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2020
Conference Paper
Title
Investigations on the influence of beam shaping in laser transmission welding of multi-layer polymer films with wavelength-adapted diode laser beam sources
Abstract
Multi-layer polymer films are used in a large number of technical areas. In many applications, a trend toward more flexible production and batch sizes down to one can be identified. Commercially available joining processes can only fulfill the requirements to a limited extent. The process principle of laser transmission welding with a wavelength-adapted laser beam source enables flexible and contour-independent welding of commercially available polymer films without material modification and therefore represents an alternative solution. In this method, the material-dependent intrinsic absorption bands of polymers in the wavelength range >1500 nm are addressed. Depending on the application, there are different specifications for the weld seam width but also for the available installation space. This results in different requirements such as distance between material surface and laser optics or required beam diameter. The requirements are highly variable depending on the application. In order to investigate the influences and effects of such beam shaping optical changes, laser welding experiments with different laser optical configurations on commercially available multi-layer polymer films are performed. The samples are analyzed using thin sections and T-peel tensile tests. In addition, the results will be discussed using raytracing models created in ZEMAX® Optic Studio 16. In particular, questions are discussed, whether a targeted energy input into a film layer is still possible or whether the entire film stack is melted.