This article presents our new results of YAG laser welding for aerospace components with a miniaturized focusing head. First, we sum up briefly the results obtained last year on robotized YAG welding of Inconel718-made complex components of motors such as parts of casings. The laser power used is up to 4 kW.
Then, we show the complexity of the geometry of the joint to weld that evidences the impossibility of using a regular focusing head and, so, the necessity of developing a very compact system, including an adequate gas protection. However, the task is very difficult due to the required laser power of 4kW on a very constrained area and the robotization of the application.
The third part of the article presents the design of this miniaturized head. We show the main difficulties to handle and the proposed solutions. We take a special attention to the focusing section, very close to the joint. The miniaturized head prototype is presented. The next step is the trajectory programming with the miniaturized head onto a real part. Finally, we show the validation of the system by a sequence of welding on a casing.