Title

Welding of polymers using a 2 mu m thulium fiber laser

Authors

Authors

I. Mingareev; F. Weirauch; A. Olowinsky; L. Shah; P. Kadwani;M. Richardson

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Opt. Laser Technol.

Keywords

Polymer welding; Fiber laser; Laser materials processing; Optics; Physics, Applied

Abstract

Absorber-free transmission and butt-welding of different polymers were performed using thulium fiber laser radiation at the wavelength 2 mu m. The relations between the laser process conditions and the dimensions and quality of the seam were investigated by means of optical and phase-contrast microscopy. Mechanical properties of the weld joints were studied in tensile strength tests. Laser-welded polyethylene samples revealed a tensile strength of greater than 80% of the bulk material strength. Transmission welding of different polymer combinations featured the formation of different joint classes depending on the spectral properties. The experiments demonstrate new application areas of mid-IR fiber laser sources for materials processing. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Optics and Laser Technology

Volume

44

Issue/Number

7

Publication Date

1-1-2012

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

2095

Last Page

2099

WOS Identifier

WOS:000305371800017

ISSN

0030-3992

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