Blue diode lasers have recently become known as an excellent tool for certain processing techniques regarding copper and other non-ferrous and highly reflective metals. Copper, gold, aluminum, and certain other metals absorb blue wavelengths more easily than any other wavelengths of visible or invisible light. This higher rate of absorption allows for both higher quality results and faster processing times, when typically, there is a trade off between quality and speed.

Utilizing high-power blue diode lasers allows for high-quality, sputter-free welding of complex interfaces, with varying thicknesses and geometries, in copper, various aluminum alloys, and stainless steel, as well as the ability to weld these dissimilar metals together. Because laser welding is a contact-free process, your part design, workstation, and process are afforded increased flexibility. Space constraints become less burdensome and more complex geometries and unique welding challenges become more feasible when you don't need room for bulky and perhaps custom welding heads. 

Blue Diode Laser Welding Application

Welding Applications_Spatter-Sputter

Traditional welding sputter

Blue diode laser welding technology also offers great benefits in the micro welding of copper and other dissimilar metals within the tiny, intricate design of various consumer electronics, enabling a low level of electrical resistance and a higher level of mechanical strength of the bonds formed from the sputter-free, void-free, stable melt pool, provided by this blue laser welding technology. Other intriguing application possibilities include laser deposition methods, such as cladding and 3D printing of the aforementioned metals, allowing for creative, complex designs of medical devices, prosthetics, etc.

RPMC offers a blue diode laser, perfect for these applications. The K445FGRFN-200.0W is a high-power, multi-mode OEM laser diode.  This fiber-coupled, 445nm diode laser offers 200W of continuous wave (CW) output from a 200-micron core diameter pigtailed fiber optic cable, terminated with a SMA905 connector.  This diode utilizes proprietary fiber-coupling techniques, resulting in volume products with high efficiency, stability, and superior beam quality. The K445FGRFN-200.0W achieves this high-quality beam by transforming the asymmetric radiation from the laser diode chip into an output fiber with a small core diameter by using special micro-optics, resulting in exceptional brightness.  Additionally, these diode lasers go through extensive inspection and burn-in procedures at each step of the production process, guarantying reliability, stability, and lifetime.