FEATURE: SHIPBUILDING
gGerman Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The overarching aim of the project is
to establish new laser welding processes based on high-power lasers in the maritime sector. It is hoped that, by achieving high- quality joints with high welding speeds, costs can be reduced for edge preparation, as well as the amount of additional material compared to existing joining methods. The application development has been taking place in both a laser laboratory and in a shipyard-like test environment for the past three years. This makes it possible to quickly test, evaluate and optimise the new processes, which the group says could complement, or replace, existing processes. The consortium is particularly keen to
ensure laser safety for very high laser outputs, including the handling of expected large quantities of emitted hazardous substances. The release of hazardous substances from the laser processing zone is also being thoroughly investigated under the project.
The metal sheet thickness is an important
issue, as the project demonstrates. Schäfer went on to detail the sheer variety of thicknesses used in shipbuilding. ‘It depends on the construction of the ships, the rudders and the lower bottom of the ships have some very high thicknesses up to 15mm, or sometimes even more. Every ship is different, and some use thinner material, but when you’re going upwards on the ships, the thicknesses also decrease, so it’s mostly a range of 5 to 15mm.’ In terms of the material itself, Schäfer explained that there is a high quantity of sheets used. ‘That sheet material is mostly plex steel,’ he said. Laserline has been supplying and
developing lasers for maritime for some years now, and Schäfer offered some insight into how manufacturers can get involved in shipbuilding projects. ‘The industry has its own qualification process,’ he said. ‘They have to qualify the process and they have to make sure that the process and the weld is secure. That’s the point at which they
The latest laser welding processes can make the welding of thick materials in ship building more efficient
have to do a qualification which is done by a third party – here in Germany, that’s an organisation which controls the welders for the shipbuilding industry. When they are looking at the paperwork, we introduce the laser processing and we give some samples for analysis.’
Cutting on the XXL scale The use of lasers for cutting in the maritime industry is equally well recognised for the high-quality, high-precision results achieved, not to mention its green credentials. With steel plates used as the main raw material in shipbuilding, laser cutting plates can replace some die-cutting methods that require large moulds, thereby reducing production times and costs. Steel processing firm Otto Klostermann
has realised the benefits as a specialist processor of ‘XXL’ formats for its shipbuilding clients, as well as the vehicle construction, waggon production, bridge construction and crane manufacture sectors. The company recently invested in a LaserMat II machine from Messer Cutting Systems, which is available with either a 4kW or 6kW CO2 laser. ‘Our old laser cutting system was getting on in years,’ said Philipp Klostermann, managing director of Otto Klostermann. ‘It was no longer state of the art, and there were no spare parts available for it any longer. As the laser machine is totally loaded all year round, it was clear that we needed a new one.’ The new cutting machine was selected
Civan’s 100kW single mode, continuous wave coherent beam combining fibre laser offers advantages for shipbuilding
16 LASER SYSTEMS EUROPE AUTUMN 2021
because it is specifically designed for large plate processing, being capable of processing large steel sheets weighing many tonnes. The company is now able to cut components out of mild steel up to 25mm thick, or from stainless steel up to 20mm thick. The on-board laser beam
“The laser machine is totally loaded all year round”
source (resonator) additionally means that plates up to 4.5m wide and up to 30m long can be processed. Klostermann explained: ‘These are exactly the XXL sizes which we had in mind. To achieve this, we were happy to extend the length of the vibration damped foundations of the old laser system by 4m.’
An optical beam path length
compensation keeps the length of the laser beam constant during transverse axis movements and ensures the highest laser beam and cut quality over the entire cutting area. The high positioning and repetitive accuracy of the system is achieved by a series of harmonised functional factors such as a track construction suitable for laser and robust linear guidance. In addition, accelerations of up to 0.5g and a simultaneous positioning speed of 100m/ min also ensure high levels of performance and speed. There is no need for a full enclosure with the CO2 laser, as an on- board laser beam protection hood complies with class 1 laser safety, with the additional benefit of easy access for loading and unloading, even during operation. ‘What is more,’ said Klostermann, ‘the
infinitely rotating bevel head enables us to perform continuous bevels from -45° to +45°. Furthermore, we cannot only prepare countersinks with the highest surface quality directly during the cutting process, but we can also cut and mark with the same tool – a saving in costs and time.’ l
@LASERSYSTEMSMAG |
WWW.LASERSYSTEMSEUROPE.COM
Civan Lasers
MEYER WERFT/M. Wessels
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