the costs of large-sized tools’ wear protection and repair. The laser-guided process is currently being tested for deposition welding.
Source: http://www.lzh.de/