Shielding Gases replace pure helium in laser welding.May 19, 2009 -
Designed to promote speed and product quality, LASGON® H shielding gas mixtures combine helium, hydrogen, and argon for laser welding of stainless steel with CO2 and solid-state lasers. Mixtures create less oxide buildup than pure noble gases, resulting in clean and shiny weld surface. While targeting CO2 laser welding operations, LASGON H3 mixtures can also be applied to solid-state lasers such as disc, diode, and fiber lasers.
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Original Press release
Linde, LLC
575 Mountain Ave.
Murray Hill, NJ, 07974
USA
Linde Adds New Shielding Gases for Laser Welding New LASGON® H Mixtures Replace Pure Helium, Lower Costs and Improve Quality
Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S., March 18, 2009 - Fabricators looking for alternatives to using pure helium as a shielding gas in high power laser welding now have more options: Linde North America has introduced two new, LASGON® H shielding gas mixtures that lower operating costs and increase welding speed and product quality.
Linde North America is a member of The Linde Group, a world-leading gases and engineering company. The new LASGON® H gas mixtures combine helium, hydrogen and argon in special formulations for laser welding of stainless steel with CO2 and solid state lasers.
"Higher helium prices and tighter supplies have led fabricators to seek out less expensive shielding gas mixtures that enable them to maintain high product quality," said Joe Berkmanns, manufacturing segment manager, Linde North America.
"Linde's LASGON® H product line lowers fabricators' operating costs, while enabling them to boost productivity through higher welding speeds. What's more, the LASGON® gas mixtures create less oxide buildup than pure noble gases, resulting in a clean, shiny weld surface. It's truly a win-win product for the laser welder," Berkmanns said.
While targeting CO2 laser welding operations, the LASGON® H3 mixtures can also be applied to solid state lasers such as disc, diode and fiber lasers which, compared with CO2 gas lasers, produce light with a shorter wavelength allowing for an easier helium substitution. These solid state lasers are generally used when non-linear welding or three-dimensional welding applications require delivery of the beam through a flexible optical fiber.
The LASGON® H mixtures are an outgrowth of Linde's LASERLINE® program, which consists of a complete line of products and services managed by a global team of experts and developed with support of Linde's application development group. The program offers a complete line of resonator gases (from pure to complex, six-component mixtures), high-quality supply equipment (from change-over manifolds to pressure-booster solutions), as well as a wide variety of process gases for laser welding and cutting.
Berkmanns said, "LASGON® H is the latest addition to Linde's line of shielding gases for laser welding. It complements the LASGON® C1 mixture that Linde introduced several years ago to replace pure helium in laser welding of carbon steel."
The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with almost 52,000 employees working in around 100 countries worldwide. In the 2008 financial year it achieved sales of EUR 12.7 billion (USD 15.9 billion). The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards sustainable earnings-based growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services.
Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment - in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. Linde is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.
For more information, see The Linde Group online at http://www.linde.com
Contact:
Peter Gavigan
Linde corporate communications
908-771-1512
Peter.gavigan@linde.com
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