This paper reviews the current state of laser material processing by scanning the growth of laser equipment, in the form of different types of laser, optics and sensors, and the growth of industrial processes made possible by these developments. The purpose is to serve as an index to the current state of activity in this subject with illustrations of the main growth areas. It shows that this is a successful and fast growing industrial subject, which needs to be included in the curricula of Universities that teach engineering.

1.
Maiman
T.H.
(
1960
) “
Stimulated optical radiation in ruby
Nature
6
.
2.
Steen
W.M.
(
2003
) “
Laser Material Processing
3rd Edition,
Springer-Verlag
,
408
pp.
3.
Greses
J.
,
Barlow
C.Y.
,
Steen
W.M.
,
Hilton
P.A.
(
2001
) “
Spectroscopic studies of plume/plasma in different gas environments
Proc. ICALEO 2001
Jacksonville Fl.
,
publ LIA Orlando Fl.
paper 808.
4.
Tinker
D.
(
2003
) “
The disk laser – opening up new areas of application in material processing
Proc conf. on Industrial Lasers and Beam Delivery: UMIST.. Assoc. Industrial Laser Users (AILU)
[email protected].
5.
Savage-Leuchs
M.
,
Borschowa
L.
,
Steen
M.
,
Iversen
K.
,
Bowers
M.
(
2003
) “
High peak power fibre lasers for industrial processing
Proc. ICALEO 2003
,
Jacksonville Fl.
publ. LIA Orlando Fl.
paper 801.
6.
Chan
C.L.
(
2003
) “
Ultrashort pulse laser material removal by Coulomb explosion
Proc. ICALEO 2003
,
Jacksonville Fl.
,
publ. LIA Orlando Fl.
paper M503.
7.
Powell
J.
,
Tan
W.K.
,
Maclennan
P.
,
Rudd
D.
,
Wykes
C
,
Engstrom
H.
(
2001
) “Cutting stainless steel with a dual focus lens”
The Industrial Laser User
,
AILU
,
UK
,
22
,
11
13
.
8.
Kell
J.
,
Tyrer
J.
(
2003
) “
Computer generated holographic optics used in laser powder fusion
Proc. ICALEO 2003
,
Jacksonville Fl.
LIA Orlando Fl.
paper 1204.
9.
Harris
J.
,
Brandt
M.
(
2002
) “The cutting of thick steel plate using a spinning Nd:YAG laser beam”
The Industrial Laser User
.
AILU
UK
,
26
,
24
25
.
10.
Atkinson
L.G.
,
Kindred
D.S.
(
1996
) “Gradient Index Optics:”, in
The Photonics Design and Applications Handbook
,
Laurin Publ Co.
, pp
H
362
-367.
11.
Richerzhagen
B.
, (
2001
) “
The best of both worlds – laser and water jet combined in a new process: the water jet guided laser
Proc. ICALEO 2001
,
Jacksonville Fl.
LIA Orlando Fl.
paper M901.
12.
Li
L.
,
Brookfield
D.J.
,
Steen
W.M.
(
1992
) “
In-process laser weld monitoring
Proc IIW Asian Pacific Welding Congress
pp
119
136
.
13.
Li
L.
,
Steen
W.M.
(
1992
) “
Non contact acoustic emission monitoring during laser welding
Proc ICALEO 92
Orlando Fl. LIA Orlando Fl.
pp
719
728
.
14.
Chen
H.B.
,
Li
L.
,
Steen
W.M.
,
Brookfield
D.J.
, (
1993
) “
Multi-frequency fibre optic sensors for in-process laser weld quality monitoring
J. Non Destructive Testing Evaluation
26
(
2
)(1993),
67
73
.
15.
Hand
D.P.
,
Fox
M.D.T.
,
Haran
F.M.
,
Peters
C.
,
Morgan
S.A.
,
McClean
M.A.
,
Steen
W.M.
,
Jones
J.D.C.
(
2000
) “
Optical focus control system for laser welding and direct casting
J. Optics Laser Eng.
34
(2000),
415
427
.
16.
Lim
G.C.
,
Steen
W.M.
The measurement of the temporal and spatial distribution of a high powered CO2 laser beam
Optics and Laser Technology
, June (
1982
),
149
153
.
17.
Sparkes
,
M.
,
O’Neill
W.
,
Gabzdyl
J.
, “
In-process laser beam diagnostics
Proc. ICALEO 2002
,
Phoenix, Arizona
. Oct
2002
,
publ. LIA Orlando Fl.
Paper 403.
18.
Powell
J.
(
1993
)
CO2 Laser Cutting
,
Springer Verlag
,
246pp
19.
Mombo-Caristan
J.C.
(
2000
) “
Laser blanking vs Die blanking
Proc ICALEO 2000
,
Dearborn, Mich. LIA Orlando, Fl.
paper A301.
20.
O’Neill
W.
,
Gabzdyl
J.T.
(
2000
) “
New developments in oxygen assisted laser cutting
J. Opt. Lasers Eng.
34
,
355
67
21.
Duret
A.
, (
2003
) “
Femtosecond lasers for high precision micromachining
Proc Ind Lasers and Beam Delivery
:
UMIST, publ. AILU
, [email protected] paper 2.
22.
Duley
W.W.
(
1999
)
Laser Welding, Wiley Interscience
,
251
pp.
23.
Azuma
K.
,
Ikemoto
K.
, (
1993
) “
Laser welding technology for joining different sheet metals for one piece stamping
Laser Applications for Mechanical Industry
,
Proc. NATO ASI Erice, Sicily
.
Kluwer Academic
,
Netherlands
, pp.
219
233
.
24.
Steen
W.M.
(
1980
) “
Arc augmented laser processing of materials
J. Appl. Phys
51
(
11
)
5636
5641
.
25.
Petring
D.
,
Fuhrmann
C.
,
Wolf
N.
,
Poprawe
R.
(
2003
) “
Investigations and applications of laser arc hybrid welding from thin sheets up to heavy section components
Proc. ICALEO 2003
,
Jacksonville Fl.
LIA Orlando Fl.
paper 301.
26.
Forrest
M.
,
Lu
F.
(
2003
) “
Fundamental study of dual beam laser welding of zinc coated steel sheets in lap configuration with zero gap
Proc. ICALEO 2003
,
Jacksonville Fl.
LIA Orlando Fl.
paper 1402.
27.
Mazumder
J.
,
Dutta
D.
,
Kikuchi
N.
,
Gosh
A.
(
2000
) “
Closed loop direct metal deposition: art to part
J. Opt. Lasers Eng.
34
,
397
414
.
28.
Vollertsen
F.
(
1998
) “Forming, sintering and rapid prototyping” in
Schoucker
D.
(ed)
Handbook of the Eurolaser Academy
, Vol.
2
,
Chapman and Hall
,
357
453
.
29.
Hoving
W.
(
1997
) “
Laser applications in micro technology
Proc. Laser Net Shape Engineering, LANE’97 vol
2
. Ed.
Geiger
M.
,
Vollertsen F
,
Erlangen
, pp
69
80
.
30.
Laser Cleaning
ed.
Boris
Luk’yanchuk
(
2002
)
World Scientific
,
466
pp.
31.
Johnston
E.
,
Shannon
G.
,
Spencer
J.
,
Steen
W.M.
(
1998
) “
Laser surface treatment of concrete
Proc. ICALEO’98
Orlando Fl, LIA Orlando Fl
. pp
A210
218
.
32.
Hammersley
G.
,
Hackel
L.A.
,
Harris
F.
, (
2000
) “
Surface pre-stressing to improve fatigue strength of components by laser shot peening
Optics and Lasers Eng.
34
,
327
337
.
33.
Green
M.
(
2002
) “The new laser hazard classification scheme”
The Industrial Laser User.
AILU
[email protected]
26
,
38
.
This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.