The Nuclear AMRC’s powerful new disk laser cell is now open for collaborative R&D into high-performance welding techniques.
The centre’s power beam team have completed the first welding trials, following a four-month installation of the cell.
The cell is designed to produce high-quality deep penetration joins, from around 15mm in stainless steel, over lengths of a metre or more. It features a 16kW Trumpf disk laser, the most powerful of its kind in the UK.
The laser head is carried by a six-axis gantry over a two-axis manipulator table which can carry components up to 15 tonnes, all contained in a safety enclosure measuring 10 by seven metres and eight metres height. The cell has been designed and built by Loughborough-based Cyan Tec Systems.
The Nuclear AMRC team will initially use the cell to investigate the viability of using the laser to weld seams on large intermediate-level waste containers for the nuclear decommissioning sector.
With further development, the cell could also be used to investigate laser cutting techniques for decommissioning.
