LASER APPLICATIONS IN TOOL AND MOLD MANUFACTURE 

Laser welding is the ideal technique for repairing molds or to implementing design changes. It allows a particularly fine energy dosage, because only a small volume of material is melted. Stresses can be eliminated by means of the controllable pulse shape, resulting in crack-free welding (especially important for hardnesses above 55 HRC).

The hardness and strength of the base material is reproduced or selected by choosing suitable filler wire. Usually it is not necessary to preheat the mold.

For small tools, it is even possible to work with a 0.1 mm wire on the smallest contours (edges). This is where the optional micro welding function comes into play. The material application is targeted – either manually or automatically – and down to an accuracy of one-tenth, if needed.

This means an experienced worker will not need an additional machine and can simply re-work the component by hand.

ALPHA LASER offers laser systems from 100 W – 900 W as Nd:YAG or fiber lasers. The high-performance welding systems enable homogeneous and crack-free application of welding wires with a thickness of up to 1.6 mm.

Particularly stressed areas can be hardened with the laser, which increases the service life significantly. Particularly for large metal forming tools, laser hardening is a very cost-effective and fast process for marginalized layer hardening. The workpiece requires no quenching and no subsequent heat treatment. An enormous amount of time can be saved.