Direct Laser Welding Design Guidelines
Download these guidelines.
What is Direct Laser Welding?
- Direct laser welding applies laser energy to both components directly. The energy heats the weld surfaces. Then, the tooling presses the parts together.
- The direct laser welding process is helpful in applications that require a clean, precise weld of non-transmissive materials.
Weld Joint Design
Notes:
- Include 0.5 – 1.0 mm of material overlap in the weld joint.
- Design the weld rib width according to the specific application’s requirements, typically 0.5 – 3.0 mm.
- Maintain at least a 0.25 mm gap between non-welded surfaces to prevent hard-stop condition.
- Maintain at least 1.5 mm of clearance from internal part geometries to avoid interferences with the laser beam.
- If concealing flash is required, make the flash trap large enough to contain the material displaced in the weld rib.
Part Design
Notes:
- For simple applications, minimize height changes to prevent the laser beam spot from being out of focus.
- For large, complex applications, additional laser sources or optical tools may be used.
- Built-in part alignment features are not necessary because tooling will align the components.
- Components should include 0.5 – 1.0% carbon black for faster weld times.
- Large parts can be welded with multiple laser emitters.
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