By Alexander Laskin Introduction Powerful multimode fiber lasers, as well as fiber‑coupled solid-state and diode lasers, are widely used in industrial laser applications, and beam shaping of these multi-kW sources is of great importance to improve technologies like welding, metal sheet cutting, cladding, hardening. Due to physical properties of light propagation in multimode fibers, these […]
Laser Editorials
Metal 3D Printing: A Machine Shop’s 73 Year-old Journey in the Industry
By Wesley Hart Imperial Machine & Tool Co. took delivery of their first metal additive manufacturing (AM) machine in 2013 — a Selective Laser Melting system from SLM Solutions. The decision to invest was made after seeing one of these “metal 3D printers” in action, growing a component layer-by-layer from titanium. That demonstration made it […]
Laser Generated Side-emitting Fibers for Anti-microbial Applications
By Alan Conneely Medical indwelling catheters used for vascular, respiratory and urological procedures, are implanted in the body for up to 3 months at a time and are therefore very susceptible to infection. In fact Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is perhaps the most common device-associated infection in hospitals with over 1 million infections per […]
Laser Technology Enables Car Efficiency
By Ralf Kimmel Laser technology is an important key to letting CO2 emissions be reduced in passenger cars. A multitude of laser-based innovations in automobile production contributes to achieving this goal. The following article provides an overview. Coming generations of vehicles will be far lighter than their predecessors. Laser-based manufacturing processes play an important part […]
Industrial Laser Sales Grow in a Slowing Global Economy
By David A. Belforte These are unsettled times for global manufacturing. Setting aside the normal up and down cycles of manufacturing — a number of global factors — ranging from Brexit concerns, to economic problems in China, turmoil in the mid-East and a new administration in Washington give cause for concern about economic growth prospects. […]