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Future of Laser Innovations Reflected at Revamped ICALEO Conference

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AS SEEN ON THE DAILY HERALD

ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The Laser Institute (LIA)’s 38th International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics (ICALEO) was recently held in Orlando, Florida and featured the conference’s many firsts. A meeting of laser industry experts and decision-makers from around the world, the event hosted dialogue with a deeper industry foci, more expansive technical sessions, and a new Business Conference that addressed laser end-users while highlighting solutions from the manufacturing community.

A collection of Live User Solutions Forums, Market Drivers Symposia, and Live User Solutions Round Tables discussions, the Business Conference acted as a complement to ICALEO’s traditional Technical Conference. Regarded as a concentrated effort of participants from the Aerospace, Biomedical, Microelectronics, and Automotive industries, ICALEO’s Business sessions allowed laser manufacturers, integrators, and end-users to engage in the discussion on the unique challenges and revolutionary applications in the industry.

To further emphasize the attendee-friendly approach of this year’s ICALEO format, the Business Conference also presented a four-day tradeshow that connected all members of the laser marketplace. An accomplishment at dedicating whole days to each of its selected industries, the tradeshow hosted over 40 international exhibitors from the likes of IPG Photonics, II-VI, and more.

Spanning the duration of the conference to maximize the attendee’s opportunity to network with these leading brands, the assembly of exhibitors also included Han’s Laser Smart Equipment Group (ICALEO’s Diamond Sponsor), Coherent Inc. (ICALEO’s Platinum Sponsor), as well as TRUMPF Inc., Kentek, and Edgewave (ICALEO’s Gold Sponsors).

Meanwhile, the ICALEO Technical Conference enhanced its focus on the innovative and novel uses of lasers and photonics via its subdivided tracks. These are comprised of the Laser Additive Manufacturing, Laser Materials Macroprocessing, Laser Materials Microprocessing, Laser Nanomanufacturing, and Battery Systems and Energy Conversion tracks.

An approach that allowed the conference speakers to deliberate on how laser applications can push the envelope of modern technology while advancing key industries in their accuracy, efficiency, and speed, the Technical Conference’s new format also gave engineers and materials processing experts the chance to discover new processing techniques, acquire new skills, and collaborate to ensure their organization stays up-to-date and on the leading edge of productivity.

These innovations and advancements were envisioned in the opening addresses of the plenary speakers from all four industries. Peter Boeijink of XYREC opened the aerospace-focused conference with his speech on “The Largest, Highest-Power, Mobile, Industrial, Laser Materials Processing Robot in the World” while Dr. Christoph Leyens from Fraunhofer IWS discussed the “Innovative Aerospace and Space Structures Made by Additive Manufacturing.”

Similarly, the esteemed Professor William Steen presented his speech “The Coming of the Age of Optical Engineering” during the biomedical conference, alongside Fraunhofer Institute of Laser Technology (ILT)’s Dr. Nadine Nottrodt who spoke on “Laser in Biofabrication – How Laser Technology Can Help to Build Artificial Tissue.” They were joined by Dr. Chris Bashur of the Florida Institute of Technology who elaborated on the “Photonic Needs in Regenerative Medicine.”

Participants from the microelectronics industry mulled over the words of Dr. Kumar Patel of Pranalytica Inc. during his plenary speech on “Recapturing the Excitement of High Power Infrared Lasers,” while Dr. Markus Arendt of SUSS MicroTec Photonic Systems spoke on the “Excimer Laser Ablation for High-Density Routing in Advanced Packaging.”

During the automotive-focused conference, Ethan Sprague from the University of Michigan presented his thoughts on “Laser Aided Manufacturing: Atom to Automobile” before Dr. Ted Reutzel of Pennsylvania State University described the “Progress Towards Sensing and Mitigating Flaw Formation in Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing.” Their presentations joined the observations on “Bottoms Up Digital Design: The Quiet Revolution of the Additive Manufacturing Age” by Dr. Jason Carroll of Eaton, a power-management company that provides energy-efficient solutions to managing electrical, hydraulic, and mechanical power.

To view the highlighted content from ICALEO 2019, including recorded interviews, panels, and speeches, follow LIA’s social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The 39th ICALEO will be held at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois USA from Oct 19, 2020–Oct 22, 2020. Call for papers and Tradeshow booth bookings will be made available soon, and interested parties may contact icaleo@lia.org for further information.

SOURCE: http://finance.dailyherald.com/dailyherald/news/read/39006180/Future_of_Laser_Innovations_Reflected_at_Revamped_ICALEO_Conference

Superhydrophobic and Superhydrophilic Functionalization of Engineering Surfaces by Laser Texturing

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By Suwas Nikumb, Peter Serles, and Evgueni Bordatchev

As seen in ICALEO 2017 and LIA TODAY

 

Nature is a bountiful source of inspiration to advance innovative surface functionalities, processes, and technologies for engineering materials. For example, the super-hydrophobic surface characteristic of the lotus leaf can be recreated by mimicking the microstructure and surface energy on stainless steels. This super-hydrophobic behavior, which causes water to roll off the lotus leaf while collecting dust particles, enables the self-cleaning of the leaf surface and is primarily due to the hierarchical conical structures, as well as the wax layer present on the leaf surface. A good understanding of the surface topography of the microstructures, water droplet contact angle, and surface chemical composition provides the important clues necessary for the creation of artificial super-hydrophobic or superhydrophilic surfaces and using state-of-the-art ultrafast laser ablation treatment.

Figure 1

Controlling the wettability of a material surface for superhydrophobic or superhydrophilic performance has been an interesting area where numerous different methods are being pursued. While many coatings and thin-films are able to achieve extremely high or low wettability, their endurance life, chemical compatibility, and large area scalability make them less attractive for manufacturing environments. Meanwhile, ultrafast pulsed lasers with several megahertz pulse repetition rates can tune the wettability of a surface without changing its chemical composition and offers higher endurance lives. This is accomplished by instant vaporization (laser ablation) of the material in specific micro-scale patterns thus creating structures that changes the way the surface topography interacts with water.

A superhydrophobic surface is characterized by its ability to repel water using structures that are akin to a bed of nails allowing the water droplet to rest only on the peaks using surface tension and therefore repel from the surface (see Fig.1). Contrarily, a superhydrophilic surface is characterized by its ability to attract and spread the water so features a series of channels that trap water and wick it away using micro-capillary forces. Such surface functionalization techniques have been developed at Canada’s National Research Council for stainless steel (304 SS) and Silicon Carbide (SiC) surfaces respectively to demonstrate the effectiveness of laser texturing technology for wettability control of common engineering surfaces. Fig.2 depicts superhydrophobic performance of a bouncing water droplet at ~5° tilt on 3×3 cm2 textured area.

Experimentally, a 10 W picosecond pulsed laser operating at 1 MHz frequency was focused to a tiny spot of 25 µm diameter. The samples were mounted on a CNC motion system equipped with argon gas protective environment. The optimization of laser structuring process included varying each of the laser parameters, e.g. power, frequency, feed rate, grid pitch, etc. and evaluating the water droplet contact angle using the standard drop-shape analysis method. For the 304 SS superhydrophobic surface, a laser beam fluence of 2.61 J/cm2 was used to promote narrower, shallower features by material redistribution rather than complete vaporization, while the SiC superhydrophilic surface was realized using a much higher fluence of 10.7 J/cm2 to create thicker and deeper channels for the water to impregnate. Both surfaces were machined using the five-axis CNC micromachining system to texture grid patterns, ensuring an even distribution of micro-structures.

Figure 2

 

The superhydrophobicity of 304 SS surface was highly dependent on post-processing conditions in order to tune the wettability. Specifically, the chemical nature of the surface was reactive for 14 days after laser processing due to high-power interaction with the material which excites the chemical state. The samples were thus stored in different environments and exhibited vastly different contact angles. Most notably, the sample which was submerged in deionized water showed hydrophilic tendencies while the sample kept in extremely dry (<8% relative humidity) air was highly superhydrophobic with a contact angle of 152º. Following this two week period, the sample attained stable chemical equilibrium and the wettability was unchanged regardless of environment.

Figure 3

The superhydrophilic SiC surface on the other hand was not as reactive and therefore showed a contact angle of 0º immediately after processing. As aforementioned this sample was intended to have wider and deeper channels to hold and wick the water away from the contact point. The micro-capillary forces that are responsible for spreading the water across the surface were strong enough even to counter gravity; Figure 3 shown below depicts a time-lapse of a 3×3 cm2 textured area placed vertically with the bottom edge in water. Within a 10-second span, the entire surface was wet by the micro-capillary forces pulling water vertically against the force of gravity.

The potential for laser texturing technologies spans many applications in manufacturing industries. Superhydrophobic surfaces have been proposed as a method to mitigate many fluid problems; by decreasing the interaction between a pipe wall and the fluid, the drag experienced by the fluid has been shown to decrease significantly in both laminar and turbulent flows. Thus far, only superhydrophobic coatings and thin-films have been tested for this application however they remain plagued by rapid wear and very short lifetimes. The robustness of the laser texturing process to achieve superhydrophobicity therefore presents exciting new opportunities. As well as water repellency of superhydrophobic surfaces, longer freezing times of water droplets and lower adhesion strength of ice to the surface are characteristics of these high contact angle surfaces and thus present an iceophobic surface property. This enables applications for machinery that operate in colder climates such as wind turbines and airplane wings and engines.

Applications for superhydrophilic surfaces are commonly based on the micro-capillary forces demonstrated as the rapid dispersion creates a thin film of water on the surface. This thin film allows for an increased rate of evaporation from the surface opening doors for anti-fogging applications or greatly increased rates of heat transfer. Other applications manipulate the thickness of the film formed which can provide antireflection ability for surfaces such as solar cells. Superhydrophilic textured surfaces also exhibit increased adhesion strength with the liquid due to the impregnation of the liquid into the surface, therefore providing applications for improvement in bonding strength of joints between different material surfaces.

The wettability control functionalization on engineering surfaces opens the door for new applications with both superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic surfaces. The robust nature of laser surface texturing technologies in combination with chemical compatibility and industrial scalability makes this method unique and most promising to deploy a wide range of functions in manufacturing products. While this technology has already provided solutions to several significant industrial tasks, many more applications are currently being explored at NRC.

 

More details on this topic can be found on YouTube: Combined Wettability Control (https://youtu.be/7IW2aC_rkjw), Super-hydrophobic Bouncing (https://youtu.be/b1vXDuvf3aQ), Super-hydrophilic Ceramic (https://youtu.be/9ZCcW4cOccw), along with other presentations on NRC’s micro/nano-machining capabilities. Further details on these studies can be found in: Superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic functionalized surfaces by picosecond laser texturing. Journal of Laser Applications 30, 032505 (2018); https://doi.org/10.2351/1.5040641

Laser direct writing: An effective approach to flexible hybrid electronics

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As featured in the LIA TODAY and ICALEO 2017

By Jinguang Cai and Akira Watanabe

The development of miniaturized portable and wearable electronic devices has attracted worldwide research attention, due to their increasing integration with human daily life. Different from traditional electronic devices on “hard” boards, such devices should be soft and flexible. A concept called “flexible hybrid electronics”, which is a hybrid of soft and hard parts, has been proposed to address the fabrication issue of flexible devices.

Fig. 1. A schematic image of a simple flexible hybrid electronic device.

The concept of a flexible hybrid electronic device is illustrated in Fig.1, in which “soft parts”, such as electronic interconnection, energy harvesting and energy storage components, antennae, and even displays, sensors, and communication interfaces, can be prepared via printing methods. “hard parts”, such as processor and memory, can be provided by the commercial small-size silicon components, which are small enough, and can be integrated into the device without influencing the flexibility. However, printing methods have some issues such as limitation of materials, high cost of inks, and complicated post-processing.

Laser direct writing is a non-contact, fast single-step fabrication technique without requirements for masks, post-processing, and complex clean environments. Meanwhile, various kinds of lasers have been rapidly developed with relatively low costs and broad available wavelengths and powers, and widely used in industry for materials welding, cutting, and polishing. Besides, laser processing can be focused into a micrometer-sized or submicrometer-sized area to realize on-demand fabrication of functional micro-patterns, showing the potential to be integrated into current product lines for commercial use. Laser direct writing has been demonstrated to prepare energy harvesting and energy storage components, electronic circuits, sensors, communication interface, and antennae.

Energy harvesting and storage components

Generally, a flexible device employs a thin film battery as the energy storage and supply unit, in combination with a flexible energy harvesting device such as a polymer solar cell. Recently, as a new type of energy storage device, micro-supercapacitors (MSCs), has been developed and recognized as potential power supply units for on-chip micro-devices, because they possess not only the advantages of supercapacitors such as high power density, excellent cycling stability, pollution-free operation, maintenance-free feature, and flexibility, but also simplified packaging processes and compatibility with integrated circuits. Among various materials for supercapacitors, carbon materials possess the properties which can satisfy the requirements of MSCs in the flexible devices, such as high specific surface area, high electrical conductivity, high electrochemical stability, and high mechanical tolerance.

Fig. 2. A carbon micro-supercapacitor prepared by laser direct writing.

Laser-induced carbonization of polymers such as polyimide has been demonstrated to prepare flexible all-solid-state carbon-based MSCs with high performance by laser direct writing on a polyimide (PI) film in air (Fig. 2). In order to suppress the oxidation process and thus, increase the conductivity of the laser-induced carbon structures, the laser direct writing was conducted on PI films in an inert gas such as Ar, resulting in carbon MSCs with improved volumetric energy density and power density. Furthermore, high-conductive Au nanoparticles can be incorporated to construct double-layer carbon/Au composite electrodes with improved conductivity by two-step laser direct writing.

It will be beneficial for practical use if energy harvest and storage units can be integrated into the same device. As a demonstration, TiO2 nanoparticles were deposited on one side of the laser-written interdigitated carbon electrodes by an electrophoretic method, forming carbon/TiO2 composite MSC with photo-rechargeable capability under UV irradiation due to the photovoltaic property of TiO2 nanoparticles. Although the charging voltage is not high enough for practical use currently, it is expected that such a strategy can be developed for practical use by optimizing the photo-absorption materials and the combination.

 

Fig. 3. Schematic images of an integrated photodetector (top) and a rGO/GO/rGO humidity sensor (bottom) prepared by laser direct writing.

 

Photodetectors and humidity sensors

Sensors are one of the most important interfaces with users in IoT (Internet of Things) technology, thence it is very important to develop various types of sensors for flexible devices. Laser direct writing can play an important role in preparing sensors directly on the flexible substrate with high performance and stability. For example, a photodetector for UV light can be fabricated by laser direct writing and deposition of ZnO nanoparticles, and can be integrated into the PI film with a carbon MSC fabricated by laser-induced carbonization, forming an integrated photodetector for practical use (Fig. 3, Top). Besides, a humidity sensor based on an interdigitated reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/graphene oxide (GO)/rGO structure prepared by laser direct writing was also demonstrated with high and fast response, flexibility, and long-term stability, showing the potential to be used in flexible devices (Fig. 3, Bottom).

Fig. 4. Schematic images of an integrated wireless charging and storage device (top) and an NFC tag (bottom) prepared by laser direct writing in combination with electroless Ni plating.

Circuits, communication interface, and antenna

High-conductive metallic circuits with mechanical stability are very important in flexible devices as basic structures, and their preparation should be facile, cost-effective, and easily integrated with other electronic components. Laser direct writing has been demonstrated to pattern metallic Pd on PI films, which can act as catalysts in the electroless Ni plating process, producing high-conductive carbon/Ni composite structures. The carbon/Ni structures exhibited a certain flexibility and excellent anti-scratch performance due to the intimate deposition of Ni layer on carbon surfaces. Such carbon/Ni structures can be used as conductive circuits to construct practical devices.  For example, a wireless charging and storage device can be fabricated by integrating an outer rectangle carbon/Ni composite coil for harvesting electromagnetic waves and an inner carbon MSC for energy storage, which can be fast charged by a commercial wireless charger (Fig. 4, Top). In addition, a near-field communication (NFC) antenna was prepared using a carbon/Ni composite coil, and acted as a communication interface with an NFC smartphone for harvesting signals, and an ultra-small commercial IC chip was integrated for data storage (Fig. 4, Bottom). The integrated NFC tag can be used for practical application.

Summary & outlook

While laser direct writing has been demonstrated to be an effective approach to preparing most of the components in flexible devices, such as carbon MSCs as energy storage unit, carbon/TiO2 MSCs for energy harvesting and storage unit, photodetectors and humidity sensors, high-conductive carbon/Ni structures for electronic circuits, and even integrated wireless devices, many efforts are still required to promote the laser direct writing technique applied in the development of flexible hybrid electronics for practical applications in IoT in the future.

 

Jinguang Cai, Institute of Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Jiangyou 621908, Sichuan, P. R. China

Akira Watanabe, Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan

Milan Brandt Reflects on 2018 and the Future of LIA and Laser Materials Processing

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ORLANDO, Fla. (PRWEB) December 28, 2018

The Laser Institute of America’s (LIA) latest edition of the LIA Today, a bi-monthly newsletter discussing latest laser industry news, featured a farewell message from Milan Brandt discussing his presidency and the milestones the professional society have achieved over the last year.

“As I come to the end of my Presidency, I would like to reflect on what 2018 has been for the Association and for me personally. 2018 has been a very special year for LIA,” said Milan, who also spoke of new areas of focus for LIA: “We have developed a new marketing plan. This will rebuild our digital footprint and increase our social media critical to promotion of the Association’s activities in the future.”

2018 has been a year of change and notable success for LIA, in particular, the achievement of its 50th Anniversary – celebrating its continued efforts to support and promote lasers and its applications globally.

These efforts have resulted in measurable growth for LIA, with noteworthy attendance at their flagship International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics (ICALEO) earlier this year, ahead of the International Laser Safety Conference(ILSC) held in March 2019.

“ICALEO ‘18 was one of our best conferences in terms of attendance and ‘bottom line’ for the last four years,” quoted Milan.

Also featured in the LIA Today November/December 2018 issue was an interview with Milan Brandt, entitled, “A Cuppa With Milan Brandt”. LIA Today seized the opportunity to discuss Laser Materials Processing, industry global trends, and Milan’s time at LIA as a member. Milan had this to say about being a member of LIA:

“LIA, in my view, has played a central role in the promotion, education, and growth of laser technology and applications globally. It has been the focus for this since its inception. I have been a member of LIA for some 32 years and this has enabled me to not only stay abreast of the latest developments in technology and applications but also develop global connections and networks in the area.”

This article was released to Laser’s Today for immediate publication and can be read at Laser’s Today.

Visit LIA Today to read the full interview, and to explore past issues.

Original Content: http://www.erienewsnow.com/story/39707413/milan-brandt-reflects-on-2018-and-the-future-of-lia-and-laser-materials-processing

LIA Offers Sneak Peek at Upcoming Fall Super Conference

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The Laser Institute of America (LIA) is announcing what to expect this fall at their annual conference.

ORLANDO, Fla. (PRWEB) December 30, 2018

The Laser Institute of America (LIA) is announcing what to expect this fall at their annual conference. The four-day event will represent the following industry sectors on each day of the event: automotive, aerospace, microelectronics/ integrated circuits, and medical equipment/ biotechnology. Presentations and exhibitions will center around photonic materials processing technology, applications, and their impact on these industries each day. The event will promote solution driven innovations for each covered industry.

This new super-conference will incorporate the best features of LIA’s primary applications events: the International Congress on Applications of Lasers and Electro-Optics (ICALEO), Laser Additive Manufacturing Conference (LAM), and the Lasers for Manufacturing Event (LME). The Laser Materials Processing, Laser Microprocessing, Nanomanufacturing, and Laser Additive Manufacturing Conference tracks will all be incorporated into the academic sessions of this event. Speakers will cover topics such as laser ablation, welding, cutting, drilling, deposition, cladding, additive manufacturing, battery systems/ energy conversion, and sensors/ LIDAR.

In addition to dedicated academic sessions, each day will feature an industry specific trade show exhibition where sponsors and vendors can share their unique solutions to the industry’s problems. The daily trade show will also feature numerous panel discussions and presentations from laser end users on the challenges they face, and how laser technology may be the answer.

“This conference is going to quickly be recognized as a leading event for anyone involved with lasers and photonics in any of these four industries,” says Andrew Albritton, LIA Business Analyst.

Additional details will be released soon.

Read the release at http://www.klkntv.com/story/39711872/lia-offers-sneak-peek-at-upcoming-fall-super-conference