Laser Welding

Our range of services

Research and development in the field of laser welding focuses primarily on extending current process limits, such as increasing processing speed and weld seam quality. For this purpose, the Fraunhofer ILT develops process-specific optics, nozzles and control systems. With precise beam shaping and process-adapted controls, high accuracies and qualities can be achieved for weld seams. At the same time, the processes are suitable for materials that are difficult to treat, such as ultra-high-strength steels, high-strength aluminum alloys or composite materials. The focus is also on integrated applications that combine cutting, welding and additive processes and are therefore very economical.

Particularly challenging applications include the welding of superalloys in the energy industry and high-performance welding for offshore applications. To this end, Fraunhofer ILT develops extremely robust beam guides and processing heads, which are also suitable for steel and aluminum industries, for shipbuilding and heavy mechanical engineering as well as for vehicle construction and the aviation industry.

The range of services includes market-oriented R&D services in all areas of the process chains that use laser-based welding and cutting processes. Fraunhofer ILT supports customers in the conception and development of industrial processes or components, with design and simulation services as well as market and feasibility studies.

Hybrid welding of a cantilever beam for a construction vehicle.
© Fraunhofer ILT, Aachen, Germany.
Hybrid welding of a cantilever beam for a construction vehicle.
Weld seam in S500MC/DP980 after buckling and bending load in the forming tool.
© Fraunhofer ILT, Aachen, Germany.
Weld seam in S500MC/DP980 after buckling and bending load in the forming tool.
Drum made of AlMg5 (3.3555) with a wall thickness of 11.5 mm.
© Fraunhofer ILT, Aachen, Germany.
Drum made of AlMg5 (3.3555) with a wall thickness of 11.5 mm.

Fusion Welding of Metallic Materials

  • Diode-, Fiber-, Disc-, and CO2-Lasers
  • Hybrid and combined processes
  • Welding metallurgy
  • Material-radiation interactions
  • Combined and integrated processes

Materials

  • Steels and nickel-base alloys
  • Aluminium and titanium alloys
  • Copper, platinum, refractories
  • Intermetallics
  • Dissimilar joints

Testing of Processes

  • Weldability
  • Failure and damage analysis
  • Test of components and systems

Applications

  • Industrial services
  • Tool development and testing
  • Pilot production

Consulting

  • Materials science
  • Processes and manufacturing
  • Laser-suited design
  • Components and systems

Brochures

Our brochures offer a quick view onto our service portfolio. Find more detailed information in the “project results“ tab.

 

“Laser Processing of Composites“

 

“Laser Beam Welding of Metallic Materials“

Branches

Laser technology can solve demanding tasks in many different industries. Whether as a tool in automotive production, as measuring equipment in the environmental sector, as a diagnostic or therapeutic instrument in medical technology or as a communication medium in space technology, the laser provides multiple uses with high productivity and high efficiency.

Read up about the innovations of the Fraunhofer ILT in a few selected industries and convince yourself!

 

Research with us!

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about general topics! Our contact persons are happy to get in touch with you.

Publications

Dahmen, M., Janzen, V., Lindner, S., Monfort, D., Wagener, R.:
Laserstrahlschweißen ultrahochfester Stähle - Stand und Perspektiven
DVS Congress - Große Schweißtechnische Tagung,
Leipzig , Germany 19.09.2016 - 20.09.2016. pp. 221-230 (2016)

Dahmen, M., Göbel, M.:
Mechanical properties and fracture behaviour of LMD produced 2.4682 and wrought 2.4630 dissimilar welds
Physics Procedia  83, 426-436 (2016)

Dahmen, M., Lindner, S., Monfort, D., Petring, D.:
Weld metallurgy and mechanical properties of high manganese ultra-high strength steel dissimilar welds
Physics Procedia 83, 344-351 (2016)

Dahmen, M., Janzen, V., Lindner, S., Wagener, R.:
Mechanical properties of laser beam welded ultra-high strength chromium steel with martensitic microstructure
Phys. Proced. 78, 210-221 (2015)

Dahmen, M., Rajendran, K. D., Lindner, S.:
Sensitization of laser-beam welded martensitic stainless steels
Phys. Proced. 78, 240-246 (2015)

Janzen, V., Meschut, G., Dahmen, M., Poprawe, R., Lindner, S., Wagener, R., Melz, T.:
Investigation on joint characteristics of laser beam welded press hardenable ultra-high strength steels with ferritic-martensitic and martensitic microstructure
Welding in the World (Online First) (10 S.) (2015)

Powell, J., Ilar, T., Frostevarg, J., Torkamany, M. J., Na, S.-J., Petring, D., Zhang, L., Kaplan, A. F. H.:
Weld root instabilities in fiber laser welding
Journal of Laser Applications 27 (S2), S29008 (5 S.) (2015)

Dahmen, M., Daamen, M., Janzen, V., Lindner, S., Schneider, A., Wagener, R.:
Laser beam welding of new ultra-high strength and supra-ductile steels
SCT14 Future trends in steel development, processing technologies and applications, Hrsg. H.-J. Wieland, S. Brockmann,
Düsseldorf: Verl. Stahleisen (2014). pp. 282-289

Aden, M., Otto, G., Duve, C.:
Irradiation strategy for laser transmission welding of thermoplastics using high brilliance laser source
Int. Polymer Processing 28 (3), 300-305 (2013)

Liu, J., Dahmen, M., Ventzke, V., Kashaev, N., Poprawe, R.:
The effect of heat treatment on crack control and grain refinement in laser beam welded β-solidifying TiAl-based alloy

Intermetallics 40
65-70 (2013)

Mehlmann, B., Olowinsky, A., Thuilot, M., Gillner, A.:
Spatially modulated laser beam micro welding of CuSn6 and nickel-plated DC04 steel for battery applications
Proc. of Lamp2013 - the 6th Int. Congr. on Laser Advanced Materials Processing (7 S.) (2013)

Berlin, M., Rösner, A., Schneider, F.:
Laser radiation as all-round tool for composite parts
Kunststoffe 102, Nr. 5, 20-23 (2012)

Kaierle, S., Dahmen, M., Güdükkurt, O.:
Eco-efficiency of laser welding applications
Proc. SPIE 8065, 80650T, 10 S., (2011)

Petring, D., Schneider, F., Dickler, H.:
Drei in einem Kopf
Laser Technik J. 8, Nr. 4, 28-32, (2011)

Petring, D., Nazery Goneghany, V.:
Parameter dependencies of copper welding with multi-kW lasers at 1micron wavelength
Phys. Proced. 12, 95-104, (2011)

Dahmen, M., Güdükkurt, O., Kaierle, S.:
The ecological footprint of laser beam welding
Physics Procedia 5, Nr 2, 19-28, (2010)

Kaierle, S.:
Der ökologische Fußabdruck des Laserstrahlschweißens
Laser Magazin Nr 4, 6-7, (2010)

Petring, D.:
Enhancing laser welding capabilities by hybridisation or combination with other processes
In: Advances in laser materials processing. Ed. by J.Lawrence, J. Pou, D. K. Y. Low and E. Toyserkani. Boca Raton: CRC Pr. 2010. ISBN 9781420094923. pp. 261-287, (2010)

Petring, D.:
More productivity, flexibility as well as energy efficiency in laser cutting and welding
AKL'10 - International Laser Technology Congress, Aachen, 37 S., (2010)

Petring, D., Schneider, F., Dickler, H.:
Progress in cutting and welding of sheet metal assemblies in one machine with the laser combi-head
PICALO 2010, March 23-25, 2010. 4th Pacific International Conference on Applications of Lasers and Optics. Wuhan, Peoples Republic of China. Paper 1001, (2010)

M. Dahmen, A. Drenker, M. Ungers, S. Pfeiffer, S. Kaierle:
Detection of phase boundaries and defect detection in CO2-laser beam welding
Proc. of LAMP 2009 - the 5th Congress on Laser Advanced Materials Processing,Kobe, Japan, 5 S., (2009)

D. Petring, F. Schneider, N. Wolf, V. Nazery Goneghany:
How beam quality, power and wavelength influence laser cutting and welding processes
Proc. of LAMP 2009 - 5th Int. Congr. on Laser Advanced Materials Processing, Kobe, Japan, 8 S., (2009)

J. K. Kristensen, S. Webster, D. Petring:
Hybrid laser welding of thick section steels -the HYBLAS Project
NOLAMP 12. 12th Nordic Conference in Laser Processing of Materials, Copenhagen, Lyngby, Denmark : ATV-SEMAPP/The Technical University of Denmark, 18 S., (2009)

D. Petring, F. Schneider:
One machine does it all for laser beam welding and cutting
Welding J. March, 38-41, (2009)

M. Dahmen, S. Kaierle:
The ecological footprint of laser beam welding
Proc. of LAMP 2009 - the 5th Int. Congr. on Laser Advanced Materials Processing,  Kobe, Japan, 4 S., (2009)

F. Schneider, D. Petring, V. Nazery, C. Nuesser:
2D and 3D laser cutting and welding with the combi-head: Efficient production by flexible process changes
Proc. 5th Int. Conf. WLT-Conf. on Lasers in Manufacturing 2009, Munich, Ed. by A. Ostendorf [u.a.] Stuttgart: AT-Fachverlag,
pp. 245-249, (2009)

D. Petring u.a.:
3D-Laserschneiden und -schweißen in einer Maschine
MM MaschinenMarkt Nr. 23, 20-23, (2009)

M. Dahmen, S. Kaierle, Aiping, W., Wenjin, L., Yi, S., Hequiang, W.:
Comparative study of techniques for wear minimisation of engine parts
Proc. of the 3rd Pacific Int. Conf. on Application of Lasers and Optics (PICALO) 2008, Beijing, 6 S., (2008)

D. Petring:
Enhanced capabilities of laser welding by hybridization and combination techniques
Proc. of the 70th Laser Materials Processing Conference, Japan Laser Processing Society JLPS, Osaka, Japan, Keynote paper, 7-12, (2008)

D. Petring:
Enhanced capabilities of laser welding by hybridization and combination techniques
The Laser User, Issue 52, 36-39, (2008)

D. Petring:
Enhancement of laser welding capabilities by hybridization or combination of different processes
Proc. of the 3rd Pacific Int. Conf. on Applications of Lasers and Optics 2008, PICALO, Beijing, China, Paper 705, 324-329, (2008)

F. Schneider, D. Petring:
Flexible 3-D – laser cutting and welding with the combi-head
Proc. of the 27th Int. Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics 2008, ICALEO, Temecula, CA, USA, Laser Materials Processing Conference, Paper 1305, 582-588, (2008)

S. Webster, J. Klaestrup-Kristensen, D. Petring:
Hybrid laser welding of thick section steels
Proc. of the IIW Int. Conf. “Safety and Reliability of Welded Components in Energy and Processing Industry”, Graz, Austria,
15 S., (2008)

D. Petring, F. Schneider, N. Wolf, V. Nazery:
The relevance of brightness for high power laser cutting and welding
Proc. of the 27th Int. Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics 2008, ICALEO, Temecula, CA, USA, October 20-23, 2008
Laser Materials Processing Conference
Paper 206, 95-103, (2008)

J. Gedicke, A. Olowinsky, U. Jansen, W. Schulz, A. Gillner:
Weld depth control in fiber laser welding of thin metal sheets
Proc. of the 27th Int. Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics 2008, ICALEO, Temecula, CA, USA, (2008)

S. Kaierle, W. Fiedler, B. Regaard, M. Dahmen:
Anwendung brillianter Diodenlaser beim Schweißen von Aluminium-Dünnblechen
Laser Technik Journal 2, 35-38, (2007)

S.Kaierle, M. Dahmen, S. Mann, R. Poprawe:
Autonomous Production Cell for Laser Beam Welding
Proc. Int. Conf. on Competitive Manufacturing "COMA 07", Stellenbosch, Südafrika, 6 S., (2007)

M. Dahmen, W. Fiedler, B. Regaard, S. Kaierle:
Continuous process control during laser beam welding of small section Aluminium sheet
Proc. of WLT Conf. Lasers in Manufacturing, Munich, 5 S., (2007)

D. Petring:
Integriertes Laserstrahlschneiden und -schweißen: Reduzierung von Nebenzeiten und Systemaufwand
EALA 2007, Bad Nauheim, 15 S., (2007)

D. Petring, H. Dickler:
Multifunktionaler Laserbearbeitungskopf
MM Maschinenmarkt 22, 34-36, (2007)

D. Petring, H. Dickler:
Nebenzeiten senken und Flexibilität steigern
Technica 56, Nr 06/07, 72-74, (2007)

P. Albus, A. Boglea, B. Burbaum, J. Holtkamp, I. Kelbassa, V. Nazery-Goneghany, A. Olowinsky, D. Petring, M. Poggel, F. Schmitt, F. Schneider, N. Wolf, R. Poprawe:
Neue Schweißtechnologien mit neuen Lasern
Proc. of 10th International Aachen Welding Conference iASTK´07
229-242, (2007)

W. Fiedler, M. Dahmen, S. Kaierle:
Process control of laser beam welded small section aluminum sheets
Proc. of ICALEO 2007, Orlando, Fl., 271-276, (2007)

D. Petring, C. Fuhrmann, N. Wolf, R. Poprawe:
Progress in Laser-MAG hybrid welding of high-strength steels up to 30 mm thickness
Proc. of 26th Int. Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics ICALEO, October 29 - November 1, 2007, Orlando, Fl.
300-307, (2007)

Our services cover a wide range of topics. Related topics to laser welding and further research and development focuses can be found under the following links.