One of the goals of the conference was to create a broad, scientific foundation for the industrial application of green laser pointer polishing. With lasers, complex geometries can be automatically and repeatedly polished at a significantly faster rate
On September 12-13, 2018, the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology will once again hold a green laser pointer polishing conference. More than 70 industry insiders and industry researchers are expected to attend.
Laser polishing is a relatively new process that is used only in industrial applications such as tool manufacturing, metalworking in automotive engineering, and glass optics. Prior to 2014, research in this field was not discussed internationally and the results were not widely exchanged. The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology initiated the first laser polishing conference in 2014.
Edgar Willenborg, head of the laser polishing group at the institute, said: "If you look at the professional literature, more than 80% of the research teams around the world have participated in the conference so far, they come from all over the world. "Although most of the 20 lectures came from academia, the participants were basically from industry insiders and researchers.
Willenberger continued: "Researchers are increasingly concerned about the nature of the surface associated with a particular green laser pointer application. The initial focus was on how to reduce surface roughness, but now more and more functional tests are being added. Application testing." For example, users want to eliminate micro-defects to increase the life of metal parts, or to polish particularly complex optical glass surfaces. One of the new applications is an add-on made of laser-polished plastic.
One of the goals of the conference was to create a broad, scientific foundation for the industrial application of green laser pointer polishing. With lasers, complex geometries can be automatically and repeatedly polished at significantly faster speeds. Although laser polishing achieves high quality in many applications, processing speed must be increased. Willenberger added: "Accelerated laser polishing is an important current trend that will make this process more economical for a wide range of applications."