Hollow core fibre enables flexibility for USP laser processing in CFRP component production


Hollow core fibres have successfully been used to guide pulses from an ultrashort pulsed laser (USP) to a scanner on a robotic arm, in a project to enhance the production of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) components. Delivering ultrashort laser


pulses of high energy and high average power has previously proven challenging, due to their exotic nature preventing them from being coupled into conventional glass fibres. As a result, most ultrafast laser systems use an array of mirrors and lenses to direct pulses to the workpiece; a method both extremely complex and costly. Unlike conventional glass


fibres, however, light travelling through hollow-core fibres travels through either a vacuum, air or another gas. The vacuum and materials involved enable fibres to control the exotic, non-linearity effects of ultrashort pulses, so integrators can now use them to deliver ultrashort pulses to a workpiece in a flexible manner. The partners of the ‘CarboLase’ project have used hollow-core fibres in a new robotic system that combines USP laser processing, CNC cutting and automated handling


Moving Optics


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to produce CFRP components in an efficient, flexible manner. Using the hollow core fibre enables ultrashort laser pulses to be guided to a scanner on the end of a robotic arm, which can move more freely than the static mechanical machining centres previously used to process CFRP parts. According to Fraunhofer ILT, a project partner, this would be impractical using the system of mirrors typically used for USP laser processing. The new system will offer designers more creative freedom when designing customised lightweight CFRP parts. Other CarboLase partners include system integrator Lunovu, and USP laser manufacturer Amphos, a Trumpf subsidiary. Trumpf recently expressed its own interest in hollow-core fibre technology when it acquired a minority stake in French startup GLOphotonics, a developer and manufacturer of hollow-core fibres.


ASTM International to create LPBF standard


A standard that could help quickly assess the quality of additively manufactured parts, as well as the performance of the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) machines that print them, is being developed by ASTM International’s additive manufacturing technologies committee. The proposed standard aims to


use off-the-shelf tools to quickly generate qualitative data related to dimensional accuracy and material strength, which serve as indicators of the health of additive manufacturing machines and parts. The committee welcomes representatives of industries,


universities, and research facilities in additive manufacturing tech to participate in round-robin experiments to assess the robustness of the proposed standard. The technical point of contact of this work, Jonathan Pegues, of Sandia National Laboratories, said the standard could ultimately help manufacturers, laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders that produce LPBF parts for structural applications. In 2019 ASTM International


also revealed it was developing standards for directed energy deposition, another additive manufacturing process.


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