Research and development of laser technology in materials processing

Laser Materials Processing is no longer a scientific curiosity but a common day Industrial reality. Lasers in manufacturing sector are currently used in welding, cutting, drilling, cladding, marking, cleaning, micro-machining and forming. Recently, high power laser diode, LD pumped YAG laser, 10kW lamp pumped YAG laser, 700W fiber laser and excimer laser have been, developed in the industrialized countries, which had their own big national projects. As a result of large numbers of research and developments, the modem laser materials processing has been realized and used in all kinds of industries now. At the beginning of 20(th) century, the price of laser system has become lower competitive to the conventional lasers. Lower the price of laser diode systems is, Wider is the field of their applications. In the present paper, The researches and developments in laser materials processing in US, EU and Japan are outlined and metallurgical aspects are described on the base of laboratory researches.