Carbon Composite Joining

As manufacturers turn to laser systems for materials processing, niche applications present unique demands. One such application is carbon fiber composite joining.

Automated fiber placement machines and tape placement systems (ATP) are used in industrial and aerospace programs to lay up large area structural composites with BMI resins.

Leonardo’s laser diodes are used as replacements for obsolete technologies such as hot gas or infrared heaters. Offering substantially higher electrical efficiency (>60%) and an ultra-compact form factor, laser diodes have the added benefit of targeted heat delivery for the joining of complex structures.

Case Study

Carbon fiber composite joining using free-space direct diodes

Creare, who’d won an SBIR to develop a laser system that could join ribbons in carbon fiber for aerospace, turned to our laser solutions team for its expertise in designing advanced, precise lasers.

The existing system, with an indiscriminate heat source, lacked the necessary directional control to precisely process the material. In the initial retrofit design, the customer tried an off-the-shelf fiber coupled laser diode, but this design resulted in a heating head that could not meet size constraints.

Leonardo’s T6 fluid cooled laser diode arrays, in a scalable building block format of 5 bars precisely spaced for even distribution of optical power over the work surface, delivered more power per square cm, to get the beam profile where they needed it, at a significantly reduced head size.

Leonardo's T6 water cooled laser diode

This custom configuration proved to be highly effective in carbon composite joining. Replacing a heat coil or gas jet with our free-space direct diodes resulted in:

400% materials processing speed improvement
Electrical-to-optical efficiency gain over 60%
Reduction in rework of 47%, through improved heat targeting and control