The StarPulse family of lasers from Rofin-Baasel is a new generation of pulsed YAG rod welding lasers with power ratings from 40W to 500W. Precision welding of delicate components is achieved using the accurately controlled low end pulse peak power of 10W. With up to 20kW of pulsed peak power available, high quality welding on highly reflective materials such as aluminium and copper up to 2.0mm thick can be achieved at high processing speeds.
The new Rofin Control Unit ( RCU ) employs Double Closed Loop principles which guarantee excellent pulse to pulse repeatability with <1% variation even at lowest pulse energies. This pulse stability together with outstanding intra pulse control, which is unaffected by reflections from the work piece, means that precisely controlled pulses of only a few mJ of pulse energy can be used to weld extremely thin wires of 50µm diameter or to produce seam welds in thin section metal parts.
The Double Closed Loop also allows optimisation of the SHADOW* principals ( a quasi continuous wave welding process ) to the user's application. Using this technique, the weld seam is produced by a single laser pulse at a high traverse speed. This principal is particularly suitable for micro welding applications, providing high process stability and reducing thermal strain when compared to spot welding.
*SHADOW is a trademark of the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen