FEATURE FIBRE LASERS
Developing the
dominant tool
Greg Blackman asks experts to recap what 2010 to 2020 held for the advancement of fibre laser technology
F
ibre lasers are regarded by many as the laser source of choice for ablation, cutting, welding, marking, engraving, drilling,
cleaning and additive manufacturing, across a wide range of industries. This success can be attributed to their
excellent beam quality, stable output, extended power range, high wall- plug efficiency and low maintenance requirements, all offered in a small footprint, with fast turn-key operation. The technology has not always been
the dominant player in laser materials processing, however, having come a long way over the past decade. Lasers Systems Europe approached fibre laser manufacturers to ask how the technology developed between 2010 to 2020, and what further advancements the future may hold:
Michael Hepp, product line manager at nLight: In 2010, the market for kilowatt- class industrial lasers was less than $1bn, with metal cutting being by far the largest application (80 per cent market share). CO₂ lasers were the dominant technology, and most fibre lasers had 4kW or less power.
The growth in fibre lasers over the last
10 years has been driven by a number of factors: their performance, reliability,
22 Electro Optics July 2021
and cost-per-part advantages over other laser and non-laser technologies; their decreasing cost and increasing power level; their adoption in non-cutting applications, especially welding; and their enabling of new applications to emerge, such as additive manufacturing. Fibre lasers are now the dominant technology for laser-based industrial materials processing, and many tools employ lasers with a power of more than 10kW. The trends towards higher laser power will continue. At least as important, however, will be the significant increase in tool performance and versatility enabled by lasers with more useful and even tunable beam shapes and sizes. Such programmable lasers were introduced two years ago, and they immediately provided dramatic improvements in metal cutting and welding, the largest industrial applications. Other existing and emerging applications will be improved by the ability to tailor the heat input to the workpiece, allowing real-time process optimisation and providing previously unattainable productivity and processing quality. In addition, market demands, such as electrification of the automotive industry, will demand even higher laser reliability, stability and uptime. Meeting
these needs will allow laser-based tools to capture a growing portion of the nearly $100bn worldwide laser tool market.
Jarno Kangastupa, managing director of Coherent’s business unit in Tampere, Finland: In 2010 fibre lasers were firmly established for cutting thin materials, but CO2
lasers dominated thick material
cutting. Fibre laser welding was yet to take off. Since then fibre laser costs have
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