Southampton, UK - SPI Lasers has announced new additions to the CW fiber laser range designed for laser cutting, laser welding and laser micromachining applications. The lasers will be launched at LASER World of Photonics in Munich, Germany, on May 13, 2013.
In response to evolving market demand SPI have launched four new lasers within the redPOWER R4 product portfolio. With a range of mode structures at 200 W and 500 W, the beam shape (M2 values) have been tailored to produce the new redPOWER 500W M2<1.1 and M2~7.5 lasers. These lasers can be used for both cutting and welding applications. The recently released redPOWER R4 200W M2~4 laser and the new 500 W M2~15 have both been designed specifically for welding. The increased back reflection tolerance and up to 20m long output fibers have also been included to make these truly flexible industrial solutions.
The new 500W laser with an M2<1.1 has been designed to offer superb high speed cutting ability with speeds exceeding 30 m/min. This laser is capable of cutting up to 6mm mild steel, twice the thickness of the already established 400W model. This capability is due to the same excellent single moded beam quality being maintained even at the increased power, producing significantly higher power intensity with improved depth of field.
The new M2~7.5 laser dispenses with the sharp Gaussian beam profile and spreads the energy across a flatter top. This gives a wider cut kerf and so allows the gas flow to be maintained on thicker materials. In comparison to single mode lasers this gives a 50% increase in cutting speed on stainless steel above 1.5mm thick.
SPI have developed two unique blends of power and beam profile for the welding market. The new 200 W LM (M2~4) laser has been designed with end users to provide an efficient solution for producing through welds on thin, or controlled depth penetration on thicker materials.
The 500 W M2~15 laser offers an alternative to traditional welding technologies whilst giving the benefits of fiber delivered power in a zero maintenance package. Both of these lasers precisely control power delivery with the use of modulation (up to 100kHz) to reduce or remove the aesthetically problematic heat affected zone.
SPI offers its 500 W lasers with an output fiber of up to 20 m in length. This exclusive feature allows SPI customers to easily design the laser into large scale cutting machines and so provide the benefits of fiber delivered laser power to a new range of applications. This combination of 500 W and 20 m fiber output produces the most efficient method to cut mild and stainless steel plates of 3x1.5 m at speeds in excess of 30 m/min.
Industrial Laser Solutions Editors
We edited the content of this article, which was contributed by outside sources, to fit our style and substance requirements. (Editor’s Note: Industrial Laser Solutions has folded as a brand and is now part of Laser Focus World, effective in 2022.)