Laser Material Processing - Some Applications in Welding Research Institute

Laser material processing technology has started taking deep ischolar_mains in our country and no more it is a mystery. Though the technology started penetrating in our country for nuclear applications, no doubt, it has deepened into other industrial sectors like defence, transport, electronics, space, energy, etc.

Welding Research Institute (WRI) has a 575 Watts capacity CO₂ Laser supplied by M/s. Coherent, USA. In WRI, the following laser material processing feasibility investigations were carried out for the applications of

• Laser welding of battery can hermetic sealing,

• Laser welding of stainless steel spindle assembly,

• Laser cutting of silicon wafers,

• Laser scribing of silicon steel transformer laminations, and

• Laser scribing of solar cells.

The details of the investigations are brought out in this paper, which will give more explanations about the advantages of Laser material processing compared to conventional material processing techniques. A comparison of performance between Laser and EBW is brought out in the paper for the benefit of the readers.