A

SEMINAR REPORT

ON

LASER BEAM WELDING OF PLASTIC

SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT FOR SEMINAR [ME – 403] COURSE

BY

DEEPA RAM
(201IUME1498)

UNDER GUIDANCE OF

Prof. Gopal Agrawal

Dr. G.D. Agrawal
Dr. Gunjan Soni

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MALAVIYA NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY JAIPUR
J.L.N. MARG, JAIPUR-302017

SEPTEMBER 2014
 © Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, 2014 All
rights reserved.

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, I express my deep sense of gratitude and respect to Dr. G. D.
Agrawal, Associate Professor; Dr. Gopal Agrawal, Associate Professor and Dr. Gunjan
Soni, Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering, MNIT Jaipur for their
invaluable comments, editorial help, and overall support in the completion of this seminar
report.

Last but not least, I am especially indebted to my parents for their love, sacrifice and
support. I wish to express my deep gratitude to all those who extended their helping hands
towards me in various ways during compilation of this report. And all the members of
Department of Mechanical Engineering, MNIT Jaipur.

(Deepa Ram Suthar)

2011UME1498

ABSTRACT
.

“The laser was invented in 1960…. So new was the tool that our thinking had not
caught up with the possibility” William M. Steen. New possibilities are still arising as a

iii
consequence and cause of the laser's increasing reliability, decreasing price and the
diversification of laser characteristics.
The demand for consumer goods, namely, food and medical products, to be
conveniently packaged in plastic materials in order to preserve quality and hygiene, is
constantly increasing, as are the number of packaging styles and materials.

The replacement of traditional tools, used to cut or weld in the plastic packaging
industry (hot knives, ultrasonic heads or hot air), by laser tools, can be justified by the
increase in the reproducibility of the process (no tool wear), simplicity of processing moving
parts (no need to `stop and start a production lines) and increase in productivity moving the
laser beam over the material faster than the mechanical counterpart. Not to mention the well-
known general advantages of laser materials processing, as a non-contact, non-contaminant
process, flexible and easy to control and automate.

The first few communications on plastic welding by laser appeared in the literature in
1972, welds of low-density polyethylene sheets up to 1.5mm thick were achieved with a
100W CO2 laser at speeds of 10mms~1. However, it has been during the last decade that
research in this subject has seen greater development, regarding increasing speed, new laser
sources mathematical modelling and industrial applications. It is very likely that much more
proprietary industrial work has been done, but not published. The component-conserving and
clean process offers numerous advantages and enables welding of sensitive assemblies in
automotive, electronic, medical, human care, food packaging and consumer electronics
markets. Diode lasers are established since years within plastic welding applications

Table of Contents

iv
 Title Page……………………………………………………………………….. (i)
Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………….... (iii)
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………..(iv)
Table of Contents………………………………………………………………. (v)
List of Figures…………………………………………………………………... (vi)
List of Tables.…………………………………………………………………... (vii)
List of Abbreviation……………………………………………………………. (viii)

1. Introduction……..……………………………………………………………….. 1

2. Laser Plastic Welding……………………………………………………………. 6

2.1 Fundamentals of laser welding of plastics
2.2 Lasers used for welding plastics
2.3 Welding of plastics of the same type 2.4
Joining of dissimilar plastics
2.5 Welding of plastics of the same type
2.6 Advantage
2.7 Application

3. Hybrid Technologies of Laser Welding of Plastics………….………….……….22

3.1 Hybrid Laser Welding
3.2 Laser welding of plastics to other materials

4. Fibre Laser Welding Assisted by Solid Heat Sink……….……………………..28

4.1 Principle of the welding method
4.2 Choice of infrared radiation source
4.3 Results

5. Quality and Process Control ………………………………….………………….32

5.1 Quality Control
5.2 Process Monitoring Methods
5.3 Cost Comparison
5.4 Boosting Efficiency

6. CONCLUSION………………………………………...………………………… 49

REFERENCES….…...…………………………………………………………… 51

v
 LIST OF FIGURES

Sr. No. Title of Figure Page Number

1.1 World’s demand for selected constructional 2
materials (Hyla 2004)
2.1 The Process of Transmission Laser Welding 6
2.2 Method of Welding Plastic Component 8
2.3 Assembly of Automobile Light 17
2.4 Material Compatibility 17
3.1 Equipment for Light Laser Welding using 24
Nd:YAG or CO2 laser
3.2 Hybrid Welding Equipment by LPKF Company 26
4.1 Principle of novel infrared radiation welding 29
procedure with a transparent heat sink
4.2 Transmission Spectra of Plastics 30
5.1 Galvo pyro combination 33
5.2 Melt Collapse 35
5.3 Reflection Diagnosis Concept 36
5.4 Camera view of flaw 37
5.5 Cycle Time Comparison 39

vi
 LIST OF TABLES

Sr. No. Title of Table Page Number

2.1 Comparison with Bonding 11
2.2 Main technical characteristics of the individual 12
lasers used for welding plastics
2.3 Weld-ability of different plastics 15

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

Sr. No. Abbreviation Full Form

1 DPSS Diode Pumping Solid State
Laser
2 LFTPC Long Fibre Reinforced

vii
 Thermoplastic Composites
3 PS Poly styrene
4 ABS acrylonitrile butadiene
styrene
5 PMMA polymethyl methacrylate
6 Nd : YAG Laser Neodymium-Doped Yttrium
Aluminium Garnet
7 LPKF LPKF Laser & Electronics
AG
8 TTIR Through Transmission
Infrared Laser
9 LASER Light Amplification By
Stimulated Emission Of
Radiation

viii
 1. Introduction

Plastic materials form such a large and varied group, characterised by so wide a range
of properties that it is now normal to call them ‘mass material’. It is difficult to conceive of
plastics being substituted for by other materials. In certain circumstances, this group of
materials is a substitute for traditional materials, such as steels and non-ferrous metals. The
high level of experience that is associated with current methods of manufacture of
semifabricates in plastic materials provides designers with unlimited possibilities to produce
new products, often of complicated shapes. Modern bonding methods, such as laser-welding,
make it possible to widen the range, and this in turn, gives a chance to free selection of shape
to be made, and properties of new product to be developed.

The constantly growing utilisation of plastics in the industry creates new possibilities
for constructional solutions, lowering of cost and mass of fabricates, and also for the rising of
durability levels, resistance to corrosion and action of many chemical agents (Hyla 2004). All
of the above listed factors lead to call for more plastics and for their participation in the
world’s production of constructional materials to rise at a high rate (see Figure). Over1000
various types of such materials are currently available on the world markets. From the point
of view of bulk, they constitute over half of the production of steels. According to data
produced in 2000, the use of these materials in the world in 1993 amounted to 90 m tons. It
rose in 1999 to about a 100 m, and is expected to reach over 120 m tons by 2020 (Zuchowska
2000).

In line with the popularisation of plastics as constructional materials comes the

development of bonding methods and the provision for selection of welding techniques
correct from the point of view of the level of yield and the economy of bonding.

The need for effective and reliable bonding methods and requirements for improved
quality of products are undoubtedly reasons for the development of new processes of bonding
plastics (Boron 2000), which also include laser-welding. Not only does this method provide
high efficiency, the highest possible levels of quality and strength of bonds, but also the
maintenance of high manufacturing precision and cleanliness of the joint area.

1
 Fig 1.1 : World’s demand for selected constructional materials (Hyla 2004).

The laser welding of plastics is the advanced technology of joining of sheets, films or
shaped components produced from polymers in heating with the focused beam of laser
radiation. Laser welding was demonstrated for the first time in the 1970s and has been
regarded for many years as an expensive process in competition with the conventional
technologies of joining of components. Nevertheless, since the middle of the 1990s, laser
technology has been widely accepted as a result of advances in the area of laser methods.

The laser welding systems are most efficient in the applications in which the welded
components require careful handling (electronic components) or sterile conditions (medical
tools, packing of food products, etc.). The very high speed of laser welding makes this
method especially valuable in applications in the assembly lines of plastic components. Laser

2
welding can also be used to join components with complicated geometry which are difficult
or impossible to weld by other methods. Engineers often note special advantages of laser
technologies which will result in the active growth of the number of industrial applications –
the absence of contact of welding equipment with the welded components; very low labour
content; the possibility of joining materials of different composition and colour; high quality
of welded joints; only slight heating of components and minimum deformation; possibility of
welding in areas of difficult access and different spatial position; simple automation and
robotization; efficient use of electric energy and filler materials; comfortable working
conditions and ecological efficiency.

Laser welding is used extensively in electronics in assembling keyboards for different

systems, mobile telephones, a large number of contact devices, etc. and also in the car
industry in the production and assembly of automatic door locks, devices for keyless access,
heating models, the bodies of transmissions, sensors of sections of engines, the bodies of the
driver cabins, the oil tanks of the hydraulic systems, filter casings and many other systems. In
medicine, laser welding is used for assembly of containers and filters for liquids, joining of
pipes, bags for patients with intestinal problems, implants and micro jet elements used for
analysis, etc. The technology of melting the edges of thin plastic films for hermetic packing
items is used widely.

Laser welding of plastics is a very ‘young’ technological process. As a result of the

development by technologists and also rapid advances in laser technology, the methods of
laser welding are being constantly improved. The authors of the present article have already
discussed this subject many times. At the same time, it is believed that the laser welding of
plastics is an independent section of laser technology and has a considerable scientific and
industrial potential. It is therefore convenient to consider separately in this article the current
state and dynamics of investigations and developments and also the prospects of this
advanced technological process.

Traditional methods of welding plastics

3
 Plastics are used as structural materials in engineering, the car industry, aviation,
instrument making, electrical engineering, shipbuilding, etc. Polymer materials are used as
films, adhesives and fibres. The process of welding of plastics consists of the formation of a
permanent joint as a result of the formation of interatomic (intermolecular) bonds between the
surface atoms of two welded components. Thermoplastics are welded using the heat of
secondary sources (gas heat carriers, heated filler material and heated tools) or by the
generation of heat inside the plastic material in conversion of different types of energy
(friction welding, high-frequency current welding, ultrasonic welding, welding with infrared
radiation, etc.). Thermosetting plastics (thermosets) are welded by the method based on the
chemical interaction between the surfaces directly or with participation of filler material (the
so-called chemical welding).

As in the welding of metals, in welding of plastics it is necessary to ensure that the

mechanical and physical properties of the material of the welded joints and the weld zone
differ only slightly from those of the parent material. The strength of the welded joints in the
plastics is greatly affected by the chemical composition, the orientation of macromolecules,
the temperature of the environment and other factors. The most widely used methods of
welding plastics include welding with a gas heat carrier with or without a filler, with an
extruded filler, contact-thermal welding, welding in a high-frequency electric field, ultrasonic
welding, friction welding, beam and chemical welding.
It is well known that not all the types of plastics can be welded. In particular, the
thermally hardened plastics (which do not melt under heat) cannot be welded. On the other
hand, thermoplastic materials (melting during heating) can be welded by a large number of
methods. It is believed that only plastics of the same type can be welded because every type
of plastic material has its own typical molecular structure and welding temperature. The
joining of plastics by welding takes place if the three constant conditions are fulfilled:
.
• Higher temperature which should reach the level of the viscous-fluid state of the
welded materials. The transition of the polymer to the viscous-fluid state should not
be accompanied by thermal degradation of the material. Every plastic melts within a
specific temperature range;
.
• Tight contact of the welded surfaces. Pressure enables the molecules of the plastics to
mix with the formation of the welded joints. The quality of the welded joint decreases

4
 when the pressure is reduced below or is higher than the optimum pressure for every
pair of materials;
.
• Optimum holding time because the plastic material requires a certain period of time
for melting and a certain period of time for cooling. It should be mentioned that the
temperature coefficient of linear expansion of plastic materials is several times higher
than that of the metals and, therefore, welding and cooling are accompanied by the
formation of the residual stresses and strains which reduce the strength of the welded
joints in the plastics. In this case, acceleration of the welding process may cause
higher stresses in the region of the welded joint.

There are a large number of systems for welding plastics on the market but no universal
welding technology is available.

2. LASER PLASTIC WELDING

5
2.1 Fundamentals of laser welding of plastics
Laser welding rightly occupies the leading position in the group of the advanced
technologies of beam welding of plastics. Special features of the laser welding processes,
resulting in very rapid introduction into various branches of industry, are the absence of direct
contact between the emitter (heat) and the welded surfaces, and also the possibility of
controlling a wide range of the heating conditions as a result of changes of radiation power,
and the heat and light absorbing capacity of the welded materials. At the present time,
transmission (penetrating) laser welding is used widely. This type of welding has a number of
significant advantages in comparison with the traditional methods of welding plastic
materials, such as vibration, contact thermal or ultrasonic welding.

Fig 2.1: The process of transmission laser welding: (1) laser beam; (2) clamping force; (3) melt;

(4) the component permeable for the laser beam and (5) heat transfer.

Transmission laser welding is based on the physical effect in which many polymers
efficiently absorb radiation in the near-infrared range. A relatively narrow wavelength range
(800—2000 nm) is used for welding.
Usually, the components to be welded are placed in a clamping device which
compresses the components together with maximum force. In the conventional device, the
material of the component which is the first to be affected by the beam is selected to ensure

6
that it transmits maximum radiation (Figure 1). The material of the second component should
be capable of absorbing laser radiation. The laser radiation beam passes through the first
(‘transparent’) component and is absorbed by the material of the second component of the
joint generating a large amount of heat. Since both the components are tightly pressed to each
other, the heat is transferred from the absorbing layer to the transmitting layer and heats both
components. The thin layers of the plastic, situated on both sides of the joint, melt, mix
together and form strong joints during cooling. The main critical process parameters are
temperature, holding time and pressure.

The energy density required for welding is associated with the temperature of the
component and the duration of the process and is determined by the laser power, the size of
the working spot of radiation on the component, the radiation time (for stationary processes)
or welding speed (in the processes with relative displacement of the components). The energy
density in this case is proportional to the radiation power and inversely proportional to the
area of the focused beam on the processed surface and the speed of travel of the beam in
relation to the surface.

If the level of laser radiation energy in the welding zone is not sufficiently high,
heating may prove to be insufficient and, correspondingly, the welded components are not
held for a sufficiently long period of time in the heated state for the formation of a strong
joint. On the other hand, in excessive heating the polymers may degrade in the joint zone
resulting in the formation of porosity, charring or burning. In practice, there is a wide range of
conditions for each specific joint in which the joints of acceptable quality form. The majority
of polymers are welded using an laser energy density in the range of 0.1– 2.0 J/mm2.
Regardless of the fact that the energy density in the welding zone can be used to characterize
the process, many authors believe that this correspondence is only conditional. The heat
transfer from the welding zone in the welding process should be taken into account and this
makes the process non-linear. This means that the application of the same energy density
results in the same quality of the welded joint. For example, at a constant size of the focused
radiation spot, doubling the radiation power usually increases the welding speed by more than
100% whereas the welding characteristics remain the same:

7
where Ew is the radiation energy supply to the welding zone; P is the laser radiation power in
the vicinity of the welding zone, and v is the speed of travel of the beam in relation to the
welded components.

In cases in which the welded plastic components are not compressed to each other or
the compression pressure is not sufficiently high, the contact between the components is not
sufficiently tight. This may result either in inefficient heat transfer from one component to the
other or in limited mutual diffusion of the polymer chains on both sides of the joints. In both
cases, the strength of the welded joint is reduced. Therefore, reliable clamping and securing
of the welded components in the weld zone is an important technical condition. The clamps

Fig 2.2 : Methods of welding plastic components: (a) with the moving object in welding; (b)
with the moving beam; (c) with the fans shaped distribution of radiation; (d)
simultaneous (synchronous) welding around the perimeter (contour) and (e) with the
scanning radiation beam.
Laser welding is used for joining components of different shapes, size and
configuration. There are several main methods of laser welding differing in the methods of
generating the forces in the range of 0.1–1.0 N/mm2 are used in most cases. Transmission
welding using Nd:YAG or diode lasers has been used to weld successfully the plastic
components more than 1mm thick at a linear welding speed greater than 20 m/min. The
welding speed in welding of films using CO2 lasers can be even higher, up to 750 m/min,

8
although technologists frequently mention the restrictions of carbon dioxide laser. relative
displacement of the welded components and the laser radiation beam (Figure 2).

At a stationary radiation beam, the components to be welded are moved to produce a

continuous joint (Figure 2(a)). In most cases, this displacement is produced using a table with
movement along one or two coordinates and can be easily programmed. This method is used
only in cases in which welding in three coordinates is not required.

The optical system for the radiation beam, supplied by the optical waveguide, or the
head of the diode laser can be installed in robotized equipment, including the three coordinate
systems of the hand. In these cases, the laser or the final element of the optical system travels
along the trajectory (the contour) corresponding to the future welded joint. In welding along
the contour, the layers are gradually welded by the laser beam which travels and melts the
material along the welded joint. In a different variant of this welding system, the components,
compressed to each other, travel in relation to the stationary laser beam. In the automatic
systems, the displacement of the laser beam is often combined with the displacement of the
components. In synchronous welding with several beams, the laser radiation from, for
example, several laser diodes is directed to the contour line of the welded joint which is to be
welded resulting in simultaneous melting and welding of the entire profile (Figures 2(b) and
(d)). One of the varieties of this welding method is based on the radiation of a single laser
split into several separate beams which are subsequently applied together on the component
to improve the strength of the effect. In some cases, it is recommended to use quasi-
synchronous welding , which is based on the combination of welding around the contour and
synchronous welding. The mirrors direct the laser beam at a high speed (at least 10 m/s) along
the component which is to be welded. The entire contour of the component is then gradually
heated and melts.

Welding with a template is slightly different. In this welding method, the laser beam is
applied to the component through a specially produced template which does not cover small,
precisely defined areas of the underlying plastic layers which will be melted and bonded.The
method can be used for producing precision joints with a high resolution, up to 10 mm.

9
 In cases in which the laser power is adequate, welding is carried out with the fan-
shaped distribution of radiation in which laser radiation is distributed in a flat diverging beam
and forms a line on the surface of the component (Figure 2(c)). During welding, the beam or
the component travels in a specific direction. Masks which protect sections of the component
that should not be subjected to radiation are used in some cases. This method is often used in
two dimensional welding of small components with the complicated configuration of the
welded joint.
If it is required to produce a large number of identical short welded joints or weld
spots, it is recommended to use the matrix of diode emitters which is shaped according to the
shape of the component and assembled taking into account the number of welded joints. This
method, which is used if simultaneous laser radiation is to be applied along the entire length
of the joint, is usually automated. This is carried out using basic equipment for ultrasonic
welding in which laser technology efficiently replaces the ultrasonic process in the
technology of joining components sensitive to vibrations and where high-quality welded
joints are to be produced. The technology of simultaneous welding permits both two
dimensional and three-dimensional configuration. A particular advantage of this method of
laser welding is the larger allowance for the welding operation.
The laser radiation beam in welding with scanning (Figure 2(e)) is deflected by two
orthogonal mirrors controlled by the direction of propagation of the beam in space. The
working zone in the systems of this type has the transverse dimensions from 50 x 50 to 1000
x 1000mm in two-dimensional welding. Generally speaking, the main problem when
increasing the treatment area is the appropriate increase in the difference of the working path
of the laser beam so that it is necessary to ‘under focus’ the beam. An efficient method of
coordinating the focusing of the beam in different areas of the treated surface is the
application of several scanning optical systems, and the combination of the systems increases
the length of the treatment zone. As in simultaneous welding, these welded joints overlap the
entire joint zone and are characterized by high shrinkage of the material and potentially larger
welding allowances.

Table 2.1: Comparison with Bonding

10
2.2 Lasers used for welding plastics

11
 Several main types of lasers are used in industry for welding of plastics at the present
time. These include CO2 lasers, solid-state lasers (with lamp or diode pumping) and fibre
lasers. Recently, high-power diode lasers have also been used widely in certain areas of
production.

Table 2.2: main technical characteristics of the individual lasers used for welding plastics

CO2 lasers are used at a wavelength of 10.6 mm in the infrared range. Usually, these
lasers generate a beam of highly collimated radiation with a diameter from several
millimetres to several centimetres. A significant shortcoming of the CO2 lasers (like of any
gas laser) is the low efficiency (the radiation power, related to the electrical power in
pumping) resulting in high production costs. The second shortcoming of the powerful gas
lasers is their large dimensions. Both factors introduce a number of restrictions on use in the
actual technological process. In addition to this, the radiation of CO2 lasers cannot be sharply
focused because of the multimode structure and large wavelength of radiation (laser radiation
of the majority of lasers) and, therefore, equipment based on CO2 lasers is used mainly for
welding of films.

The collimated radiation beam at the exit of the solid state lasers, where the pumping
of radiation from the lamp or a group of light diodes is focused injected into the laser bar or
discs, has the wavelength in the near-infrared region (usually 1.064 mm) and is transferred to
the treatment area through the light waveguide. The solid-state lasers with lamp pumping are
characterized by the relatively low efficiency and, in addition to this, the pumping lamps
require regular and relatively frequent replacement. This greatly increases the service costs.
Nevertheless, the commercial technologies of welding using these lasers have been developed
quite extensively. The lasers with diode pumping (DPSS) have a considerably higher
reliability, longer service periods and the low cost of materials and components. However, the

12
initial price of these lasers is slightly higher and this requires higher initial investment and
actually equalizes the service costs of the solid-state lasers of both types.

The fibre lasers with doping the active substance with rare-earth elements generate
radiation with the single wavelength in the range of 1.0–2.1 mm. Usually, fibre lasers are
quite small and the active element can be cooled by water. Taking into account the large
amount of data obtained in recent years, the optimum possibilities of fibre lasers are used in
particular in welding plastic materials, including precision welding and welding of films and
fabrics. As regards the concept, the fibre lasers resemble solid-state lasers with diode
pumping, with the only difference being that the role of the laser medium is played by the
optical waveguide. The single-mode fibre lasers are capable of generating the radiation beam
at the same wavelength and similar power as the DPSS lasers. A particular advantage of these
lasers in comparison with the solid-state generators is that they generate a sharply directed
beam which can be simply focused into a very small spot.

A number of important developments in the last decade in the area of diode laser
technology expanded the possibilities of laser welding and also greatly changed the economic
parameters of these processes. Consequently, the diode lasers of the new generation are
replacing conventional sources of laser radiation in many industrial technologies, including
welding. The diode lasers are characterized by the compact form, the relatively low initial
price and service costs, high efficiency (up to 60% on the emitter) and a large number of
variants of the radiation wavelength (e.g., 405, 640, 790–1060 and 1450 nm, which is
convenient in welding different types of plastics). On the other hand, as a result of the
relatively simple design of the resonator, the laser diodes do not have a facility for efficient
adjusting of the radiation beam, which results in low coherence and a wide radiation spectrum
(sharper focusing of the beam is not possible), and also the resultant short working distances .

The efficiency of the laser is the ratio of the emitted power to the power required by the laser
in the standard mode, the quality of the beam (Table 1) is the possibility of sharper focusing
of radiation with a high power density in the working spot.

2.3 Welding of plastics of the same type

13
 Laser welding of two identical or similar (as regards chemical composition) plastics is
a widely used technological process, especially if it is necessary to produce high-quality
joints with high productivity. In many cases, laser technology is the result of optimization of
the technology of joining and selecting the material. In transition from the traditional welding
technologies to laser treatment, it is often necessary to change the materials and this may
result in considerably lower costs in comparison with the conservative process. For example,
in analysis of the production problems, the experts of Barkston Plastics Engineering (the
wellknown British producer of unique elastic components) noted the low repeatability of the
characteristics of a series of propylene bags for the storage of liquid chemical reagents in
lithographic equipment for the production of printed boards. In the technology used by the
company, these bags were assembled by manual gas welding.

As an alternative to traditional welding, transmission laser welding was selected

in the modernized process. In designing new technology, it was important to take into account
two essential requirements: the strength of the joint should not be lower than in standard gas
welding, and the joint should be leak tight. Previously, the bags were produced from natural
polypropylene. To increase the technological parameters of the new process, including laser
welding, the edges of the end sheets were produced as previously from the same
polypropylene which is transparent to laser radiation in the near-infrared region of the
spectrum, whereas the transverse sections of the bags are pressed from polypropylene sheets
which efficiently absorb laser radiation. The welded joints, produced by the new technology,
have the same strength as those produced by the standard technology – no failures were
detected in the welded joints in both cases. The new process greatly simplifies the design of
the transverse sections and produces efficiently leak tight joints. Subsequently, the process
was automated and introduced into the production cycle.

At the present time, the bags are welded by a robot of Motoman company with six
degrees of freedom, controlled by a diode laser manufactured by Laserlines. The components
are secured and compressed using a ring shaped sliding clamp controlled by a pneumatic
drive.

Laser welding of identical plastics showed the highest efficiency in lap welding of
thermoplastic films.

14
 The application of laser radiation for joining the reinforced thermoplastic composites
offers new possibilities for overcoming the shortcomings of the traditional technologies. In
this case, laser welding is ecologically clean because no chemical additions or adhesives are
required. The accuracy, flexibility of laser technology and also the high-quality welded joints
are already utilized in a large number of industrial applications.Laser transmission welding
has been introduced in the industry in the manufacture of thermoplastic composites with short
fibres, where the laser efficiently replaces welding with a hot air jet. Of special interest in
recent years has been the possibility of welding reinforced composites with the long fibre
structure (long fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites LFTPC – thermoplastics with the
fibre length greater than 6 mm). The authors of developed technical fundamentals of laser
technology utilizing the natural properties of the material. The new technology is based on the
layer welding and the mechanical characteristics of the welded joints were determined. The
test results show that laser welding is a superior and highly promising technology for joining
many combinations of materials used in the automobile and aviation industries and is
characterized by considerably better ecological parameters and safety of the processes in
comparison with the conventional adhesive bonding technologies.

Table 2.3: Weldability of different plastics

2.4 Joining of dissimilar plastics

Transmission laser welding differs only slightly from other welding processes in
joining of the different combinations of dissimilar plastics. Many authors have noted that the

15
dissimilar plastics cannot be welded with high quality. Nevertheless, there are also exceptions
from this rule. One of them is the technology of melting sections of rear lights of vehicles
where the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) lenses are joined to the body made of
acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) by the contact method. The results of introduction of
laser welding in assembling of identical sections have also been published (Figure 3).
Dissimilar combinations which can be welded should be chemically compatible and also have
similar glass transition temperatures (amorphous polymers) or similar melting points
(polycrystalline polymers). Table 2 gives the data for welding dissimilar plastics. It may be
seen that the materials not listed in Table 2 can be welded usually only to the plastics of the
same type.

Almost all thermoplastics and thermoplastic elastomers can be laser welded. Some
structural plastics, such as polyphenyl sulphide and liquid crystal polymers, are difficult to
weld by laser welding because of low permeability for laser radiation. In order to make the
lower layer capable of absorbing the energy of laser beams, carbon soot is often added to
these layers. Laser welding is used to join both non-saturated polymers and also polymers
reinforced with glass fibres. Lasers can be used for welding coloured plastics but the
permeability for laser beams decreases with an increase the concentration of the dye or
pigment.
Many authors have published tables of the weldability of dissimilar plastics. The most
detailed results for laser welding are found in the tables of regularly updated website
www.laserplasticwelding.com maintained by the enthusiasts and professionals in laser
welding technology.

16
Fig 2.3 : Assembly of the automobile light (by the method of laser welding using a glass sphere

which focuses the laser beam and also acts as the clamping device).

17
 Fig 2.4 : Material Compatibility Chart

2.5 Welding of transparent plastics

Until recently, in the introduction of welding technology it was necessary to use

standard materials, and in the majority of cases both welded materials were visually non
transparent. The technological restriction of transmission laser welding – the upper layer
(component) should be transparent to laser radiation – and the lower layer – should absorbs
laser radiation, considerably limited the design possibilities. In transition to laser technology,
this usually included the change of the material to a suitable material or addition of a dye to
the plastic to increase its absorptivity. At the same time, for example, in the medical industry,
today are a large number of tasks in which one or frequently both welded components should
be transparent. This circumstance has greatly restricted the areas of application of laser
technology. Therefore, in many processes of this type it has been necessary to develop a
welding technology without using additional absorbing materials. However, such materials
are either very expensive or have different colour shades which are not acceptable in
components.

A breakthrough in the welding of transparent plastic was made by the British company TWI
which reported the development of a new technology in a patent in 2003. Clearweld
Technology is based on the application of plastic materials with a high absorptivity as the
laser radiation wavelength (and at the same time the minimum absorptivity in the visible
range of the spectrum). This approach can be used to produce welded joints with the
minimum effect on the external appearance of the component, and offers considerable
flexibility in the selection of materials and colours. The absorbing material is represented by
an additional coating or the lower layer of the welded pair.

Many systems of pair plastics with the selection of appropriate colours providing
further possibilities for designers have been developed. The only condition in the pair is the
coincidence of the visual colour and the large difference in the absorptivity of the radiation
wavelength of the working laser. The very first application of the method was welding of two

18
visually black materials; at the present time, a large number of systems of pairs, including
white materials, are available. The project Poly Bright awarded to the scientific and research
organizations of the European Community countries has been formulated for detailed
investigations of laser welding of polymers and for the development of technological
conditions of high speed and flexible industrial laser technologies. The key aspect of the
project is the extensive application of the fibre lasers with the power of up to 500W which
can be used to optimize not only the thermal parameter of the welding process but also the
wavelength to increase the efficiency and speed in welding and the quality of the joint.
New laser welding systems have been developed, the resolution of technology has been
improved by using dynamic masks in high-frequency scanning systems for transporting and
focusing the beam.

The experimental results show that the most promising results in laser technology can
be obtained by selecting laser radiation with the wavelength at which the welded plastics have
the required properties.

The latest technology and prospects for laser welding without absorption of radiation
on the example of the components of transparent PMMA polymer films using the accurate
selection of the wavelength of laser radiation and radiation techniques have been published in
research.
Regardless of the completely different physical principle of welding, the authors have
managed to obtain the highest technological parameters of the process. The welding speed
reached up to 100mm/s at the laser radiation wavelength of 1550, 1700 and 1908 nm. The
best spectrometric results have been obtained at the radiation wavelength of approximately
1700 nm which is used by many fibre lasers. To supply the radiation to the weld boundary of
the transparent materials, the authors developed a special lens optical system in which the
focal point is situated at the interface with high geometrical accuracy.

2.6 Advantage:
1. Lower Joining Cost
2. Minimal Part Stress
3. Joint Strength
4. 3d & Complex Shapes
5. No Particulate Development

19
 6. Precision
7. Aesthetically Pleasing Weld
8. Weld Different Material
9. Process Monitoring

2.7 Application

Nearly two decades old, laser plastic welding is gradually gaining a foothold in the
plastics joining universe. It started out as a niche welding method providing specialized welds
for cutting edge applications that could not be joined by traditional methods. Today the
technique is becoming more widely used.
Plummeting costs of laser sources and I higher demand for the systems themselves are
driving the cost to adopt laser welding down. In fact, the cost of a standard laser welding
system is now on par with traditional methods such as ultrasonic and hot plate welding.
Currently you can find the majority of applications in three major industries:
automotive, medical and consumer products. However, with the cost barrier alleviated, laser
plastic welding is beginning to look more attractive to wider range of applications and
industries.

AUTO MEDICAL

CONSUMER

Automotive
The automotive industry created the foundation for laser welding. The original use
was welding housings for electronic components. A simple task, but as electronics become
more prevalent in cars (approaching 35% of the total cost of a vehicle) protecting those
electronics is becoming increasingly important.
A stress free, reliable and highly monitored process allows for tightly sealed housings,
with no additional material costs and a near perfect reject rate. The high volume applications
in the automotive industry clearly benefit from such a process.

20
 The flexibility of laser welding does not stop there. Through the use of robots, laser
welding was able to expand its abilities in the automotive industry to include lamp welding.
Clean, strong joints have been sought after for automotive lamp assembly ever since plastics
replaced glass for exterior lighting. Laser welding is a stress free process and clean,
aesthetically appealing joints are easily achieved. But, possibly even more important is its
ability to work on large, free-form shapes with complex curves, a vice of most traditional
welding methods.
Other applications in the automotive industry include welding of instrument panels,
keyless entry remotes and even fuel tanks.

Medical
The medical device industry is quickly growing, requiring joining of plastic devices
ranging from catheters to microfluidic devices. The surgical nature of laser plastic welding
makes it well suited to handle the delicate devices and precision joining.
Besides hermetic seals and a high precision requirement, medical devices often
require perfectly clean joints. This task is often difficult for other joining methods. Adhesives
can cause contamination, especially at the micro level where many of these devices are
operating and traditional welding methods such as ultrasonic and vibration leave dust-like
particulates behind that can also contaminate the device.

Consumer
The consumer products industry is a large one, but as of yet it still lags behind
automotive and medical. The main reason for this is because typically consumer products do
not require the specialized needs of laser plastic welding (precision, clean joints, stress free
welds, etc.) or if they do, it is not to a degree that other welding methods cannot
accommodate.

However, as laser welding systems become less capital intensive it is likely that
adoption will increase in this industry. Consumer products are often at high enough volumes
that they will benefit from the low production costs associated with laser welding. Also, as
consumer electronics become smaller the precision and low-stress capabilities will become
increasingly attractive.

21
 3.Hybrid technologies of laser welding of plastics

3.1 Hybrid Laser Welding

In addition to the large number of advantages of laser welding, there are also a number
of restrictions associated with the requirements on the optical properties of the welded
components. The laser beam should be absorbed by the second (in the direction of movement
of the beam) welded component and, consequently, the dye (for example, soot) must often be
added to the composition of the component. This addition results in the black (or some other
dark) colour, which is not always permissible.

One of the possibilities of avoiding the use of special absorbents is the introduction of
a layer of a light absorbing substance into the zone between the welded components (the
socalled welding method using intermediate layers). In this case, the laser beam is absolved
exclusively by the intermediate layer with the generation of thermal energy. Heat transfer
results in the plastification of the surface areas of the welded components which are in contact
with the intermediate layer. These layers can be in the form of a film containing light-
absorbing dyes or pigment. As shown by the experimental results , the intermediate film
layers, pigmented with soot, ensure strong bonding of the components and the welded
components are optically transparent. The shortcoming of this variant is the additional cost
associated with the use of the intermediate film. In addition to this, in certain conditions it is
necessary to carry out an additional treatment of the intermediate film in order to ensure that
its configuration is in agreement with that of the welded joints. This is associated with
considerable difficulties if the geometry of the welded joint is complicated. Therefore, it is
desirable to produce welded components, containing the appropriate light-absorbing zones, in
a single-stage process.

An important improvement in this area is the combination of the methods of

twocomponent casting under pressure and laser welding. The light-absorbing material, used
as the second component, is deposited in the form of a thin layer on the surface of one of the
welded components by injection into a mould. Although this technology is associated with

22
additional expenditure on equipment and casting moulds, it does make it possible to produce
high-quality components in a single cycle of casting under pressure (using laser welding) and
no additional materials are required.
Specimens were welded by welding around the contour using welding equipment in
which the radiation source was a laser with a semiconductor diode (LDF 400-90 model) of
the company Laserline GmbH with the maximum output power of 80W and the radiation
wavelengths of 940 nm. The laser beam is supplied to the components using a fibre light
guide. Optical equipment was assembled on the basis of a RV-4Asix-axis robot (Mitsubishi
Electric) in which the laser beam can be moved along the required trajectory of the welded
joint. The diameter of the beam in the welding zone is 1.5 mm.

In Research it was established that even a small amount of soot results in distinctive
colouring of the weld zone in the components (they become black). As a result of the
optimization of the weld zone of the components and selective injection of the light-absorbing
material, the size of the black sections can be greatly reduced. For example, when only
0.025% of soot is added to the absorbing material, the welded joint can be clearly observed,
and at a small thickness of the layer the natural colour of the absorbent is difficult to
distinguish. Since the consumption of the relatively expensive dye is very low, this factor is
very important, especially in the manufacture of large components. The reduction in the
amount of the absorbent to the thin intermediate layer makes it also possible to eliminate the
problems associated with the formation of the large zone of the thermal effect because this
zone is bounded by the light-absorbing layer and by the sections of the light-permeable
components in the immediate vicinity.Thus, the two-component technology can be used to
produce strong, almost completely transparent welded joints.
Problems in the organization of operations in the welding of polymers are associated
with the selectivity of the optical properties of these materials as regards laser radiation, and
also with the high price of laser equipment. Consequently, it is important to find new
methods. One of the possible solutions is the development of welding methods combining
two heating sources. In particular, in Research it was proposed to use a hybrid heat source for
welding consisting of a polychromatic light emitter and a monochromatic laser source. The
description of this method of welding polymath is also the aim of this study. The system was
used previously with considerable success for hybrid light laser welding of thin metals

23
 Taking into account the fact that the fixed wavelengths of the lasers (0.8, 1.06 and
10.6mm) are not always sufficiently absorbed in the volume of the polymer materials
resulting in restrictions of laser welding, and the radiation of the wide-band polychromatic
lamplight source overlaps the transmission spectrum of many polymath, gas discharge
metallic dismountable lamps with an internal reflector have been proposed for use as the
source of auxiliary power for polychromatic radiation. The efficiency of laser light
technologies depends on the spectral and geometrical parameters of the polychromatic source
of radiation. As a result of the application of the non-traditional output window in the light
gas-discharge lamp, the radiation power has been increased 1.7 times, and the radiation
spectrum has been widened to 0.2– 0.6 mm. The size of the working spot in the focal plane is
2–4 mm, and the power density in the heating spot is higher than 104 W/cm2.

The combined effect of coherent laser radiation and the focused radiation of a
powerful polychromatic light emitter results in the formation of a heat source in the polymer
whose spatial distribution is determined by the superposition of the radiation fluxes from the
laser and the light emitter. The selected circuit (Figure 4) is used for light laser heating, and
the mutual position of the laser and light focal spots on the component is varied. The
combination of the two heat sources has been used to develop the following welding
techniques:

24
 Figure 3.1 : Equipment for light laser welding using Nd:YAG or CO2 lasers in combination with
powerful monochromatic radiation sources: (1) laser (CO2 or Nd:YAG); (2) polychromatic light
source; (3) welded components; (4) temperature substrate and (5) welded joint.

• with preheating of the polymer components to be welded using a

polychromatic radiation source for subsequent welding;
• quasi-spot welding using a pulsed periodic Nd:YAG laser and a lamp heat
source;
• Joining of polymer materials of different thickness with minimum
deformation in welding through a template.

The power of laser radiation, required for producing the welded joint, is
approximately 50% lower than in welding without lamp heating, the welding speed is several
times higher than in welding with laser radiation only and the reliability of the hermetic joints
in the polymers is higher.

Similar results were obtained and presented at the International Exhibition of Plastics
and Rubber ‘K’ in 2007 by LPKF company specializing in welding of polymers. The method
combines laser radiation with infrared radiation with a wide spectrum and is used mostly for
efficient welding of large plastic components of complicated shapes in the car industry. Prior
to introducing this process components of complicated shapes were difficult or impossible to
weld together. When using traditional laser or other welding methods the quality of welded
joints was relatively low. New patented hybrid systems manufactured by LPKF represent
significant achievements in this direction (Figure 5). In this technology, welding equipment
combines the laser radiation beam and the thermal radiation beam generated by conventional
halogen lamps. This superposition of the beams results in a large increase in the speed of both
two and three-dimensional welding. It should be mentioned that the development of light
laser welding technology is a natural result of investigations in the direction of increasing the
efficiency and utilizing the technological possibilities of lasers. The website of the LPKF
company reports on patents for the latest equipment for hot laser riveting – a technology
which combines laser welding with riveting.

25
 As reported by the LPKF company, the method is contactless and retains all
advantages of laser technology, including ecological efficiency. High-quality welded joints
are produced in pairs which were previously regarded as unweldable, for example, welding of
components of toxic and heat-resistant polychlorinated diphenyls to plastic body components.

Figure 3.2 : The two-beam equipment for hybrid welding by LPKF company.

Laser welding of plastics to other materials

3.2 Laser welding of plastics to other materials

Modern science and technology in many branches of industry are oriented to the
development of very light structures having also higher strength. In many cases, this result
can be obtained by the manufacture of hybrid components, including plastic and metallic
elements.

Consequently, it is important to join such materials. One of the new approaches to

solving the problems of joining plastics and metals is laser ablation – the removal in the first
phase of the welding process of part of the surface layers of the metallic component in order
to develop a system of shallow grooves with undercut sides. In melting the plastic component
under the effect of laser radiation, the material fills the grooves in the metallic part of the

26
future combined joint. An important role in this process is played by the application of the
specialized clamping device.

The plastics can be joined with dissimilar materials by the methods of laser welding.
An important factor in this technology is that the part of the joint heated by the beam should
have a higher melting point than the plastic component used in welding. Temperature-stable
materials including, in particular, metals, ceramics, glass or heat resisting plastics. The high
density of energy in the radiation beam results in the high heating rate. In Research it
demonstrated the possibility and optimization of the parameters (the travel speed of the beam,
radiation power, and compression pressure of the welded components) of the contour laser
welding of T shaped joints in nylon 6, reinforced with 30% glass fibres.

To optimize the welding conditions, experiments were carried out to determine the
relationship between the parameters, in particular, it has been shown that the strength of the
welded joint unexpectedly decreases with an increase in clamping force. The processes of
joining components in micro technologies should satisfy special requirements associated with
mechanical or thermo mechanical loading and also with the accuracy of adjustment of these
components. In similar cases, laser radiation as the energy source satisfies almost completely
the requirements of welding of the micro components because it ensures minimum and
spotlike heat input. Investigations of different absorbents and dyes show that they can be used
in welding plastics with silicon and glass substrate. The application of microelectronic
opticalmechanical systems makes it possible to split the radiation beam and control the
distribution of the laser radiation power density in the cross section of the beam. The
precision systems of this type can be used for controlled welding of three-dimensional
components of complicated profiles of different types, and also for selective ‘healing’ of
defects in microelectronic and optical components.

27
 4.A fibre laser welding assisted by solid heat Sink

4.1 Principle of the welding method

One of authors has developed a novel welding technique for overlapped
thermoplastics without causing surface thermal damages from the point of view of heat
transfer. The principle of this infrared laser welding technique is schematically shown in
Figure. It is based on the combination of the heating due to penetrating infrared laser and the
cooling due to thermal diffusion of a heat sink. The solid heat sink transparent to the laser
placed in contact with an irradiated surface of thermoplastic plays an important role in the
system during radiation heating.

A typical temperature profile in the plastic at a certain elapsed time after laser
irradiation is also illustrated in Fig. After the radiation beam passes through a solid heat sink,
then, it penetrates into the thermoplastic (A). As the thermoplastic (A) is an absorber of the
radiation, the intensity of the radiation beam decreases exponentially in the thin layer near the
surface where the absorbed energy is then converted into heat in the thin layer. Then, the
transparent heat sink placed in contact with the surface of the thermoplastic diffusively
absorbs the thermal energy from the thermoplastic through the contact surface, because the
thermal diffusivity of solid heat sink is about 100 times larger than that of plastics. The
temperature of a thin layer near the irradiated surface is therefore suppressed from rising;
consequently the irradiated surface is restrained from thermal damage. Additionally
evaporation of some gas emitted from the damaged surface is often restrained.

28
Fig 4.1 Principle of a novel infrared radiation welding procedure with a transparent heat sink

The emergence of the temperature peaks in a certain depth inside the thermoplastic
shown in Fig. was theoretically verified. The reason is that the thermal energy due to the laser
beam arriving at a little deeper region from the irradiated surface cannot diffuse back to the
heat sink due to the very low thermal diffusivity of the thermoplastic compared to that of the
transparent heat sink. We can say that the thermal energy is trapped within the inside of
plastics and contributes to temperature rise in deeper region instead of the surface of plastics.
The appearance of a temperature peak suggests that an optimized welding can be initiated at
that depth. The features of this infrared laser welding procedure with a transparent heat sink
are as follows:
• The top part of the thermoplastic irradiated by a laser beam should be an absorber of
radiation light.
• The solid heat sink placed in contact with the surface of the top part of the
thermoplastic should be transparent to radiation light and should have much higher
thermal diffusivity than that of the thermoplastic to be welded.

29
 • It is not essential for the bottom part of the thermoplastic to be a strong absorber of
laser light as in the conventional TTIR welding.
• No pigmentation of thermoplastic parts is required, and no evaporated gas is emitted
from the irradiated plastic surface.
• Evaporation of gas from the plastic is restrained.

4.2. Choice of infrared radiation source

A few infrared radiation heat sources are possible to be used: a diode laser, YAG laser,
CO laser, CO2 laser and so on. A choice of laser is dependent on the optical properties of
plastics to be welded. We reported that the feasibilities of welding of polyolefin and
fluorocarbon polymer films using CO2 laser assisted by a transparent solid heat sink have
been shown in the past studies. However, it is impossible for even this procedure to weld thick
sheets (more than 0.5mm) of some ordinary engineering plastics that strongly absorb a CO2
laser in a wide region of wavelength. Therefore, sufficient laser energy cannot be supplied to
the place to be welded. In order to predict the possibility of welding using lasers it is
important to measure the transmittances of plastics in advance.

Fig.4.2 Transmittance spectra of Tested Plastic sheets

30
The infrared spectral transmittances of eight kinds of plastics such as polybutylene
terephthalate (PBT), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate (PC), polyamide 6
(PA6), polyoxymethylene (POM), polypropylene (PP), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and
polyvinyl chloride (PVC), are seen to be strongly dependent on the wavelength as shown in
Figure. The transmittances of all these plastics have very low values, at 10.6 micro-meter
(wavelength of CO2 laser).
On the other hand, these plastics have moderate transmittance and absorption for
Thulium-doped fiber laser (Tm: fiber laser), which has a emitting wavelength of 1.94 m.
Therefore, the laser energy can penetrate into the plastic. The welding with no surface damage
using the fiber laser by a novel procedure is expected as shown in Fig. If a CO2 laser is used
in this case, bubbles appear near the irradiated surface, and welding is not successful.

4.3 Results
• The overlap novel welding method using Tm: fiber laser has achieved non-thermal
damage on the surfaces for four kinds of plastics (PC, PA6, PP and PVC) often used in
manufacturing medical equipment and devices. The similar CO2 laser welding was
unsuccessful in the welding.
• The materials (PC, PP, PVC) having high transmittances require lower velocities of
laser head on the surface because of ample heat generation cannot be expected by low
absorption at the interface due to higher laser moving velocity.
• The melting temperature does not clearly influence on choice of the welding velocity.

31
 5. Quality and Process Control

5.1 Quality Control

As with other joining methods, the issue of quality control also arises in laser welding.
How can one realize during the welding process, whether a weld meets the requirements or
not and separate good parts from bad parts accordingly? How can the number of parts be
reduced by using an appropriate process control? One opportunity for a quality assessment,
which is also used in ultrasonic welding, is measuring a set path during the welding process.
Here, the welding contour is melted by the laser homogeneously and uniformly, which can be
realized by using a so-called galvo scanner that deflects the laser beam in the working plane
very quickly by two internal mirrors.

The laser beam is rapidly deflected over a programmable welding contour and the
contour is melted almost simultaneously. By pressing the upper part with a mechanical
clamping device into the molten material, a defined collapse can be measured. Given that the
joining partners are compatible and weldable, it can be assumed that if a certain collapse has
been reached within a predetermined time, the required weld quality has been achieved. If the
predetermined time-distance curve has not been met, the welding seam quality may not be
sufficient and the part can be rejected.

Another way to assess the plastic welding process qualitatively and quantitatively is
by using a remote temperature measurement. A pyrometer is used, which detects the
temperature of the molten material during the welding process. This detected temperature is a
measure for the bonding quality. Such processing heads with an integrated pyrometer in
combination with the diode laser allows a rapid control of the welding temperature and the
detection of welding defects. The advantage of a temperature control during the welding
process (so-called closedloop process) is becoming clear when the components to be welded
show a certain inhomogeneity with respect to their optical properties. Such inhomogeneity
can occur when the components are reinforced with glass fibres, for example. Density
fluctuations or various orientations of the glass fibres within the plastic lead to different
transmission and absorption properties. This, again, requires adapted laser power during the
welding process to achieve the required melting temperature. The pyrometer keeps the
melting temperature constant within certain limits by adjusting the laser power automatically.
By this online process control, the components can be processed in an optimized process

32
window. This affects the weld strength and the stability of the process positively. A defect
welding area cannot be compensated by the pyrometer control, but can be realized by a
sudden increase of the temperature signal. Such a temperature increase may have several
reasons. For instance, a contaminated surface can lead to higher absorption of laser radiation
and burning of the material. Another reason may be poor or non-existing mechanical contact
between the two welding partners. Hence the heat of the molten lower joining partner is not
absorbed by the upper part which leads to overheating. This is visible in the pyrometer signal.
Likewise, it is recognized when the required temperature is not achieved, e.g. by lack of laser
power. If the upper and lower temperature limits, defined within the software, are exceeded,
the affected components can be separated. An individual process number for each single weld
allows mapping and corresponding traceability. A combination of the above described
possibilities for process control is provided by a Galvo scanner with adapted pyrometer.

Such a combination combines the advantages of fast beam deflection by mirrors with
fast, remote temperature measurement. Since the measurement wavelength of the pyrometer
is in the range between 1800 and 2100nm, it is necessary to adapt the optical system
accordingly. By using special designed and coated optics, it is ensured that laser focus and the
pyrometer spot are congruent.

Fig. 5.1: Galvo pyro combination combines the advantage of fast beam deflection and online
process control (Source: DILAS GmbH)

33
5.2 Process Monitoring Methods
Laser plastic welding is often selected as the joining method of choice for precision
and intricacy. Many of the parts in question have high tolerances requirements, therefore, the
quality assurance and validation must be equally as precise, able to measure the tiniest
deviations from the tolerance abilities boasted by laser welding.

In itself, the process of laser plastic welding is extremely reliable and repeatable.
However, the process can be hindered by deviations in the parts to be welded. The two causes
for concern are geometric and optical deviations.

There exist five different types of process monitoring techniques for laser plastic
welding, ensuring that any part, regardless of its nuances or the variations in the part, are able
to be monitored effectively.

5.2.1 Melt-collapse Monitoring

The most robust and often used process monitoring method is collapse monitoring.
This technique makes use of the natural convergence of the joining parts as they move
together under clamping force.

Typically, parts are designed with a collapse rib, such as you see in Figure 3. This rib,
once melted and introduced to clamping pressure, will collapse. The measurement of this
collapse can be used to determine weld quality.

The laser welding process itself is highly-reliable, but deviations in part dimensions
can result in poor welds. If the two joining parts are warped, this can leave gaps. Gaps of
more than 0.05mm are known to degrade weld quality significantly.

Introducing a collapse rib that is greater in height than the part tolerances can ensure
that the distance of collapse will overcome the tolerances. Once an adequate melt-collapse is
determined in testing, parameters are entered into the system. If a part fails to fall within the
proper collapse parameters during production it will be marked for rejection and all data will
be stored for later evaluation. The device that measures the collapse is known as a linear
voltage distance transducer. It is accurate to less than 0.01mm, which is overkill as even the
most precise injection moulding processes are incapable of producing dimensional tolerances
of less than 0.02mm.

34
 Figure 5.2 – Melt-collapse

5.2.2. Pyrometer
Pyrometers measure the temperature within the welding zone. Temperature
inconsistencies are directly correlated to inconsistencies in the weld. Pre-defined upper and
lower temperature limits are developed in testing. If anomalies from burned contaminates or
inconsistent part dimensions cause the radiation to fall outside of the defined “temperature
envelope” the part will be flagged and the data stored.

Pyrometers are typically used when melt-collapse monitoring is impossible, for

example in the case of radial welding of a catheter, where pressure is created via an
interference fit and not clamp tooling.

5.2.3. Reflection Diagnosis

This method measures reflected light, but rather than measuring the intensity or
temperature this method measures the divergence of the reflected light from the surface of the
part. Parts that are correctly molded, fit together perfectly, with no gaps between them;
therefore, the only surface of the part as a whole is the upper layer surface.

35
 Parts incorrectly developed may have gaps. In such an occurrence the part would
technically have two surfaces, the surface of the upper layer and the surface of the lower
layer.

Figure 5.3 – Reflection diagnosis concept

This system is able to compare the divergence of the reflected light. Parts with gapping and,
therefore, two surfaces, are identified by two peaks of light, whereas properly fitting parts will
only reflect a single peak.

5.2.4. Burn Detection

Burn detection is used to recognize surface scorching. Scorch marks are typically
caused when the laser strikes a contaminant on the surface of the plastic, resulting in a burn.
Such burns emit radiation that is outside of the typical reflected wavelengths and can
therefore be distinguished.

Although scorch marks, usually no more than a few tenths of a millimeter across,
rarely have the capability of compromising the weld quality, they are often unacceptable for
aesthetic reasons.

5.2.5. Camera-Assisted Vision Systems

In some cases weld quality can be determined by a simple visual inspection. However, being
a manual process, this is very impractical and unreliable.

Vision systems are capable of monitoring the weld seam automatically and to a much
higher accuracy. Figure shows an example of the system detecting a visible seam

36
inconsistency. This was most likely the result of a gap or particulate hindering thermal
transfer at the weld interface.

Figure 5.4 – Camera view of a flaw

5.3 Cost Comparison: Is Laser Plastic Welding Economical?

5.3.1 Introduction

Laser plastic welding is becoming well known for its ability to join complex and
detailed parts. In fact, the technology is driving innovation for products that were once not
possible in the medical, automotive and consumer electronics industries.

However, there still exists a stigma that laser technology cannot compete
economically with other joining methods. Despite the technical advantages, the initial capital
investment of laser systems has been a stumbling block for the technology.

While there is truth in this and no laser system manufacturer will deny the higher
investment, this is only one factor; many other substantial cost factors are often overlooked.

37
5.3.2 Laser Sources Becoming More Economical
Typically the largest expense for any laser system is the laser source itself. However,
with technological advancements and widespread adoption of lasers in many fields, not just
plastic welding, the cost of laser sources have dropped significantly.

Naturally this lends to a noticeable price decrease for the overall laser system.

Although this change has yet to bring the cost of laser systems below those of other
joining methods, the heavy weight of the initial capital investment is becoming more
bearable.
Much more bearable, in fact, once other advantages of the process are realized.

5.3.3 Total Cost of Ownership

When considering the total cost of ownership it is important to understand all of the
cost factors involved in the system itself as well as process costs.

5.3.4 Laser Cost Advantages

The following is a breakdown of potential cost advantages for a laser plastic welding
system.

a) Cycle Time
Laser plastic welding is capable of very short cycle times. This does depend,
somewhat, on the laser process method (contour, scanner or simultaneous), but overall, laser
has the potential to reach cycle times comparable to ultrasonic welding.

Possibly of greater importance, laser welding does not require a time intensive
annealing or curing step, drastically reducing the overall process cycle time and the need for
additional equipment during this step.

Also of note, is LPKF’s hybrid welding process. Using halogen lamps to assist the
laser in heating the plastics, cycle-times can be reduced by up to 50%. The halogen energy
also helps soften the entire joint allowing for better part contact.

38
 Fig. 5.5: Cycle Time Comaparison

b) Maintenance
Laser systems are extremely low maintenance. A typical laser source can last 20,000
operating hours with virtually no maintenance.

Systems are designed to run full-time and can be either manually operated or
integrated into an existing automation system.

The only scheduled maintenance on a typical machine is a recommended, annual

change-out of the water filter for the laser cooler, a painless and inexpensive step.

c) Quality Assurance

Multiple process monitoring techniques give laser system users excellent quality
monitoring capabilities. Pyrometer readings, reflection diagnosis, collapse monitoring and
burn detection are tracked for each part.

Parts that fail any of the above controls can be flagged for discard. Also, data for each
part, good or bad, is stored for evaluation, allowing for process adjustments.

39
 The continuous measurements from this series of evaluation techniques lay out the
platform for Six Sigma process performance analysis.

d) Consumables

Laser welding does not require any consumables. Common consumables for other
joining methods include: adhesives, tapes, screws, rivets or filler plastics.

e) Flexibility

Switching applications for a laser system is often as simple as a quick clamp tool swap
and the loading of a new process/parameter file. This can typically be done in less than a few
hours.

f) Extra Steps Avoided

Because laser welding leaves clean joints there is no need for post-welding part
cleaning.

Also, as mentioned earlier curing and annealing steps are not required.

5.3.5 Laser Cost Disadvantages

a) Additives

Most thermoplastics are naturally transparent to infrared laser energy; therefore,

additives must be doped into the lower plastic layer to create absorptive properties.

Fortunately, the most common, and best, absorbing additive is carbon black, a cheap
additive that is already used to give plastics a black color.

40
b) Part geometries

The process of laser plastic welding requires excellent contact between the two joining
parts. Because of this, part tolerances are very strict for laser plastic welding. Warpage and
gaps in the parts can result in poor weld quality where the joint is not in adequate contact.

Although not a significant difference this may result in higher costs, as more stringent
requirements will be required of the injection molder.

5.3.6 Equivalent Cost Factors

a) Labour

Actual operation of laser systems does not require any special technical skills, once
the process software and tooling is set-up by the engineer.

Therefore, laser systems require no more man power or expertise than any other method.

In summary, laser plastic welding is well suited for high volume applications, where
process cost savings can outweigh the initial capital investment. When neither speed nor

quality can be sacrificed laser plastic welding provides an excellent solution .

5.4 Boosting Efficiency: With Laser Plastic Welding

Lasers have gained an excellent reputation for joining plastic components together.
They create very efficient joints and boast qualitative as well as economic benefits. Please see
the article on the current state-of-the-art for laser plastic welding below.

Joining plastic components is something that has exercised the minds of industrial
experts for more than half a century. The search for economical methods to join components
became urgent with the development of injection molding. And even today, the majority of all

41
plastic products still cannot do without a joining process which seals the component after
assembly.

In the early days, this was frequently done with screws, or the parts were simply
glued together. These methods are comparatively expensive and time-consuming. The
development of more economical and reliable joining techniques suitable for production lines
was given a major boost when the automotive industry began to build more and more plastic
components into their vehicles. This gave rise to the development of plastic welding.

5.4.1 High Energy Density

During metal welding, two parts are welded together by heat and pressure. The same
applies to laser plastic welding, but with one big difference: the laser energy is not usually
effective on the top surface of the component but only precisely where the welding seam is
required. How is this possible?

Because a laser works with light, the laser beam can be concentrated with lenses, and
guided by mirrors or fiber optic cables. This transmits the energy to the workpiece.

An important aspect is that not all of the laser energy becomes effective. The energy
which is beamed-in is partially reflected, partially transmitted through the component, and
partially absorbed. Only the absorbed portion of the laser energy becomes effective as it is
converted into heat. A high energy density can be achieved even with a relatively small laser
capacity. The laser beam is focused onto a point only a few micrometers in diameter. The
energy density at the focus of the laser beam can easily exceed that on the surface of the sun.

5.4.2 Different Welding Methods

In the transmission laser welding technique, the process depends on having a laser-
transparent material and a laser-absorbing material. The laser light passes through the upper
laser-transparent component with almost no absorption and melts the surface of the
underlying laser-absorbing component. The application of a precisely calculated amount of
pressure guarantees good thermal conduction so that the underside of the upper component
also melts.

42
 This principle is used in a variety of welding methods, and has led to the development of
optimal welding processes for a range of products.

In the simultaneous welding method, the whole welding seam is warmed up

simultaneously by a laser beam. This method requires very homogenous distribution of the
output density – even around corners and over changes in height. It needs the application of
several lasers or special masks and is now only used when extremely high production
volumes are involved.

The quasi-simultaneous welding technique works in a similar way, but in this case, a
laser beam runs along the contour repeatedly until the specified welding result has been
achieved. The rapid movement of the laser beam gives rise to the quasi-simultaneous
plastification of the whole welding seam. One of the advantages is that this enables the
melttravel to be controlled and can thus compensate for tolerances in the injection molded
parts being welded together.
In the contour welding technique, the laser moves relative to the component. Only a
small part of the welding seam is melted at any given time. Contour welding is particularly
good when rotation-symmetrical or very large components have to be joined together without
any melt blow-out.

5.4.3 Plastic Welding: An Innovative Joining Process

A whole range of different welding methods has been developed for production
processes. The first plastic welding technique to be developed was the hot-element method.
This was followed by the development of ultrasonic and vibration welding. Laser plastic
welding is the most modern development.

The main difference between these technologies is the way the energy is applied.

Today, the following methods are commonly used in production lines:

- Friction welding (vibration and rotation welding)

- Ultrasonic welding

- Microwave welding

- High frequency welding

- Heating-element welding

43
- Laser plastic welding.

Every method has its own special advantages and disadvantages. The selection of the
method partly depends on the properties of the plastics which are used, as well as the
application and the associated specifications.

5.4.4 Restricting the Energy Precisely to the Welding Zone

In heating-element welding, the plastic touches a heated plate. This method is

unsuitable for plastics which could stick to the heating element. Vibration welding is only
possible on components which are almost completely flat because the relative movement
between the components would otherwise cause serious damage. The process involved in
friction and ultrasonic welding automatically gives rise to the formation of particles around
the welding seam.

Laser welding suffers from hardly any of these process-related restrictions. And in
addition to the very wide range of application areas, this method also has other qualitative
advantage which makes its use even more attractive – for instance, the energy can be
restricted very precisely to the welding zone.

Modern laser welding machines are gaining more and more ground because the price
of laser sources is continuously sinking and the development of new process methods opens
up many new options. This gives rise to the continuous development of new applications.
None of the other welding methods available today can boast such a huge application
variability.

5.4.5 IN FOCUS: Large Free-form Components

Large components such as car taillights are a very challenging joining problem,
particularly when they involve difficult material combinations and visible seams. The
robotassisted LPKF TwinWeld-3D welding system combines a halogen lamp and a laser
beam to join together any type of free-form components.
The compact head sits on a robot with seven degrees of movement. No special
clamping tool is required because the necessary pressure is supplied by a special pressing

44
device attached to the head. All this means minimal tool costs and the highest welding seam
quality without any damage to the surface and the visible areas. These systems are currently
used to weld car taillights. Other large components such as solar modules and containers are
in the pipeline to utilize this technology for serial production.

5.4.6 Continuous Improvement in Cost Ratios

Modern diode and fiber lasers have lifetimes of more than 20 000 operating hours and
are guaranteed to work without any problems even in industrial conditions. The costs
compared to other methods have also improved simultaneously. This cost efficiency is
emphatically highlighted by the use of this method in the permanently cost-driven automotive
subcontracting sector – where the transmission laser welding of thermoplastics cuts a very
good figure in the total cost calculations. This has moved it from a niche application to the
technique of choice.

The laser welding of plastics reduces the amount of consumables and boasts
outstanding welding quality. Laser welding is a non-touch method which reduces the
mechanical stress on a component to an absolute minimum. The only pressure applied to the
product is the orthogonal joining pressure. And there are no vibrations which could damage
the plastic housing or harm components on the inside of the product.

It was precisely this advantage which led to the breakthrough of laser welding,
because this made it ideal for welding electronic housings of all kinds. These components
cannot be joined together by ultrasonic welding because of the damage this could cause to
electronic components. Screwing or gluing is expensive – which means that laser welding is
the obvious choice.

And because laser welding is hygienic and boasts very high levels of process safety, it is also
optimal for applications in the medical sector.

5.4.7 Broad Areas of Application

Laser welding is currently predominantly used in the automotive and medical sectors.
The applications in the automotive market are frequently found amongst the subcontractors.
The encapsulation of sensors and control units is a typical application.
Laser plastic welding is also gaining ground in the consumer market: precise welding
seams in the visible parts of components are now found in many everyday goods.

45
 Medical technology applications specify very high levels of hygiene in their
production lines. And laser plastic welding is the method of choice for microfluidic
applications: using lasers for the highly precise creation of the welding seams, and the
absence of any particles produced during the laser welding process, is the only way of
guaranteeing that sensitive microfluidic channels remain open and function perfectly.

Balloon dilation catheters for widening constricted coronary arteries have a zone
which can be dilated during an operation. This zone is welded by a laser in a rotation process.

5.4.8 Better Safe than Sorry

Critical processes demand high quality – and this quality has to be permanently
maintained and documented. A whole number of methods are already available during laser
plastic welding to determine the perfect welding parameters. If the necessary interface is
installed, laser plastic welding can be done with continuous tracking & tracing. Real-time
recording during the welding process makes subsequent controls unnecessary, and in many
cases enables the laser itself to automatically correct the identified fault.

Melt travel monitoring can be used during quasi-simultaneous welding. The criterion
for successful welding in this case is defined by a specific amount of settling across the whole
component.

In the pyrometer control method, a temperature curve is measured during the welding
process: if this curve deviates from a defined upper and lower boundary, this may indicate
faulty material or a foreign body which prevents proper welding. When necessary, the
temperature signal can be used to directly control the laser output.
The scorch diagnosis method identifies thermal defects, whilst camera monitoring measures
the width of the welding seam and visually inspects the homogeneity.

5.4.9 Reflection Diagnosis

Reflection diagnosis is a completely new method that can be ordered as an optional

accessory for welding systems from autumn 2010.
Reflection diagnosis takes advantage of the physical effect of the total reflection of
light at boundaries.

46
 Such a boundary exists between two parts before they are joined. When light –
including laser light – hits this boundary, a certain amount is reflected. The boundary changes
when the zone is welded, reducing the amount of reflected light. Measuring this change in the
amount of reflected light enables faulty seams to be detected.

This method can be used to check the quality of the welding seam in real-time.
Depending on the product, the methods can be combined to enable the continuous tracking &
tracing of specific components.

5.4.10 Laser Staking

Laser staking combines riveting technology with laser plastic welding. It creates a
formfitted join between twocomponents. Because the riveting tool does not come into contact
with the plastified material, no plastic adheres to the tool, so this method can be used to join
together components that cannot be welded directly – for instance, fixing printed circuit
boards into plastic housings. The LPKF LQ-Spot system is completely inline-compatible.

5.4.11 Positive Development

Laser plastic welding will continue to conquer new areas of application in future – by
virtue of its cleanroom compatibility, the integrated process controls, and the outstanding
visual results. Laser plastic welding also makes economic sense. Completely new products
are possible when combined with other methods – such as using laser structuring to apply
circuit tracks to a sensor housing, and then safely sealing the housing using laser plastic
welding.

6. Conclusions

47
 Laser welding of plastics is a highly specialized technology of joining components
which can be used most efficiently in applications requiring high-speed welding and welding
of brittle components or components requiring sterile conditions. The laser beam welding
often has technological advantages in comparison with the traditional technologies of welding
components. Service experience shows that industrial equipment for laser welding of
polymers has a number of special practical

Advantages

• high-quality welded joints and the possibility of producing leak tight joints;
• the possibility of packaging components sensitive to vibration because the
components do not move during welding;
• reduction the degree of distortion of the components in welding of heat-sensitive
components because the size of the heat-affected zone is small;
• reduced contamination of the environment and reduced amount of welding fumes
because the molten material is situated inside the joint and is in contact with the
equipment;
• reduced energy requirement because laser radiation is focused only in the zone of the
formation of the welded joint and only the small volume of the polymer is remelted so
that the efficiency of the process is very high;
• the high degree of automation of the process resulting in higher quality of the
components and reproducibility of the results;
• Flexibility of the process and equipment – the laser system can also be used in other
production lines.

Comparison with CO2 arc Welding:

• In comparison to CO2 gas arc welding, LBW can significantly reduce the welding
deformation
• The range with high longitudinal tensile stress in the joint welded by LBW is
significantly narrower than that generated by CO2 gas arc welding. Moreover, the
maximum value of longitudinal residual stress generated by the former is smaller
than that caused by the latter.

48
Laser welding of plastics is an established process that is used in more and more applications
in different markets and is increasingly displacing the traditional welding methods. In medical
device manufacturing, for instance, cleanliness is absolutely mandatory. Hence, laser welding
is particularly well established in this market. In the automotive supply industry the parts are
equipped with sensitive electronic components or guide and contain fluid - here laser beam
welding is the method of choice. In combination with process control, the diode laser will
make its way to a variety of future applications.

The use of lasers in the industry for the bonding of plastics has increased in last decades.
According to the literature (Herzinger, Schloms 1995), some 25% of the industry employing
lasers is concentrated in Japan. This is due to the development of the industry and economy of
that country. It is expected that in the future some 10% of all of the joints in plastics will be
laser-produced (Grande 2004).

The laser technology offers novel solutions that permit to off-set limitations, often
imposed by conventional methods. Technological progress that has taken place in last years
and the requirements that the development of the industry poses indicate that this technology
of bonding plastics will further develop.

References

49
1. G.V. Moskvitin , A.N. Polyakov & E.M. Birger (2013) Laser Welding Of Plastics
(Review), Welding International, 27:9, 725-734, DOI: 10.1080/09507116.2012.753282
2. A. Weglowska (2008) Modern methods of laser-welding of plastics, Welding
International, 22:2,100-104, DOI: 10.1080/09507110801990819
3. Andor Bauernhuber & Tamás Markovits (2014) Hybrid joining of steel and plastic
materials by laser beam, Transport, 29:2, 217-222, DOI: 10.3846/16484142. 2013.
785445

4. F. Quadrini , L. Santo & F. Trovalusci (2008) Diode Laser Welding of Polyethylene,

Polymer-Plastics Technology and Engineering, 47:7, 655-661, DOI:

10.1080/03602550802129502

5. Satoh Kimitoshi & Kurosaki Yasuo (2010) A fiber laser welding of plastics assisted by
transparent solid heat sink to prevent the surface thermal damages, Physics Procedia 5

(2010) 173–181
6. Sun Jiamin, Liu Xiaozha,Tong Yangang, Deng Dean (2014) A comparative study on
welding temperature fields, residual stress distributions and deformations induced by laser

beam welding and CO2 gas arc welding, Materials and Design 63 (2014) 519–530
7. J.P. Coelho, M.A. Abreu, M.C. Pires (2000) High-speed laser welding of plastic films,
Optics and Lasers in Engineering 34 (2000) 385-395
8. S. Reinl (2013) Diode lasers used in plastic welding and selective laser soldering
applications and products, Laser in Manufacturing Conference 2013
9. http://www.laserplasticwelding.com/

50