When Theodore Maiman completed the first laser in May 1960, he could not have imagined the triumphant progress this effect based on “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation” (LASER for short) would take. Today, it is impossible to imagine our world without the laser. As a laser pointer, it generates a well-focused intense beam of light; in medicine, it helps with eye operations; and in industrial production, it enables the processing of almost all materials as well as the manufacture of components using the least amount of material. The almost inexhaustible range of applications of currently available and new laser sources confirms the important role of lasers in adding value to industry and lays the foundation for new laser applications.

The Laser World focuses on Dresden in November

Specialist experts from all over the world will report on the latest developments, prospects and applications of laser technology, including Additive Manufacturing, at the combined Laser Symposium and ISAM 2023 conference. From the end of November to the beginning of December, their focus at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden will be on the use of lasers in industrial production and increasing value creation. The organizer of the industry meeting for laser users is Fraunhofer IWS, which supports customers and partners from industry and science with decades of experience as an innovation driver and ensures the transfer of laboratory-scale research results to industrial applications.

Inventive Spirit as a Driver for Sound Laser Research

Building on successful industrial implementations in the past, Fraunhofer IWS researchers are currently working, for example, on solutions for the energy transition, in which several laser processes are integrated into one process chain. “Using a roll-to-roll process, we want to revolutionize the production of bipolar plates for fuel cells,” emphasizes Prof. Christoph Leyens, director of the Dresden Institute. “We have expressed the goal of producing ready-to-use bipolar plates within one second in a continuous process. This is only possible by means of fast, flexible, and highly accurate process steps. Laser-based joining and cutting provide important contributions to productivity for this purpose.” The Dresden researchers are also demonstrating a great deal of inventiveness in the application-oriented further development of dynamic beam shaping in welding and cutting. Precisely applied energy is capable of significantly improving the quality of weld seams and cut edges. This capability also provides the basis for a robust industrial process in laser hardening. With the help of a thermal field controller developed at Fraunhofer IWS, the hardening result can reach a uniform quality even for complex component geometries. “All of our laser processes increasingly generate large amounts of data that we want to record and process online for quality control downstream or for process monitoring and control. This requires data separation and its fast processing,” explains Leyens. “We are therefore applying artificial intelligence methods to make the best possible use of the potential inherent in our data treasure trove.”

Laser Ensures Products Suitable for Industrial Use with Additive Manufacturing

Lasers are also used in Additive Manufacturing as an energy source for industrial-grade products: both for the production of filigree structures and for large-volume components. ISAM 2023 will showcase the latest research and development results for products that can be manufactured with high quality and reliability only thanks to close-knit process control. “Whether in powder bed or powder and wire die-based processes: Reliable information about the current state of hardware components and the prevailing process conditions currently still pose major challenges. However, they also offer a huge opportunity to take additive manufacturing processes to the next level,” estimates Prof. Frank Brückner, Technology Area Manager Additive Manufacturing and Surface Technology at Fraunhofer IWS. At the ISAM 2023 conference, exciting contributions from different industries such as medical engineering, aerospace, energy technology, and mechanical engineering will be presented. For example, biomimetic approaches enable the transfer of nature-inspired functionalities into technical applications. Diversified process chains allow the adaptation to economic, agile, and resilient production capacities. The combined Laser Symposium and ISAM 2023 conference will offer a broadly diversified international audience a cutting-edge selection of topics in Additive Manufacturing in the context of decarbonization, novel material concepts, process qualification, and digitalization along the entire process chain, and a variety of other topics.

About Laser Symposium and ISAM

The combination of Laser Symposium and ISAM in a joint conference provides a unique platform for the exchange of ideas and networking of science with industry.

Laser Symposium brings together the world’s leading laser experts, end users, and newcomers from industry and academia. Focusing on the latest laser developments and their suitability for industrial applications, it provides an ideal platform for scientific and technical exchange on various aspects of laser material processing.

The International Symposium on Additive Manufacturing (ISAM) highlights the latest developments and challenges in additive manufacturing as it becomes increasingly important for industrial applications. Fascinating technical solutions paired with exciting economic benefits act as powerful drivers for global research and development.

More information: https://www.lasersymposium.de/