VL INNOVATIONS

Vacuum laser welding is an innovative process that has seen increased interest since 2015.

This new welding technology combines the advantages of laser welding, described above, with the high quality of electron beam welding.

Firstly, due to the vacuum environment and the removal of the oxygen content, a drastic simplification of the gas shield, which leads to a simplification in the realization of the welds.

In addition, scientific studies have shown that the weld penetration obtained in vacuum laser welding (1 mbar) is about 2.5 times higher than at atmospheric pressure (1000 mbar).

The penetration depth of vacuum laser welding is similar to that of electron beam welding but for a lower vacuum level (1 mbar against 0.001 mbar). The research results show that with the decrease in ambient pressure, the size of the plasma plume is significantly reduced.

This feature limits spatter and improves process stability due to a change in vacuum laser/material interactions.

It also influences the complex phenomena of heat and fluids and leads to a reduction in porosities and the formation of cracks, which improves the weldability of materials such as aluminium, magnesium, copper, precious metals, etc.

Recently, dissimilar Ti/Al gaskets have been produced with excellent tensile properties due to better control of microstructural evolutions.

This new welding method has enormous technical advantages and has vast prospects for market development due to the improvement of the quality of welds in the vacuum environment. It appears to be a promising candidate for the development of new assembly solutions such as multi-material welding.