ILAS 2019: ACADEMIA-INDUSTRY COLLABORATION
DRIVING INDUSTRY FROM THE UNIVERSITY LABORATORY
In advance of his plenary presentation at ILAS, Professor Duncan Hand discusses the results of CIM-Laser, a collaboration between five UK universities that has supported the country’s uptake of laser-based manufacturing over the past five years
supporting an increased uptake of laser-based manufacturing in the UK over the past five years. Te academic partners (Heriot-Watt, Cranfield, Liverpool, Manchester and Cambridge Universities) have worked with more than 30 companies in a wide-ranging programme of coordinated industrially-focused research and network-building activities. Together with the Association of Industrial Laser Users (AILU), we have developed a national strategy for increased use of industrial lasers in the UK:Lasers for Productivity: a UK Strategy, which was launched at the Houses of Parliament in March last year. In the past five years we have delivered a
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significant volume of industry-focused manufacturing research, much of which is either being transferred to industry, or being further developed in follow-on EPSRC-, EU- and Innovate UK-funded projects. We have also contributed to
he EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Laser-based Production Processes (CIM-Laser) is a five-university centre that has played a key role in
the development of many highly skilled people, with more than 60 researchers directly involved in CIM-Laser: 19 academic staff, 26 research associates, 12 PhD and five EngD students. In addition, we have funded four innovation projects at universities outside of CIM-Laser. CIM-Laser has supported a total of 40 separate
projects, co-funded with our industrial partners. Our strategy throughout has been to combine laser material interaction fundamentals with advanced materials science, to underpin the development and optimisation of laser-based manufacturing processes. We developed, initiated and delivered projects across a wide range of laser interaction timescales – from picosecond pulses to continuous lasers – to characterise basic laser-material interactions at a fundamental level, while solving specific manufacturing challenges. For example, we undertook fundamental research to understand the underlying physics and hence significantly improve the yield of a novel picosecond laser welding process for direct bonding of highly dissimilar materials, such as
Figure 2: Holographic marking on watch back cover. Inserts: Laser-written craters viewed under optical microscope (left) and diffractive image obtained by laser illumination (right)
glass and metal. A selection of key research outcomes have been highlighted in this article.
Ultrashort pulsed laser welding of glass to metal We have developed a robust process to weld optical materials directly to mechanical support materials, such as metals (see Figure 1). Tis is dependent on creating the right mix of rapid absorption of the high peak power laser light leading to plasma generation, and thermal accumulation, to create a suitable melt volume. Following the CIM-Laser research, Heriot-Watt, Oxford Lasers and other partners developed an Innovate UK project, UltraWELD, for industrial translation of this process. It involves the development of a prototype ultra-short pulse laser welding machine by Oxford Lasers. End-users Leonardo and Gooch & Housego, are involved.
Figure 1: Ultrashort pulse laser welding of glass to metal (a) welding arrangement and (b) example weld (Al6082 to fused silica glass, viewed through the fused silica)
18 LASER SYSTEMS EUROPE ISSUE 42 • SPRING 2019
Tamper-proof holographic markings for high-value metal goods By carefully controlling the pulse energy from a nanosecond-pulsed UV laser, it is possible to create
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Heriot-Watt University
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