INDUSTRIAL LASER APPLICATIONS (ILA)
We are your partner in developing industrial relevant processes, which are not feasible with market existing laser sources. Our main objectives are to demonstrate the potential of a new generation of laser systems developed at HiLASE Centre in industrial applications and to initiate and influence further lasers development according to industrial demands.
Our focus now is to develop and optimize according to end users’ needs new and innovative processes in the fields of Efficient Laser Micromachining, Laser Shock Penning (LSP), and Laser Induced Damage Threshold (LIDT). For this purpose, we are developing experimental stations around HiLASE Centre laser systems using state of the art diagnostics, robotics, laser beam shaping and manipulation techniques. Among the most promising applications are micromachining applications (fabrication of functional large size surfaces, cutting, drilling, marking and many more) with efficiency and resulting quality above nowadays industrial standards, testing of damage threshold for optics and coatings in new laser radiation regimes, surface treatments to increase fatigue life of loaded parts by influencing residual stress, surface hardness, or corrosion resistance.
Laser Shock Peening technique can dramatically improve materials used for construction of nuclear reactor vessels
The application team of the HiLASE Centre has successfully applied the Laser shock peening technique on Austenitic steel 08CH18N10T which is used for construction of nuclear reactor vessels. This steel alloys is susceptible to SCC (Stress Corrosion Cracking) which is a phenomena where the part fails (cracks) under the combined influence of aggressive environment, weakened material and tensile stresses introduced during manufacturing.
New micro-processing station
Success test of designed interference processing station suitable for interference micromachining with hundreds or thousands of laser beams at the same time, allowing to use the full protentional of powerful HiLASE Centre lasers. It works on a principle when original laser beam is divided into two or more laser beams, which are recombined at the sample surface forming an interference pattern which is then directly imprinted into the material.
Successful design and fabrication of functional structures by laser
A team of HiLASE Centre researchers managed to successfully design and fabricate functional structures for tailoring water repellency of a surface. Fabricated surface gained ultrahydrophobic behavior with static contact angle of 180° and sliding angle of 5°.
Advanced pulse shaping with Bivoj laser for LSP experiments within OPEN ACCESS
A group of researchers from the University of Coventry (UK) and two HiLASE Centre teams, led by Dr. Brajer (LSP) and Dr. divoky (Bivoj laser), have successfully demonstrated LSP treatment with various pulse shapes. These experiments were performed within 2 weeks in the context of the Open Access project titled ‘Mechanisms of life enhancement by laser shock peening surface treatment’. Several pulse shapes were tested, including single Gaussian and Supergaussian pulses with durations from 6 to 14 ns, and double Gaussian pulses each with duration of 3 ns. The materials under investigation were various alloys of aluminum. Different processing conditions were tested during the experiments.
Jan Brajer earned his Ph.D. in Engineering Technology at CTU in Prague in 2018. Since 2013, he has been working in the HiLASE Centre as a member of the research program 3, focusing on the application of laser technology. He is involved in the research and development of laser technologies with a focus on effect of laser shock processing on surface integrity. He has successfully cooperated with various industrial partners and and he is currently supervising several bachelor and diploma theses. Nowadays he is the head of the ILA department, where his main goal is the transfer of advanced laser technologies to the industry.
