Coherent and II-VI to supply turnkey automotive and electrification welding systems

Coherent and II‐VI Inc. have entered into a supply agreement creating a collaboration to enable faster process development and streamlined production services for automotive laser welding applications. These include high-strength alloy welding for automotive body-in-white applications and mass-production copper welding for electrification applications.

Specifically, the combination of II-VI’s RLSK and HIGHmotion 2D remote laser processing heads and the Coherent Adjustable Ring Mode fiber laser technology delivers power adjustment and beam positioning on-the-fly to produce high-quality welds at high speed over large working areas, the companies report.

“The Coherent ARM laser and the II-VI remote laser processing heads each utilize unique designs that are very effective in suppressing back reflections, thus enabling extremely high-quality welds in reflective materials such as aluminum and copper, which are nowadays widely used in automotive, including in e-mobility applications,” said Dr. Karlheinz Gulden, senior vice president, Laser Devices and Systems Business Unit, II-VI. “This combination enables a constant laser power level of up to 8 kW, which is beneficial for many copper and aluminum applications.”