LIA TODAY - July/August 2014 Issue

LIATODAY The official newsletter of the Laser Institute of America

Volume: 22 21 No: 41 July/August Jan/Feb 2013 2014

Focus on All of Your Materials Processing Needs ILSC 2013: Experience the at LME 2014 & its New Lasers World’s Leading Laser for Manufacturing Summit CONFERENCE PGSafety 6 PG 6

Exponential Growth of Medical Laser Applications Ultra-High Brightness in the U.S. Direct Diodes for Material PG 8 Processing PG 12

Focus:

MEET NEW PRESIDENT AND NovelTHE Multi-Beam Processing BOARD DIRECTORS SystemOF for Laser Additive PG 12 Manufacturing (LAM)

Direct Diodes in Medical Applications Manufacturing

PG 14

Photo Source: TeraDiode Inc

Laser Institute of America, America isthe the international society dedicated to fostering lasers, laser applications and laser safety worldwide.

13501 Ingenuity Drive, Suite 128 Orlando, FL 32826 Phone: +1.407.380.1553 www.lia.org

4 TH A N N U A L

September 23-24, 2014 • Schaumburg, IL USA

Register Now! Lasers for Manufacturing Summit 3D Printing / Laser Additive Manufacturing Ultrafast Lasers for Manufacturing Laser Safety

Overview of Laser Welding Main Laser Types Used for Manufacturing Advances in Laser Cutting And More...

Center for Coatings and Laser Applications

Everything LASER. All Manufacturing.

Presented by:

www.laserevent.org 2 LIATODAY FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

July/August 2014

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in this issue:

LIATODAY

Features Focus on All of Your Materials Processing Needs at LME 2014 & its New Lasers for Manufacturing Summit

6

Ultra-High Brightness Direct Diodes for Material Processing

12

Novel Multi-Beam Processing System for Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM)

14

GE Aviation Vision for Additive Manufacturing

18

Corporate Member Profile: Directed Light, Inc.

22

Calendar of Events

4

Executive Director’s Message

5

President’s Message

5

Members in Motion

24

Member Innovations

24

New Corporate Members

24

ASC Z136 Update

26

BLS Update

27

Laser Insights

28

JLA Editor’s Pick

29

LIA Announces

30

Advertisers 13

Abicor Binzel Corp.

16

ANSI Z136.1

26

ANSI Z136.2

9

ANSI Z136.9

21

Board of Laser Safety

27

Fraunhofer USA, CCL

9

ICALEO 2014

29

IPG Photonics Corporation

32 9

Laserline Inc.

23

Lasermet Inc.

10

Laservision USA

11

LIA’s Laser Safety Officer Online Training

25

LIA's Laser U

28 2

PhotoMachining, Inc.

13

Precitec, Inc.

17

Siskiyou Corp

25

SPI Lasers

23

Synrad Incorporated

20

TRUMPF, Inc.

31

LIATODAY

Past President – Klaus Löffler TRUMPF Laser & Systems GmbH Secretary – Lin Li The University of Manchester Treasurer – Stephen Capp Laserage Technology Corporation

Calendar of Events Advanced LSO Training Sept. 15-17, 2014

Silver Spring, MD

Advanced MLSO Training Nov. 6-9, 2014

Atlanta, GA

*Certified Medical Laser Safety Officer exam offered after the course.

Laser Safety Officer Training Dec. 2-4, 2014

Orlando, FL

Laser Safety Officer with Hazard Analysis*

Editorial Staff Editor-in-Chief – Peter Baker Managing Editor – Michelle Williams Contributing Editor – Geoff Giordano

business Staff Publisher – Jim Naugle

Sept. 8-12, 2014

Washington, DC

Oct. 20-24, 2014

San Diego, CA

Nov. 3-7, 2014

Dallas, TX

*Certified Laser Safety Officer exam offered after the course.

Medical Laser Safety Officer Training* Sept. 6-7, 2014

Washington, DC

Oct. 18-19, 2014

San Diego, CA

Nov. 1-2, 2014

Dallas, TX

*Certified Medical Laser Safety Officer exam offered after the course.

Advertising Sales – Andrew Morrison If you are interested in advertising space in this newsletter or a subscription, call +1.407.380.1553/1.800.34.LASER or email advertising@lia.org.

Medical Laser Safety Training Sept. 20, 2014

ABOUTLIA

Laser Institute of America (LIA) is the professional society for laser applications and safety. Our mission is to foster lasers, laser applications and laser safety worldwide.

We believe in the importance of sharing new ideas about lasers.

In fact, laser pioneers such as Dr. Arthur Schawlow and Dr. Theodore H. Maiman were among LIA’s original founders who set the stage for our enduring mission to promote laser applications and their safe use through education, training and symposia.

LIA was formed in 1968 by people who represented the heart of the profession – a group of academic scientists, developers and engineers who were truly passionate about taking an emerging new laser technology and turning it into a viable industry.

Whether you are new to the world of lasers or an experienced laser professional, LIA is for you. We offer a wide array of products, services, education and events to enhance your laser knowledge and expertise. As an individual or corporate member, you will qualify for significant discounts on LIA materials, training courses and the industry’s most popular LIA conferences and workshops.

We invite you to become part of the LIA experience – cultivating innovation, ingenuity and inspiration.

FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

July/August 2014

Atlanta, GA

Lasers for Manufacturing Summit Sept. 22, 2014

3

LAM 2015

4

President-Elect – Robert Thomas USAF Research Laboratory

The editors of LIA TODAY welcome input from readers. Please submit news-related releases, articles of general interest and letters to the editor.

Mail us at LIA TODAY, 13501 Ingenuity Drive, Suite 128, Orlando, FL 32826, fax +1.407.380.5588, or send material by email to lia@lia.org.

Copy Editor – Barbara Sams

ABB, Inc.

LME 2014

2014 LIA Officers President – Yongfeng Lu University of Nebraska – Lincoln

Departments

Kentek Corporation

The official newsletter of the Laser Institute of America

LIA TODAY is published bimonthly to educate and inform laser professionals in laser safety and new trends related to laser technology. LIA members receive a free subscription to LIA TODAY and the Journal of Laser Applications® in addition to discounts on all LIA products and services.

Schaumburg, IL

Lasers for Manufacturing Event® (LME®) Sept. 23-24, 2014

Schaumburg, IL

International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics (ICALEO®) Oct. 19-23, 2014

San Diego, CA

Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM®) Workshop Mar. 4-5, 2015

Orlando, FL

International Laser Safety Conference (ILSC®) Mar. 23-26, 2015

Albuquerque, NM

Visit www.lia.org for all course and event listings.

President’s Message

Dear LIA members and LIA TODAY readers, In the old days, a person’s hometown was a very important part of his/her identity.

Hometown means the place where you grew up and where your family originated.

In the modern world, the concept of hometown has faded because of efficient transportation and the fast pace of change in society. One thing that has not changed is that people still need an identity and a territory where they feel comfortable. Instead of a geographical location, such as a hometown, many professionals seek their identity from professional societies, such as LIA. I attended a conference in Vilnius, Lithuania. This is a new territory in my life, and I did not know much about the country except it is far from where I live. The rewards of the trip were beyond my expectations. I was impressed by the friendly people, wide streets, rich culture and long history. Certainly I should also mention the quality of the food and wine. When I met so many familiar people at the conference (I have known some of them for over 20 years), I suddenly felt that Vilnius is no different from my hometown in China and where I live in the USA. I am pretty sure many other colleagues have the same feeling.

With a three million population, the size and activities of the laser and photonics industry are impressive. The exhibition at the conference was comprised of mostly local companies. I can imagine how much effort and creativity went into making it such a success.

Executive Director’s Message

I recently had the pleasure of visiting LIA Secretary Lin Li in Manchester and 2012 LIA Past President Reinhart Poprawe in Aachen on my way to the LASYS show in Stuttgart, Germany.

The visits certainly demonstrated that laser material processing and manufacturing are alive and well in Europe. Prof. Li showed me around his very well equipped labs dealing with a large range of processes with some very clear industrial applications.

One unusual item that intrigued me was the creation of nanoparticles which might be able to target viruses or drug resistant bacteria. He is presenting a paper on this topic entitled, Laser Generation of Nanoparticles for Anti-Bacterial Applications at ICALEO® this year.

In Aachen, I received an update on laser additive research, and also ultrafast laser and application work. In addition, Prof. Poprawe briefed me on the creation of the RWTH Aachen campus which is creating specialist clusters, such as Photonics, Sustainable Energy and BioMedical Engineering, which will allow tenant companies to have a strong connection to the university. Construction is already underway on this very forward looking project.

At the LASYS show, I met with LIA Past President Klaus Löffler. The photo below shows him challenging me to see if I still know how to work a laser!

I like conferences that are combined with exhibitions because we can understand the progress in science and engineering; and, at the same time, exhibitions show us how engineering can help to make dreams in science come true. For people who enjoy exhibitions, I would recommend our next one — LIA’s Lasers for Manufacturing Event® (LME®; Sept. 23-24, 2014; Schaumburg, IL).

In terms of laser applications, laser additive manufacturing (laser printing) becomes a heated topic, similar to Internet and optical communications years ago. We would all like to know what the field will look like when the dust settles. One thing that I have learned from the past is to look at what the leading experts think. The articles in this issue could give us guidance on how to look into the future of the field.

Yongfeng Lu, President Laser Institute of America

The result of Peter’s laser engraved signature at LASYS

It certainly is a privilege to be part of our interesting and progressive laser industry.

Peter Baker, Executive Director Laser Institute of America

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featured article featured article

Focus on All of Your Materials Processing Needs

®

®

at LME 2014 & its New Lasers for Manufacturing Summit

By Geoff Giordano

On Tap at LME 2014

More than four years ago, consensus began building in the United States on the need for a “laser only” show focused solely on the benefits of industrial laser materials processing.

Once again, LME will guide attendees through all phases of laser based manufacturing, beginning with four courses on the essentials.

Now in its fourth year, the Laser Institute of America’s oneof-a-kind Lasers for Manufacturing Event® (LME®) will build on its momentum and value with the addition of a one-day Lasers for Manufacturing Summit. The summit, to be held Sept.

22, precedes LME 2014 on Sept. 23-24 at the Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL.

On Sept. 23:

LME has made believers of companies that want to talk directly to established or potential customers and attendees who need to learn the nuts and bolts of using lasers efficiently and profitably. With its range of educational levels and opportunities for vendors to present to attendees at the Laser Technology Showcase Theater, LME provides onestop shopping for companies interested in integrating laser technology into their production.

And on Sept. 24:

With the addition of a summit to give executives an intensive introduction to what lasers can do in big-ticket industries, LIA is offering another critical level of insight into the power of photonics.

• Main Laser Types Used for Manufacturing - Key Properties and Key Applications by Tom Kugler of Laser Mechanisms.

• Overview of Laser Welding by Geoff Shannon of Miyachi America.

• Laser Safety for Industrial Laser Systems by LIA Education Director Gus Anibarro.

• Economic Justification for Laser Applications by Patrick Grace of TRUMPF, Inc. In addition to those basic courses, on each day there will be a 90-minute tutorial delving deeper into pressing laser manufacturing issues. On Tuesday, David Havrilla of TRUMPF, Inc. will teach Design Guidelines for Laser Welding. On Wednesday, Paul Denney of Lincoln Electric will give an Overview of Laser Additive Manufacturing Systems.

“We want to help executives by giving them an overview and a perspective about how lasers are already affecting various manufacturing markets, then give them a top-level view of the major technologies and where they’re being applied,” says LIA Executive Director Peter Baker. “The purpose is to help them plan to incorporate lasers into their production line so they remain competitive and don’t get left behind.”

After those decision makers learn “how widely lasers are used and how many industrial processes are better done with lasers — cutting, welding, drilling and so forth — they should be able to say, ‘Oh now I get it; this is what we need to do’ and then turn their people loose to attend the next two days of LME.”

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FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

July/August 2014

Each day, after those basic courses and tutorials, LME will feature a pair of 30-minute keynote presentations on the exhibit floor at the always popular (and often standing-room-only) Laser Technology Showcase Theater.

Opening Tuesday’s keynote addresses at 11:15 am will be LIA Past President David Belforte, who always draws one of the day’s biggest crowds for his address on global markets for industrial lasers and applications. Later, at 2:15 pm, attendees will hear about laser cutting applications in the modern manufacturing environment by first-time attendee Mitchell Van Zuiden, a cutting products specialist for Bystronic.

“LME is a great way to educate those who may not be very familiar with lasers used in manufacturing,” Van Zuiden stresses. “It is also a great way to learn about and research new technologies and the ways they are being used to increase productivity and efficiencies in manufacturing. I really hope to learn from this experience as well. I’m looking forward to meeting with other professionals from around the industry, as well as those who are new to it.”

On the final day of LME 2014, Ingomar Kelbassa, general chair of LIA’s upcoming Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM®) Workshop, will deliver the 11:15 am keynote on laser additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing. He was part of the team at Germany’s Fraunhofer ILT that won an Aviation Week innovation award in 2012 for the institute’s additively manufactured 80-blade BLISK, or blade-integrated disk.

“LME is a great example for a tightly focused marketplace and network platform to get in touch with and foster contacts with system integrators and service providers who act in digital photonic production and manufacturing by light,” Kelbassa says.

“The first three LMEs have had a strong impact not just on the laser manufacturing community — that is more or less its own family — but primarily on industries that haven’t encountered laser manufacturing. This is the basis for generating new customers who are demanding new applications from the laser manufacturing community.”

LME “creates a wonderful win-win situation due to having the opportunity to learn something new through educational courses; to meet someone who can potentially help you (from the conventional manufacturer’s view); and to demonstrate a pool of new manufacturing needs that necessitate new solution approaches and create new business for the manufacturing

community. LME has had a great impact on conventional manufacturing applications such as laser welding and cutting as well as on AM technologies such as on laser material deposition and selective laser melting. LME has recognized and addresses the point that emerging markets with new products require new approaches in production and a new way of thinking by design engineers.”

The closing keynote spot on Wednesday belongs to Ronald Schaeffer, CEO of PhotoMachining in Pelham, NH, who will address the continuing advances being realized with ultrafast lasers.

“I have gotten business out of LME that I probably would not otherwise have gotten,” Schaeffer notes. “I do not do a booth, but I have given talks, served at the Ask the Experts panel, played guitar and otherwise met new folks and done good business. LIA makes things very easy as far as customer access.

This is a very intimate conference — that is one of its benefits.”

Summit Extends LME’s Appeal LME has come a long way in a short time, notes Belforte. “Prior to its inaugural year, there was a strong undercurrent in the US for a laser-only trade show along the lines of the benchmark Laser World of Photonics in Munich,” he recalls. “A lively debate on the pros and cons resulted in the LIA undertaking LME. The major concern was: Will industry in the US support a show of this type with strong attendance? Once the idea caught on, exhibitors and attendees increased. The exhibitors report quality inquiries because the attendees are there because it is a laseronly show, so that prequalifies them.”

This year, PennWell Publishing approached LIA with the idea for a one-day summit in advance of LME — a concept that has worked well in the past, says Belforte, who serves as editor-inchief of PennWell’s Industrial Laser Solutions magazine.

“Inviting management-level attendees and exposing them to the benefits of industrial laser material processing so they will be knowledgeable when internal requests for this technology are made is a concept that works,” he says. The summit will feature a panel discussion led by Belforte and featuring experts who “will be encouraged to speak to the economic and technical benefits that can result from incorporating this technology. And then they can walk the exhibit floor and see working examples of this technology.”

(Continued on page 8)

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In addition to the panel discussion, the Lasers for Manufacturing Summit will feature two keynote presentations on overviews of the laser manufacturing and laser additive manufacturing markets and two presentations covering key applications: 3D printing/additive manufacturing and ultrafast lasers. The day will conclude with a VIP reception.

The one-day summit “will provide a deeper insight into additive manufacturing, its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats,” Kelbassa says. “Hence, this summit will provide a SWOT analysis of AM, discussing the opportunities and deficits of these technologies very honestly. This analysis is a helpful basis for CEOs, CTOs and others in management positions to decide whether or not they want to use AM for manufacturing and repair of products. Generally, deeper insight and knowledge decreases the risk of incorrect decisions. Therefore, one can call the summit a risk-minimizer by provision of know-how.”

Mark Taggart, president of Laser Mechanisms and longtime supporter of LME, echoes the idea that LME is a “one-stop trade show experience, with all the suppliers and technology in one room.” The summit provides “the additional draw of decision makers to the event; it will provide a forum for the interactive exchange of ideas between suppliers and end users.

The common theme is that there is a steady flow of customers who want to utilize lasers in their manufacturing or processing.”

A Marketplace for Lasers Despite its growth, Taggart says “LME has only scratched the surface on its draw to the potential exhibitor and attendee base.”

Thanks to its format, LME allows attendees to soak in the educational track and still have plenty of time for networking on the exhibit floor, which expanded at LME 2013. They can also take advantage of the in-depth knowledge offered at the Ask the Expert booth, chaired once again by consultant Rob Mueller and a rotating cast of experts from vendors on the show floor. This year, experts scheduled to be at the booth include: Neil Ball,

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FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

Directed Light; Craig Bratt, Fraunhofer USA; Charlie Bridge, IPG Photonics; Wes Buckley, Miyachi Unitek; Daniel Capostagno, SPI Lasers; Chris Dackson, Rofin-Sinar; Joel DeKock, Preco, Inc.; Jason Hillenbrand, Amada America; Adam Kurzawinski, Miyachi Unitek; Steffen Mueller, Fraunhofer USA, Edward Rea, Coherent; Stan Ream, EWI; Tracey Ryba, TRUMPF; Eric Stiles, IPG Photonics; and Havrilla, Kugler and Schaeffer.

To those skeptical about embracing the technology, Schaeffer cautions against thinking that just because you might not have been satisfied with the results of trying one type of laser that you’ve tried them all. “People tell me all the time, ‘We tried lasers years ago and they don’t work for us.’ Well, there are lots of different types of lasers, and not all can be fit into a tight little box.”

Of course, it’s not just attendees who benefit from LME. TRUMPF’s Grace found LME 2013 to be “a really good show (at) a really good venue. We got a lot of good leads and a lot of good projects. There’s a value here; this is going to lead to selling lasers.” When he saw an acquaintance from Universal Laser who wondered if he should exhibit at LME, Grace was emphatic: “Yes, definitely, you should be here!”

Unlike other shows, LME offers a concentrated experience “where you can walk through and go right from the people doing advanced development and R&D — people like Fraunhofer and EWI — then see every ingredient you need to put a laser into manufacturing, including the robots, the chillers and the coordinate machines,” explains Bill Shiner, vice president of industrial market sales at IPG Photonics in Oxford, MA. “You can go through and in a very short period of time understand not only what you need but get an opportunity to talk to people about applications and see what the equipment looks like.”

All in all, “LME hasn’t reached its full potential by far yet — neither from a client’s nor from a laser manufacturing community’s member perspective,” Kelbassa asserts. “The biggest portion of those who address manufacturing from the product and production point of view don’t know too much about, for example, AM or its process chain from the raw material and design all the way through the finished end good and the entire supply chain. The entire industry is seeking turnkey solutions, tailored materials, new design opportunities and primarily, a new generation of mechanical, design and manufacturing engineers who can think additively. Hence, the potential is enormous, if one can provide solution approaches — either from the systems engineering or from the process and process chain know-how.”

To learn more or to register for LME 2014 or its Lasers for Manufacturing Summit, visit www.laserevent.org.

July/August 2014

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(Continued on page 14)

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FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

July/August 2014

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featured article featured article

Ultra-High Brightness

Direct Diodes for Material Processing

By Silke Pflueger

Invented two short years after the ruby laser in 1962, diode lasers are now taken for granted in many areas of our lives.

You use them each time you pick up the phone, use a DVD or Blu-ray Disc, print or are at the grocery store checkout. All in all diode lasers make up a market of more than $3 billion, 50 percent of the total laser market.

Of course all these are very low power applications, with power levels in the milliwatt range, not quite usable for cutting or welding. Getting to higher power levels was driven mostly out of the need for better pumps for solid state lasers starting in the 1980s. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory demonstrated a 1.45 kW stack in 1990, with high power laser bars cooled by silicon microchannel coolers. The late 1990s saw the first companies producing high power diode lasers for direct use in industrial applications. Limited by their brightness, these diode lasers were mostly used for plastic welding and heat treatment.

The main drivers to go to direct diodes are higher efficiency, fewer components, a choice of wavelength, and more compact and reliable laser systems. Several companies are building direct diode lasers based on diode bars and reshaping optics for applications such as heat treating, cladding and brazing. To access the cutting and welding market, the beam quality has to be increased, by accessing the full brightness available from the diode emitters.

To get to higher brightness, we have based DirectPhotonics’ lasers on single emitter diodes. Each of those typically delivers

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FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

10-15 W, and requires a low drive current of up to 15 A. The low current can easily be switched with less than 15 Âľs rise time, and due to the low current, cost effective power supplies are available. Also, single emitter chips are established components, which are available from various suppliers at many different wavelengths, with exceptional reliabilities.

The challenge is to combine enough of those single diodes to generate multi-kW systems and to preserve the brightness of the diodes. We have licensed a technology developed by the German Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology and its US subsidiary that allows doing so efficiently.

Several steps are being used to overlap the light out of the individual diodes: First, they are optically stacked, and then many slightly different wavelength lasers are overlapped with the help of gratings and thin-film filters. Both steps are key to this technology. The optical stacking is automatically performed in a pick-and-place machine, allowing for costeffective and reliable manufacturing. The dense wavelength combining allows adding power to the laser beam without losing the ability to focus the laser to a tight spot necessary for metal processing.

Our DirectProcess lasers, tailored for material processing, have power levels of 500 W, 1 kW and 2 kW ex-fiber, and are scalable to higher power levels. The beam parameter product for all these power levels is 7.5 mm*mrad, which makes them almost 3 times as bright as the diode lasers built with legacy

July/August 2014

technology, and enables them to compete directly with fiber and disk lasers in many applications.

New ultra-high brightness diodes, enabled by advances in semiconductor and packaging technology, are well on their way to become the new standard lasers in the 1 Âľm wavelength range. With a good enough brightness to tackle most common metal manufacturing jobs, it will ultimately be their efficiency that will turn them into the leading lasers in the market. While immediate energy savings may not be large, the higher efficiency causes an entire slew of advantages: Diode lasers require fewer and simpler power supplies, smaller chillers, a less complicated optical design, all leading to reduced cost, both for the operation and the original investment and a much smaller footprint.

Dr. Silke Pflueger is the General Manager for DirectPhotonics Inc.

Robotic laser processing.

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ABB LaserWeld and LaserCut cells are the most advanced in the industry, delivering superior path performance, fast, precise motion, and unmatched quality control. Supported by proprietary software and automatic tuning and calibration tools, the cells allow the flexibility to easily and quickly change the product mix in response to evolving market demand. www.abb.com/robotics.

ABB Inc. (248) 391-9000 www.abb.com/robotics sales.info@us.abb.com

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featured article featured article

Novel Multi-Beam Processing System for Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM)

By Rahul Patwa, Hans Herfurth and Jyoti Mazumder

Additive manufacturing (AM) processes (also commonly referred to as 3D printing) allows the layer-by-layer build-up of parts rather than through molding or subtractive techniques such as machining. The idea that AM machines can print 3D objects much the same way that inkjet printer creates 2D images on paper is being described as “the next industrial revolution�1.

Currently there are a number of AM processes that use a variety of materials (plastic, metal, ceramics) in different forms (powders, liquids, wire or sheets) with different heating sources.

Laser additive manufacturing (LAM) process uses a laser beam as the heat source and is primarily divided into two processes: Laser metal deposition (LMD) and selective laser melting (SLM).

In the LMD process, a laser is used to melt metal powder fed through the nozzle which is then deposited in layers thereby building a dense 3D part free of binder. In the SLM process, a layer of powder is deposited on a build platform and then a fast steered laser beam melts the powder layer according to programmed 2D geometry. The melted powder particles fuse together in the correct shape and multiple thin powder layers

Concept Beam 2

are deposited by lowering the build platform to create complex 3D parts. Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT) Aachen, Germany has successfully developed and implemented a number of LMD and SLM applications and has been a driving force in transferring this innovative technology to a variety of industries such as aerospace and medical. Typically, both of these processes are performed using a single laser beam.

A novel approach is the multi-beam laser additive manufacturing (MB-LAM) process which deploys several low power laser beams simultaneously. The single beams either work in parallel to scale productivity without sacrificing precision, or in close proximity creating desired heat profiles. This new approach is scalable in productivity through multiplication. MB-LAM shares similarities with both LMD and SLM processes and operates in a process domain between LMD and SLM. Similar to the LMD process, MB-LAM uses a powder nozzle and one laser beam remains stationary with respect to powder focus and like the SLM process, the position and motion of the second beam is controlled by fast beam steering.

Design

Actual system

Beam 1 High brightness diode lasers

Beam combining steering mirror

focus lens Beam steering

feed directon

Powder nozzle

Figure 1. MB-LAM system

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July/August 2014

beam 1

+ Figure 2. Multi-beam laser additive manufacturing process

Fraunhofer USA, Center for Laser Technology (CLT) first presented the new MB-LAM processing system with two laser beams at ICALEO 20132. This system is comprised of two high brightness diode laser modules, beam combining and beam steering optics, and a compact coaxial powder nozzle. The laser modules contain a pair of diode arrays and each produce a single laser beam. The output power of both modules can be individually controlled. One beam is stationary while the beam path of the second beam includes a mirror that can be tilted in 2 axes. The controlled actuation of the mirror enables changing the beam position relative to the stationary beam. Both beams are optically combined and focused by the same lens. A coaxial powder nozzle is used to feed powder material into the laser spot using an inert gas jet. The MB-LAM system is a complete integrated processing unit with a size of 125 mm x 175 mm x 425 mm and an approximate weight of 10 kg. Its compact size and light weight makes it very adaptable to robotic motion systems.

beam 2

=

beam 1 + 2 Figure 4. Laser re-melted tracks with beam 1, beam 2 and beam 1 + beam 2

The MB-LAM beam steering system can operate in three different modes. To establish conditions for pre- or post-heating of the substrate or the deposited material, the movable beam can be focused in either a leading or trailing position relative to the stationary beam. To achieve the desired track width, the movable beam can be placed parallel to the stationary beam or both beams can be superimposed to increase intensity.

Ultimately the ability of the system to achieve continuously movable 2D beam oscillation in the processing plane provides the highest flexibility in creating specific temperature profiles.

feed directon

Oscillation

Figure 3. Three principle scenarios of beam steering

To test the beam steering control, laser re-melting tests were conducted using the MB-LAM system without depositing

powder. The re-melted track from combined beam (stationary + movable beam) is uniform across the width and illustrates the homogenous heat distribution.

Next, the MB-LAM system was applied for laser additive manufacturing using Inconel 738 powder and optimized process parameters were determined (laser power – 265 W, feed rate – 0.25 m/min, powder flow rate – 3 g/min @ 40 psi). It was found that the sinusoidal beam oscillation normal to the feed direction with a maximum amplitude of 150 µm and a frequency of 100 Hz or higher resulted in most favorable clad profile. Moreover, the clad profile could be precisely controlled by varying the oscillation parameters.

Subsequently, area deposition was conducted which showed good overlapping tracks without defects. Multi-layer deposition with 2 and 3 layers resulted in up to 1 mm thick layers and exhibit a defect-free high quality deposition.

(Continued on page 16)

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One layer

Two layers

Three layers

Powder: Inconel 738 Substrate: Steel Powder flowrate: 2.3 g/min Speed: 250 mm/min Power: 265 W Frequency: 100 Hz Amplitude: 150 µm

Figure 5. Results from single and multi-layer deposition using MB-LAM system

In summary, a novel laser additive manufacturing process using multiple beams has been developed. A compact integrated MBLAM system has been built and tested and has demonstrated excellent results for single and multi-layer deposition. Ongoing development work is focused on processing of crack sensitive nickel super alloys and the integration of real time process monitoring techniques into the processing head.

Rahul Patwa is Project Manager at the Fraunhofer USA, Center for Laser Technology, Hans Herfurth is the Director of Engineering at Visotek Inc, and Jyoti Mazumder is the Robert H. Lurie Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan.

1 2 3

“A third industrial revolution”, The Economist, Apr 21st 2012.

R. Patwa, H. Herfurth, J. Mazumder, J. Chae, “Multi-Beam Laser Additive Manufacturing”, ICALEO 2nd, Miami, FL, Oct 6-9, 2013.

Technology for The welder’s world.

More than Welding... ...robotic Precision Welding, Brazing & Seam Tracking when precision and quality matter ABIcor BInZel robotic systems has optimum laser optics ALO1, ALO3 and BOSF, master feeder systems MFS V2, and seam tracking technology TH6D for every welding application.

Laser Optics w/Seam Tracking:

ALO3 for master machines, lateral swivel range (y) +/- 90 degrees ALO1 compact independent system for guiding machines, lateral swivel ranges +/- 10 mm Laser Optics w/o Seam Tracking: BOSF designed for the harshest conditions and high-power applications Seam Tracking: TH6D Three laser stripe precise seam tracking even good for reflective surfaces.

Master Feed System: MFS-2

www.binzel-abicor.com

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LIATODAY

FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

July/August 2014

®

®

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17

featured article featured article

GE Aviation

Vision for Additive Manufacturing

By Todd Rockstroh

GE Aviation (GEA) has launched production of their first additively manufactured engine component, the fuel nozzle for the LEAP gas turbine (Fig.1). This part will see combustion flame and gas temperatures and highly stressed thermal cycles.

There are 19 per engine and the LEAP volume will require over 45,000 fuel circuits to be additively fabricated annually starting in 2018. Our designers exploited additive enabled features to gain: a) 5x life improvement, b) 20 parts consolidated into one, and c) a cost reduction.

Figure 1. GE Aviation LEAP Gas Turbine Fuel Nozzle

Powder bed or layered manufacturing is only one additive technology. A second GEA application is a hybrid additive – conventional process to fabricate the metal leading edge (MLE) of a composite fan blade (Fig. 2). The MLE is there to protect the leading edge of a composite fan blade from foreign object damage and small particle erosion. MLEs are currently fabricated via subtractive processes and creep forming. The newer generation engines and new generation composite materials require harder to machine/form materials and GEA launched additive technologies to overcome these limitations. Layered manufacturing has enabled unique features to be incorporated internally that cannot be otherwise machined.

The hybrid MLE is constructed by forming sheet metal to the blade contour and then adding the bulk material via flowing powder/laser fusion welding to form the bulk nose. The key again is a significant cost reduction over subtractive processes while maintaining or exceeding material properties.

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LIATODAY

FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

Figure 2. GE Aviation Composite Fan Blade (metal leading edge in foreground)

The additive process to production has been a five plus year journey and this article will highlight some of the key barriers and how to overcome them in your company. The sooner your technical staffs become familiar with the technology, control and limits of equipment, materials and designs, the quicker you can generate new products.

Method 1: Dive in a Little GE invested in over 50 desktop additive filament printers for $2,000 to $3,000 each. We challenged our technical staff to: 1. Make something for your home by pulling designs from free sources such as GrabCAD.com and Thingiverse.com, 2. Make something you currently work on/with at GE, a tool or part, 3. Redesign the tool or part to make it more “additive friendly,” or 4. Redesign to exploit additive features.

July/August 2014

Figure 3. Machined bracket (left), bracket with same function designed for additive (right)

There are also national resources such as America Makes (americamakes.org) and others who can work with and teach your technical staffs prior to any investment in equipment.

Method 2: Let the World Dive in for You GE also used open source acquisition via a “GrabCAD Challenge.”

We used a simple bracket that was optimized for machining cost and asked for redesigns by non-GE persons via the internet (Fig. 3).

We disclosed some basic loading conditions that the designs had to meet and were seeking lighter weight, additive designs.

The result was that in a few weeks we had nearly 700 entries for a $20,000 prize. Our technical team evaluated the top 10 designs based on weight reduction, complexity (yes, additive designs can be too difficult to inspect), and finite element analysis of dynamic loading conditions. We then built the top three designs in metal and are currently destructively testing.

This is a relatively inexpensive way to enter as your technical staff will be exposed to the innovation enabled by layered manufacturing. 700 entries can spawn quite a few concepts within your company.

Challenges of the Additive Technologies While additive manufacturing is often referred to as the next industrial revolution there are other challenges being addressed across the globe:

limit fatigue and other characteristics that require smooth surfaces, those features will have to be accessible.

3. Process control – this can only be accomplished via familiarity with the machines and processes. Calibration techniques are still evolving at the OEMs and early adopters.

Most of these machines are not at the same maturity as mills or lathes.

4. Process monitoring and control – many parts or batches of parts will require days or weeks in current layered machines.

The key technology gap today is the ability to adequately sense each cubic mm of the build to insure part quality at the end versus costly post-build inspections.

GEA would endorse the “next industrial revolution” assessment of additive manufacturing. We are considering over 500 pounds per engine in weight reduction enabled by additive in external fittings and castings which can result in significant fuel consumption improvement for our customers. While it may take time and maturation of the equipment to become cost effective for your company, the learning curve to technically exploit additive manufacturing is long. The current machines will rapidly find applications in tooling and rigs, replacing long cycle machined parts in the near term. As your technical staff engages the technologies, the applications will follow.

Dr. Todd Rockstroh is a Consulting Engineer for GE Aviation.

To attend an updated presentation of this article, register for LME 2014 (Sept. 23-24, Schaumburg, IL) at www.laserevent.org.

1. Material properties – given the breadth of materials and the cost to qualify properties, collaborative industrial partnering to share the expense are still forming including the reuse of materials.

2. Distortion and finish machining – your technical staff will quickly become comfortable with additive manufacturing and create layered parts that cannot be cost effectively inspected. The surface finish in today’s machines will

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LIATODAY

FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

July/August 2014

NEW!

Z136.9

Safe Use of Lasers in Manufacturing Environments

PROTECT YOUR GROWTH AND PROFITS!

The NEW standard for manufacturing can help ensure that your customers and employees stay safe.

The ANSI Z136.9 Safe Use of Lasers in Manufacturing Environments standard is the latest in the line of laser safety guidelines stemming from the parent Z136.1 standard. This standard provides reasonable and adequate guidance for the safe use of lasers and laser systems that operate at wavelengths between 180 nm and 1 mm. Intended to protect individuals with the potential for laser exposure when lasers are used in manufacturing environments, this standard includes policies and procedures to ensure laser safety in these areas where lasers are used in manufacturing, both public and private industries, as well as product development along with testing settings.

The new standard comes at a critical time, as lasers continue to populate more processing lines in the aerospace, automotive, energy, defense and health care industries. Order your copy today!

Published by:

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21

featured article

Corporate Member Profile Directed Light, Inc.

Directed Light Inc. is a fully equipped provider of laser manufacturing applications and components. An integral asset to biomedical, automotive, aerospace, communications and electronics industries, Directed Light’s Laser Contract Manufacturing and Component Replacement Services enable a diverse group of customers to receive laser solutions according to specific needs and preferences as well as the technology to keep their product efficient and safe. Founded in 1983, Directed Light Inc. is located in the heart of the Silicon Valley in San Jose, CA. The company’s main services are divided into two business entities, each providing laser-oriented products and applications to several industries. The Laser Contract Manufacturing unit works closely with customers to ensure quality welding, cutting, drilling and more. These highly technical manufacturing applications are of use to virtually any market that requires proficiency in both R&D and production, and are particularly important in the medical device sector. The Advanced Technology Job Shop contributes to Directed Light’s contract manufacturing operations through 17 state-of-the-art laser systems from UV 355 nm to Far Infrared CO2 capable of exactness when dealing with a variety of materials.

Directed Light’s Laser Components Sales and Service unit, offer mission-critical replacement parts for lasers utilized by customers in industrial, medical and scientific industries.

Through an extensive catalog, quick deliveries, and a keen eye for customer service, Directed Light Inc. has become the nation’s largest distributor of replacement components for industrial Nd:YAG, Disk, Fiber and CO2 lasers. The two separate business units culminate in a company prepared for a manufacturing landscape that is increasingly dependent on the use of laser services and applications. As a whole, Directed Light and the company’s successes illustrate the importance of a vast array of laser technologies and their growing market share across the globe.

An LIA member since 1995, Directed Light has participated in and exhibited at multiple LIA conferences and events including ICALEO, PICALO and LME.

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LIATODAY

FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

For more information, visit www.directedlight.com.

July/August 2014

Industrial Lasers

Low Maintenance Diode Technology

Lasers for cladding, welding, remote welding, heat treatment, brazing, cutting.

Fiber delivered, compact, efficient, high power, high brightness.

Laserline Inc., 1800 Wyatt Drive, Suite 9, Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA Tel. +1 408 834 4660 | www.laserline-inc.com

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member Innovations

Members In Motion

JDSU’s Network Instruments Doubles Storage Capacity in GigaStor Expandable Largest Back-in-Time Analysis Device Ideal for Troubleshooting Network Instruments, a business unit of JDSU (NASDAQ: JDSU), announced today it has increased the scalability of its popular GigaStor product by doubling the capacity of its GigaStor Expandable and 10 Gb Wire Speed appliances. Now capable of storing 96 TB of network and application traffic for analysis in a single chassis, the GigaStor Expandable scales to more than a petabyte with additional units.

1st Conference on Laser Polishing LaP 2014 The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT established and hosted the first international conference on laser polishing. From May 6-7, 2014, over 70 local and international scientists and laser technology users from various sectors of the industry met in Aachen, Germany. During five different sessions, 14 speakers from six countries expounded topics related to the laser polishing of glass and metals.

GigaStor network forensics, data retention solutions are used by network managers and engineers for retrospective network analysis and troubleshooting. Using GigaStor’s analytics, network teams can navigate to the exact moment a problem occurred, view packet-level details around the event, and resolve the issue. For more information, visit www.jdsu.com.

LZH: Welding Thick Metal Sheets Quickly It is possible to weld thick pipelines and metal sheets made of aluminum alloys or steel at high speeds of 6 m/min. respectively 1.5 m/min. with a hybrid welding process developed at the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH). In the future, the laser-based process can be used to shorten processing times, and thus significantly reduce the processing costs of liquid gas tanks and pipelines.

Scientists of the Joining and Cutting of Metals Group at the LZH have developed a process that can be used to make singlesided, zero-defect welds for aluminum sheets up to a thickness of 12 mm. To do so, they have combined a laser beam with two gas metal arc welding (GMAW) torches. A scanner mirror can be used to oscillate the laser beam lengthwise or crosswise to the feed direction. The joining process can reach feed speeds of 5 to 6 m/min, and gaps of up to 0.5 mm and edge misalignment of up to 2 mm can be bridged. For more information, visit www.lzh.de/en.

Despite a steady increase in recent years in the number of working groups, publications and projects on the subject, laser polishing is still considered a niche technology. This prompted Fraunhofer ILT to organize the 1st Conference on Laser Polishing LaP 2014 in Aachen, Germany. Headed by Dr. Edgar Willenborg, their event created an international platform for exchanging scientific findings in the laser polishing field. For more information, visit www.ilt.fraunhofer.de/en.

Plasmo at LASYS 2014: Individual Quality Control for Lasers in Material Processing It pays to invest in individual quality assurance – especially in fast-moving times. The internationally active technology company plasmo Industrietechnik, with headquarters in Austria and branches in Stuttgart, Germany and Plymouth, MI, USA, was represented for the fourth time at this year’s LASYS, the international trade fair for system solutions in laser materials processing. Innovative, individual solutions for quality assurance in industrial production were presented. The clear message from plasmo: solution-orientation. For more information, visit www.plasmo.at.

TruMark 5020 Fiber Laser Marker Converts High Pulse Frequencies into Short Marking Processes Fast and flexible describe the TruMark 5020. High pulse frequencies and superior pulse-to-pulse stability make this fiber laser marker the ideal solution for metal or plastic applications where high speed and superior edge quality are required. The TruMark 5020 will be shown in a TruMark Station 5000 in booth N-6223 at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS). The event takes place at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL, Sept. 8-13, 2014. For more information, visit www.us.trumpf.com.

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FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

July/August 2014

welcome new

corporate member JDSU

Milpitas, CA For a complete list of corporate members, visit our corporate directory at www.lia.org/membership.

Laser Safety Officer Training Gain More KnowledGe in less TiMe wiTh laser safeTy officer TraininG online!

O

N

L

IN

E

LIA’s Laser Safety Officer (LSO) online training course was designed for all levels of experience and involvement including industrial, military, educational or research applications of lasers. It is tailored to fit the needs of safety professionals, engineers, laser operators, technicians and other professionals assigned the duties of Laser Safety Officer who are not required to perform hazard analysis calculations.

This course meets all LSO training requirements outlined by ANSI, OSHA and ACGIH. You will earn 16 CECs by AAHP, 3.0 BLS CM Points by the Board of Laser Safety and is eligible for ABIH CM Points.

Now Includes Canadian Regulations!

www.lia.org/online-training/lso

REGISTER TODAY! 1.800.34.laser

Presented by:

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25

ASC Z136

Update

Call to Action! All ASC Z136 and subcommittee members now is the time to submit your abstracts for the 2015 International Laser Safety Conference (ILSC®) to be held in Albuquerque, NM, Mar. 23-26, 2015.

ILSC is a four-day conference that covers all aspects of laser safety practice and hazard control. Comprising the foundation of ILSC, the Laser Safety Scientific Sessions (LSSS) address developments in regulatory, mandatory and voluntary safety guidelines for laser products and laser use as well as topics like “what the latest maximum permissible exposure changes are, and how those are relevant to the bioeffects that really occur in the human,” asserts ILSC General Chair Ben Rockwell. Featured topics include:

• • • • • • • • •

In addition to these sessions, a two-day Medical Practical Applications Seminar (MPAS) will take place on Mar. 23-24, followed by a two-day Technical Practical Applications Seminar (TPAS) on Mar. 25-26. These seminars complement the scientific sessions by exploring everyday scenarios that an LSO or MLSO may encounter.

Instructions for submitting your abstracts electronically through the ILSC website are located at www.lia.org/conferences/ ilsc/abstract_submission. The abstract submission deadline is Oct. 2, 2014. The abstract should be one paragraph of approximately 100 to 200 words in complete sentences, which contains original, recent, unpublished results of application research, development or implementation.

Save the Date! As in previous years, the ASC Z136 Annual Meeting is scheduled to be held on Mar. 22, the Sunday before the conference begins. As we get closer to ILSC, ancillary Z136 and IEC meetings will be scheduled during the week.

Subcommittee chairs, it is not too early to request meeting space, contact Barbara Sams at +1.407.380.1553 or bsams@lia.org.

Safety Standards Legislation Control Measures High Powered Laser Issues Hazard & Risk Assessment Bioeffects Measurements Eye Protection (LEP) & PPE Outdoor Lasers Non-Beam Hazards REVISED!

Z136.1

Safe Use of Lasers 2014

Provides the Essential Steps for a Safe Program!

LIA.ORG/ANSI.1 1.800.34.LASER

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LIATODAY

FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

July/August 2014

Published by:

BLS

Update

Online LSO Courses for the Busy Professional For years, the only choice available to people wanting to become a Certified Laser Safety Officer (CLSO®) was to attend an in-person laser safety officer course1. However, with the hustle and bustle of today’s workplace, finding time away from the job is challenging. Today’s economic conditions similarly make training-related travel expenses hard to come by. With these limitations making it more difficult to attend an in-person course, laser safety professionals need to find alternatives that give them both a comprehensive LSO course and the flexibility to complete their training online.

Aspiring and current LSOs seeking professional development opportunities, now you have some options!

Bowen EHS, LLC, the leading provider of professional development for health and safety experts for over 10 years, is excited to announce the roll out of its new Laser Safety Officer Online Review Course. This online review course is aimed at both new and veteran LSOs and is designed to provide students with the tools needed to succeed on the CLSO exam. Increase retention and understanding of the material, and prevent the information overload sometimes experienced with week-long workshops by spreading your training over an eight-week period. The course meets twice a week for two hours each day, during which time you will be live in the online environment with course instructor and developer, William Pate. Mr. Pate is a Senior Instructor at Bowen EHS and is a Certified Laser Safety Officer, Certified Safety Professional, Certified Industrial Hygienist, and is also a member of the ANSI Z136.1, Z136.3, Z136.8 Standards Subcommittees as well as the NFPA 115 Laser Fire Protection Technical Committee.

In the online classroom, you are able to follow along with the lectures, ask questions of the instructor, solve practice problems and interact with other students. Can’t attend a class because of an emergency or scheduling conflict? No problem! All of the lectures are recorded so they can be downloaded and reviewed at your own pace. The LSO Online Review Course combines the best of in-person training with all of the benefits of the online format. The LSO Online Review Course is also the only online LSO course that covers laser hazard calculations.

The LSO Online Review Course has been pre-approved for continuing education by the Board of Laser Safety (BLS®) for 4 CM Points and 32 CECs from the American Academy of Health Physics (AAHP). Final approval from the BLS as fulfilling the CLSO prerequisite is anticipated. The inaugural class begins on Oct. 6, 2014 and is being offered for at a discounted price of $795.00. Register early, because this first class is limited

to 20 participants. For more information on the course, or to register, visit the Bowen EHS website at bowenehs.com/ courses/professional-development/laser-safety-officer-onlinereview.html.

For those of you hoping to achieve the Certified Medical Laser Safety Officer (CMLSO®) certification, the Laser Institute of America offers an online Medical Laser Safety Officer Course.

This MLSO Online Course mirrors the LIA’s popular in-classroom program. With this online course, you can spend less time away from the operating room but still receive the same high-quality training. The MLSO Online Course fulfills the LSO training course prerequisite required to sit for the CMLSO exam and is also approved for 2.0 CM Points from the BLS as well as 12 CECs by the AAHP. For more information or to register for the MLSO course, visit the LIA website at www.lia.org/store/course/MLSOONLINE. To fulfill the prerequisite of completion of a BLS approved Laser Safety Officer training course.

1

Certification for Laser Safety Officers Providing Professionals a Means for Improvement in the Practice of Laser Safety

Gain a Competitive Advantage by Becoming Certified Today!

1.800.34.LASER +1.407.985.3810

www.lasersafety.org

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27

Laser Insights

Featured Abstracts

Laser Insights is a feature to give insight into the very latest developments in laser safety and the possible applications of laser materials processing.

These overviews are designed to give you insight into the content and applications of the papers presented at our conferences and workshops. Visit www.lia.org/laserinsights to begin your search. View complete articles of the abstracts below online under the Featured Category.

Embedding Fiber Optic Sensors Using Laser Additive Manufacturing

Laser Micro Welding of Aluminum with the Superposition of a Pulsed Diode Laser and a Pulsed Nd: Yag Laser

By Dirk Havermann, William N. Macpherson, Robert R. J. Maier and Duncan P. Hand

By Philipp von Witzendorff, Lorenz Gehrmann, Martin Bielenin, JeanPierre Bergmann, Stefan Kaierle and Ludger Overmeyer

Laser Additive Manufacturing provides novel and exciting possibilities when constructing 3D free form components in polymers and metals. The process of building 3D components from the inside-out opens up the possibility of embedding sensors into the heart of a component. Fiber Bragg gratings are an ideal sensor for smart composite materials and are already used for delivering in-situ measurements of polymer components.

Recently developed high temperature compatible fiber Bragg gratings, suitable for continuous use at temperatures of up to 1000 °C, provide the opportunity of extending sensing capabilities to metallic components. In this cross-disciplinary project, fiber optic sensing and laser additive manufacturing are merged to encapsulate fiber optic sensors into stainless steel components.

Pulsed laser welding is applied for welding of thin aluminum sheets when the heat affected zone has to be minimized. The pulsed laser process enables a low and precise heat input because the heat dissipates away in between the laser pulses. Applications are hermetic sealing of electronics or opto-electronics which are not persistent enough to resist high temperatures. Aluminum has a low absorptivity (~5 percent) for the laser radiation of industrial established YAG laser sources which restricts the process efficiency. In addition, several aluminum alloys have a high tendency to generate hot cracks during welding which is even more severe in pulsed laser welding because the pulsed mode leads to rapid cooling.

The Global Laser Education PORTAL www.lia.org/laseru Providing Practical Online Training for All Laser Users!

Presented by:

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LIATODAY

FOCUS: Direct Diodes in Manufacturing

July/August 2014

JLA

Editor’s Pick

The Laser Institute of America’s official refereed publication, the Journal of Laser Applications® (JLA), an online-only journal, is complete with new features for a broader audience. JLA is hosted on AIP Publishing’s robust Scitation online platform, providing the journal with great functionality and the ability to leverage a wide range of valuable discoverability features. JLA features nine topic sections, a faster peer-review process and a more functional website (jla.aip.org) that makes content easier to access and more interactive. Readers will find full-text HTML rendering featuring inline reference links and the ability to enlarge tables and figures by clicking on them. Among the new features are enhanced search functions with more options and better controls to explore returned content in more useful ways.

Laser-Assisted Growth of Carbon Nanotubes — A Review

BY YOERI VAN DE BURGT

Laser-assisted chemical vapor deposition (LACVD) is an attractive maskless process for growing locally carbon nanotubes at selected places on substrates that may contain temperature-sensitive components. This review gives a comprehensive overview of the reported research with respect to laser assisted CVD for the growth of carbon nanotubes. The advantages and disadvantages of local growth using laser sources are discussed, with a focus on structural quality and properties, such as length, position and alignment, and process control. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the influence that the main parameters for nanotube growth — gas, catalyst and thermal energy — have on the growth of carbon nanotubes by laserassisted synthesis. The second part deals with the attempts and successes to control different aspects of local nanotube growth using a laser-assisted growth method.

Subscription Information

BY PHONE

For non-members of LIA, call the American Institute of Physics at 1.800.344.6902 for subscription information.

ONLINE

Sign up at jla.aip.org/alerting_services/ table_of_contents_alerts to receive your JLA table of contents email alerts.

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LIA

Announces

33rd

ICALEO 2014 Advance Program is Now Available – Register Today!

The Advance Program is now available for LIA’s International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics (ICALEO®), which will take place in San Diego, CA, Oct. 19-23, 2014. From its inception, ICALEO has been devoted to the field of laser materials processing at macro, micro and nanoscales and is viewed as the premier source of technical information in the field. Each year ICALEO features areas of topical interest. This year’s featured sessions include diode lasers for processing and pumping, laser process monitoring and control, laser processing of biological materials, lasers in nanotechnology and environmental technology, laser hybrid processing, laser manufacturing for alternative energy sources and laser business development. To view the ICALEO 2014 Advance Program and to register, visit www.icaleo.org.

LAM 2015 Exhibitor & Sponsorship Opportunities are Available – Take Advantage of Early Bird Pricing for a Limited Time Only!

For the first time, the Laser Institute of America will hold its highly popular Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM®) Workshop in its home base of Orlando on Mar. 4-5, 2015.

Central Florida — home to CREOL-The College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida, as well as a hightech corridor comprising 23 counties and numerous colleges and tech companies — is an ideal venue for LAM 2015. This Workshop will bring industry specialists, executives, users and researchers from around the world to show how laser additive processes can be applied effectively and affordably to today’s manufacturing challenges. Visit www.lia.org/lam for more information.

Now is the time to sign up to be a LAM 2015 Sponsor or Exhibitor and take advantage of Early Bird pricing. Sponsorship is a valuable way to reach a highly-qualified target audience.

Communicate directly with influential decision makers, provide solutions to technology challenges, promote brand recognition through high visibility, and source new products to your target market with our exclusive packages. Don’t miss this opportunity for direct access to your customers! Please contact Andrew Morrison at amorrison@lia.org for more information.

Upgrade to the Newly Revised ANSI Z136.1 & Ensure Your Laser Safety Program is Compliant Updated for the first time in the last seven years, the new American National Standard for Safe Use of Lasers is now available through the Laser Institute of America, secretariat of the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) Z136, which develops the laser safety standards. The ANSI Z136.1 standard guides the safe use of lasers and laser systems by defining control measures for the seven laser hazard classifications.

The ANSI Z136.1 standard is indispensable in creating a safe working environment where lasers are used. While it is a voluntary standard, it is a Laser Safety Officer’s (LSO’s) best friend — and a vital insurance policy for companies.

With the rollout of the updated ANSI Z136.1 parent standard for laser safety, LIA is updating its training courses to reflect the new guidelines, revised for the first time since 2007. The first LIA course to be updated to reflect the many changes in the Z136.1-2014 is the flagship Laser Safety Officer (LSO) with Hazard Analysis course. The three-day classroom-based LSO course was updated in time for St. Louis attendees in June. As for online courses, the LSO course will reflect new guidelines on safety signage.

For a limited time LIA is offering an early-purchase discount: $135 for LIA members, $155 for non-members. When the promotion ends, the price will rise to $173 for LIA members and $193 for non-members. (To obtain the newly revised ANSI Z136.1 standard and view a sample of the publication, visit LIA’s online store at www.lia.org/ANSI.1).

OSHA Update OSHA Schedules Meeting of the Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee

BLUE - Pantone 288 GREEN - Pantone 356

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will hold a meeting of the Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee Sept. 3-4, 2014, in Washington, DC. Work groups will meet September 3 and the full committee will meet September 3 and 4.

WPAC was established to advise and make recommendations to the secretary of labor and the assistant secretary for occupational safety and health on ways to improve the fairness, efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of OSHA’s whistleblower protection activities.

The tentative agenda includes remarks from Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health; discussion of committee and work group reports; invited reports from other agencies or the public regarding whistleblower enforcement; administrative business and public comments.

For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

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13501 Ingenuity Dr., Suite 128 Orlando, FL 32826 USA

031413 8.25 x 8.25 LIA General Ad.ai 1 3/14/2013 12:04:41 PM