Applied Laser Tooling

The invention of the Laser, 25 years ago, has become an innovation with established industrial technology extended through diverse areas of economic viability (a 25% sales annual growth), and promising market perspectives. In organizing an European Intensive Course on Applied Laser Tooling, it seemed opportune to bring together an international group of scientists to provide an appraisal of industrial Lasers, system integration, and sensitive areas of Laser beam material interaction, while emphasizing those areas which promise to have major impact both in science and technology. Tutorial papers and reports on latest developments both in research and industrial manufacturing were complemented by video and film projections to show the wide variety of applications in industry, stressing the combination of Lasers with other technologies, mainly CNC and Robots. The large participation by the industry fulfilled the intended interaction and cross-fertilization between the scientific, technological and industrial community, reinforcing the innovative capacity readily demonstrated at panel discussions. It was neither possible nor planned to cover all the aspects in full depth. Efforts were addressed to selected areas where discussion of advanced knowled~e and technology topics would stimulate further progress of Laser tooling (in main directions: software, hardware and peopleware). Laser tooling was then discussed in light of its major applications covering Laser beam robotic manipulation towards flexible manufacturing systems. The following articles give a fair account of the course programme.

This handbook is intended for the advanced specialist and for the practitioner interested in the application of lasers in medicine. It provides summaries of all available medical laser systems and their clinical use. The first part introduces basic laser physics, including laser-tissue interactions as well as technical equipment and particular techniques developed for medical use in connection with laser. The second part of the text covers all areas of laser application in medicine and has been written by senior specialists from different countries. The book includes about 300 line drawings, more than 100 high quality photographs, an extensive subject and author register, and an exhaustive list of references.

This volume contains the lectures and seminars presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Applied Laser Spectroscopy" the fourteenth course of the Europhysics School of Quantum Electronics, held under the supervision of the Quantum Electronics Division of the European Physical Society. The Institute was held at Centro "I Cappuccini", San Miniato, Tuscany, Italy, September 3-15,1989. The Europhysics School of Quantum Electronics was started in 1970 with the aim of providing instruction for young researchers and advanced students already engaged in the area of quantum electronics or wishing to switch to this area from a different background. Presently the school is under the direction of Professors F.T. Arecchi and M Inguscio, University of Florence and Prof. H. Walther University of Munich and has the headquarters at the National Institute of Optics (INO), Firenze, Italy. Each time the directors choose a subject of particular interest, alternating fundamental topics with technological ones, and ask colleagues specifically competent in a given area to take the scientific responsibility for that course.

Laser Processing and Chemistry gives an overview of the fundamentals and applications of laser--matter interactions, in particular with regard to laser material processing. Special attention is given to laser-induced physical and chemical processes at gas--solid, liquid--solid, and solid--solid interfaces. Starting with the background physics, the book proceeds to examine applications of laser techniques in micro-machining, and the patterning, coating, and modification of material surfaces. Students, engineers, and manufacturers alike will find this book an invaluable reference work for the state of the art in laser processing.

Principles of Laser Materials Processing Authoritative resource providing state-of-the-art coverage in the field of laser materials processing, supported with supplementary learning materials Principles of Laser Materials Processing goes over the most recent advancements and applications in laser materials processing, with the second edition providing a welcome update to the successful first edition through updated content on the important fields within laser materials processing. The text includes solved example problems and problem sets suitable for the readers’ further understanding of the technology explained. Split into three parts, the text first introduces basic concepts of lasers, including the characteristics of lasers and the design of their components, to aid readers in their initial understanding of the technology. The text then reviews the engineering concepts that are needed to analyze the different processes. Finally, it delves into the background of laser materials and provides a state-of-the-art compilation of material in the major application areas, such as laser cutting and drilling, welding, surface modification, and forming, among many others. It also presents information on laser safety to prepare the reader for working in the industry sector and provide practicing engineers the updates needed to work safely and effectively. In Principles of Laser Materials Processing, readers can expect to find specific information on: Laser generation principles, including basic atomic structure, atomic transitions, population distribution, absorption, and spontaneous emission Optical resonators, including standing waves in a rectangular cavity, planar resonators, beam modes, line selection, confocal resonators, and concentric resonators Laser pumping, including optical pumping, arc/flash lamp pumping, energy distribution in the active medium, and electrical pumping Broadening mechanisms, including line-shape functions, homogeneous broadening such as natural and collision, and inhomogeneous broadening Principles of Laser Materials Processing is highly suitable for senior undergraduate and graduate students studying laser processing, and non-traditional manufacturing processes; it is also aimed at researchers to provide additional information to be used in research projects that are to be undertaken within the technology field.

The term rapid prototyping (RP) refers to a generic group of emerging technologies that enable very quick fabrication of engineering components primarily targeted for prototyping applications. With RP, very complex threeƯ dimensional parts or prototypes can be fabricated without the need of costly tooling and machining. This inevitably leads to much shorter design cycle time and lower cost of building a prototype. Its manifold benefits include significant productivity gains, cost saving, and shortened development time to introduce concept models. As such, RP technologies have attracted tremendous R & D interests from both academia and industry in the past decade. Many different processes and materials have been commercialized and used in industry primarily for the fabrication of physical prototypes. More recent interests in RP technologies are towards functional applications of the fabricated parts, such as in rapid tooling applications and replacements of damaged components. Many processes and materials have been commercialized but are yet to be able to fulfill the aforementioned functional requirements because of limited mechanical strengths of the fabricated parts.

Synthesis of nonequilibrium metallic phases has been an area of great interest to the materials processing community since early 1960. Inherent rapid cooling rates in laser processing are being used to engineer non-equilibrium microstructures which cannot be rivaled by other processes. This lecture will discuss the phenomena involved and its application in designing materials with tailored properties. What is non-equilibrium Synthesis? This is a synthesis method to produce binary or higher order materials where kinetics of the pro cess affects the transport of the constituent elements during phase transformation resulting in a composition or crystallographic configuration which is different from what is observed when the elements arranges themselves with the lowest possible Gibbs Free energy, which is the equilibrium condition. Figure 1 illustrates the phenomena. Phase diagram under equilibrium condition is illustrated by the solid line whereas the no-equilibrium phase diagram is represented by the dotted line. One can observe the shrinkage of the phase field under non-equilibrium condition. Any alloy composition between the solidus lines of the equilibrium and non-equilibrium phase diagram will be a non equilibrium alloys with extended solid solution.

Generally a laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) is defined as “a device which uses a quantum mechanical effect, stimulated emission, to generate a coherent beam of light from a lasing medium of controlled purity, size, and shape”. Laser material processing represents a great number of methods, which are rapidly growing in current and different industrial applications as new alternatives to traditional manufacturing processes. Nowadays, the use of lasers in manufacturing is an emerging area with a wide variety of applications, for example, in electronics, molds and dies, and biomedical applications. The purpose of this book is to present a collection of examples illustrating the state of the art and research developments to lasers in manufacturing, covering laser rapid manufacturing, lasers in metal forming applications, laser forming of metal foams, mathematical modeling of laser drilling, thermal stress analysis, modeling and simulation of laser welding, and the use of lasers in surface engineering. This book can be used as a research book for a final undergraduate engineering course or as a subject on lasers in manufacturing at the postgraduate level. Also, this book can serve as a useful reference for academics, laser researchers, mechanical, manufacturing, materials or physics engineers, or professionals in any related modern manufacturing technology. Contents 1. Laser Rapid Manufacturing: Technology, Applications, Modeling and Future Prospects, Christ P. Paul, Pankaj Bhargava, Atul Kumar, Ayukt K. Pathak and Lalit M. Kukreja. 2. Lasers in Metal Forming Applications, Stephen A. Akinlabi, Mukul Shukla, Esther T. Akinlabi and Tshilidzi Marwala. 3. Laser Forming of Metal Foams, Fabrizio Quadrini, Denise Bellisario, Erica A. Squeo and Loredana Santo. 4. Mathematical Modeling of Laser Drilling, Maturose Suchatawat and Mohammad Sheikh. 5. Laser Cutting a Small Diameter Hole: Thermal Stress Analysis, Bekir S. Yilbas, Syed S. Akhtar and Omer Keles. 6. Modeling and Simulation of Laser Welding, Karuppudaiyar R. Balasabramanian, Krishnasamy Sankaranarayanasamy and Gangusami N. Buvanashekaran. 7. Lasers in Surface Engineering, Alberto H. Garrido, Rubén González, Modesto Cadenas, Chin-Pei Wang and Farshid Sadeghi.