Laser welding of nylon thin films using a pulsed CO2 waveguide laser

Abstract

In this work, we present an experimental investigation for welding Nylon: Bi-Oriented Polyamide (BOPA) thin films using a CO2 waveguide laser in a pulsed configuration. The material used in this study is Nylon 6, all set in square sheet thin films samples of 100 cm2 with 15 μm thickness. Our optical setup is based on deliver the laser beam all the way through the work piece using X-Y scanning mirrors mounted on galvo-like motors and an f-theta lens with 15 cm focal length and 50 μm focal spot sizes. The fluence (laser energy) is controlled by a pulse signal generator having the possibility to change the pulse repetition rate (PRR) and the pulse width (PW) of the laser beam. Our results show the best weld seam for scanning speeds of 20mm/s and the pulsed laser beam with 2 KHz PRR and 80 μs for the PW time. The scanning speed and trajectory for the welding process are all controlled by a computer in which one can modify the weld parameters. The irradiance at the focal point is set to 1.146 MW/cm2 while the average optical power was set to 22.5W. Our experimental parameters are previously modeled by using COMSOL Multiphysics software were the laser heat source is modeled on the selected material. This model is based on the heat transfer partial differential equation and solved by finite elements procedure. Model results show a perfect agreement with the experiments. Finally, the quality of the welded seam is studied by means of sealed tight and share force critical mechanical test.