New approaches on laser micro welding of copper by using a laser beam source with a wavelength of 450 nm

Laser micro welding is specified with welding geometries below 1 mm and is used with increasing demand for contacting electronic components such as battery and fuel cells. Fiber lasers with a wavelength in the near infrared range (IR, lambda approximate to 1 mu m) have established themselves for this purpose. The laser welding process allows processing of parts in the micron range but reduces the surface quality of the processed parts at the same time. Furthermore, weld defects can occur due to process instabilities caused by the low absorptivity (<5%) of copper for infrared radiation. Therefore, alternative laser beam sources and processes have to be established, to avoid these negative effects on the weld seam quality. Laser beam sources in the visible wavelength range (VIS) prove to be an alternative due to an increased absorption of the laser energy in copper-based alloys. This paper presents the observation of laser micro welding of Cu-ETP and CuSn6 specimen with a thickness between 150 mu m and 1 mm. The diode laser is specified by a wavelength of 450 nm and a nominal output power of 150 W. The surface roughness of the weld seam and the overall weld seam geometry for heat conduction welding are investigated. The laser energy absorption is measured using two integrating spheres to compare the results quantitatively to measurements conducted with laser sources of 1070 nm and 515 nm. For detailed observation high speed imaging is used to observe the melt pool dynamics. Simulations are conducted, to optimize the dimensioning of optics and laser beam source. Finally, the possible use of the novel laser beam source for various technical joining applications is discussed and evaluated and the influence of the use of protective gas is observed.