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1989
Conference Paper
Titel
Advances in polarized laser beam welding of pipes.
Alternative
Fortschritte im polarisierten Laserstrahlschweißen von Rohren
Abstract
The economy of pipe welding is governed by the welding speed. This is one reason why the laser technology in pipe welding is used in a production line only for the case of welding stainless steel tubes for the car industry because of the metallurgical advantages. However, using the effect of beam polarization, the welding speed could be increased. From laser beam cutting of metals, a strong effect of beam polarization referring to the cutting direction is known. In welding, this effect is relatively unknown. Experimental results show that a strong polarization effect could also take place in deep penetration welding if some threshold conditions are fulfilled. Using the right beam polarization e.g. pipes could be welded at a higher speed than with an unpolarized beam. It is possible to weld pipes or plates much faster than with the normal keyhole-welding technique if the polarized beam is used in a way that the beam is guided to the joining point. This new technique presented at the ICA LEO conference 88/1/ is described in the paper. Examples are shown which could be reached with standard 5 and 25 kw laser systems.