Abstract

Over the last 15 years, lasers have increasingly penetrated the market of industrial manufacturing. Laser macro material processing - ranging from flat-sheet and tube cutting to scanner and seam welding of metals - has become an indispensible part of the production in major industries like automotive, aerospace, or general packaging. Freeform-shapes, lightweight structures and other complex geometries are now economically produced with laser additive manufacturing or laser 3D structuring.

© 2013 IEEE