|
|
Laureen Belleville
Editor
| | Over the past few months we've been busy creating a new online world for Industrial Laser Solutions. As of January 6th, www.industrial-lasers.com has been incorporated into the OptoIQ portal to leverage the power (for both readers and advertisers) of the combined strengths of ILS plus our three sister publications (Laser Focus World, Vision Systems Design, and BioOptics World). We'll still deliver the same high-quality industrial laser materials processing technology and applications news, features, products, video, webcast, and more, but we're delivering it in a much more robust environment. I invite you to take a look around the site, join our community, and let us know what you think! http://www.optoiq.com/index/lasers-for-manufacturing.html
|
|
|
INDUSTRY NEWS
:: A new year, a new opportunity
It's the start of a new year and new decade (what happened to the last one) so we should all look forward to a fresh 52 weeks that can only be better than the last as all the actions that were announced and put in place should begin to bear fruit. My guess is that they are budding nicely as I am hearing more positive stimulus or shovel ready jokes, although some are quite mean, that indicates to me that something is happening.
:: Laser processing for microwave and frozen food packaging
The AcuVent laser technology from Preco Inc. produces controlled-depth scoring or cut-through slits. These scores or slits can be registered any place on the film. AcuVent is reliable, convenient, and cost effective for microwave venting. AcuVent offers busy consumers an easy, quick way to prepare sealed frozen and refrigerated foods. When film-covered food packages or bags processed with AcuVent are placed in the microwave, the steam generated from within the package bursts through the scoring and automatically ventilates the package.
:: Laser coating removal
PhotoMachining Inc. has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research grant from the US Air Force--"Innovative Methods for Automated Controlled Removal of Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBCs) and Bondcoats from Turbine Airfoils for Rework and Repair." The award is a nine-month effort to develop a laser based removal process that aggressively removes TBCs from aircraft engine turbine airfoils at high speeds. Currently TBCs are removed for rework or repair using a combination of autoclave, caustic and acidic solutions, and grit blast. This process is labor intensive, time consuming, waste producing, and is neither consistent nor well controlled.
:: Circuit frames for PCB repair
Best Inc., a supplier of PCB rework and repair services, has released a new line of circuit frames for PCB repair that can be custom laser engraved to match the pads or trace areas requiring repair. The patterns on the frames can accommodate spaces/traces down to 0.025mm. These frames are designed to be used for both tin-lead and lead-free processes as they are bright tin finished. The cut outs replace pads or traces on 1oz copper PCBs. Circuit frames are available in both epoxy and dry film versions.
:: Making fair comparisons
Recently an article from The Register popped up in my e-mail with a report on work done for Volkswagen using electromagnetic pulses (EMP) to cut holes in press hardened steel. The developers, Fraunhofer Institut für Werkzeugmaschinen und Umfomtechnik claim their EMP process is seven times faster than laser. The author of the article, Lewis Page, sums up the Fraunhofer work saying, "The laser is, quite literally, no longer on the cutting edge."
:: UV laser microprocessing services
Photomachining Inc. is one of a few global industrial laser job shops that offer ultraviolet (UV) laser microprocessing using excimer lasers and frequency tripled and quadrupled lasers. Ultraviolet photons have several advantages over conventional infrared laser sources such as: the ability to process parts using 'cold' ablation, the ability to achieve the smallest feature sizes, and the ability to precisely control material removal.
:: Laserdyne ends 2009 with a bang
As another sign that the application of laser processing in the global turbine engine manufacturing business is expanding, Prima North America's Laserdyne Systems (Champlin, MN) announced the receipt of two orders, that exceed $2 million, for Laserdyne 795 multi-axis laser systems. "The first order is from a Russian turbine engine manufacturer new to laser processing, and the second is from an American aerospace engine manufacturer who is adding to their existing Laserdyne equipment," reports Terry VanderWert, president of Prima North America. "
:: It's opposite to what you think...
At Fabtech, in November, ILS Editor-in-Chief David Belforte had a conversation with Glenn Binder, vice president of sales for SigmaTek Systems, LLC (Cincinnati, OH), on the subject of selling in a depressed market. The following is the pep talk that Glenn gives to the company's sales force. It is applicable to the capital equipment industry in general and we asked him to share it with the industrial laser community.
:: SALA announces industrial laser applications seminar
On April 14-15, 2010, at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT, The Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) will present the 5th Symposium for Advanced Laser Applications (SALA). This conference has been expanded to include, in addition to laser drilling of aerospace components, a wide range of laser processes being used by manufacturers for the aerospace and other industries. Since its inception SALA events have hosted over 450 participants from North America and Europe. At the April 2010 event technical presentations will range from the use of lasers in percussion hole drilling by OEMs to paint removal for Air Force hardware.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2010: PennWell, Tulsa OK; All rights reserved.
| | | 
|
