New applications of laser beam micro welding

A. Olowinsky, T. Kramer, Fraunhofer-Institut für Lasertechnik ILT Aachen, Germany

N. Dumont, Laser Cheval, Besançon, France
H. Hanebuth, Siemens AG, München, Germany

Abstract

Within the last years laser beam welding has been extended to welding of micro parts. The trend
of miniaturization is still ongoing and strengthened this development. This contribution will give
an overview of the new application of laser beam welding in watch industry and electronics
industry. The combination of dissimilar materials like brass and stainless steel is often needed in
watch movements due to tribologic aspects. Here laser beam micro welding offers an alternative
to conventional joining techniques like press fit. Since watch components are very small the
locally limited heat input of the laser beam offers the possibility of decreasing the weld seam
width below 200 µm. The use of shielding gas prevents from oxidation of the surface. Using the
pulse forming capability of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser source the depth and the width of the weld
seam as well as the surface quality can be influenced.
Several watch components could be joined by means of laser beam micro welding. The width of
the seam could be reduced to 100-200µm. The joining geometries of an axis/wheel combination
are in the range of 100µm to 1mm diameter of the axis and about 200µm wheel thickness.
The work to be presented has been funded by the European Commission in a project under the
contract BRPR-CT-0634.

Introduction

Laser beam welding – a well established manufacturing technology in macro technology. The
development of new laser sources with increased beam quality enables small spot sizes down to
50 to 100 µm with pulse power about 20 to 400 W. The small spots sizes are needed since the
parts to be welded are often very small and one of the requirements in watch industry is that the
weld seam should not be seen. Therefore a seam width less than 100 µm should be achieved.

In watch-making industry, assembling techniques are used for several tens of years. Joining
techniques are press fit, screwing and gluing. These operations mean high precision machining in
order to guarantee the quality needed by both mechanical properties and quality aspect.
The purpose of the following study is to produce assembly parts by laser welding. With laser,
tolerances on pressed parts could be reduced and several machining operations on screwed parts
could be removed. The challenge of laser welding is to fit with existing specifications of the
parts. It means, mechanical, clean and visual properties of the micro-assembly.
This paper will give an overview about some results of a European research project where the
welding of microparts was investigated with the aim to decrease contamination and distortion of
the parts during the welding process.

Joining of dissimilar metals

Basics
The combination brass and steel is one of the standard packages used in watch movements. The
friction coefficient is very low and brass can easily be stamped. Therefore most of the axes are
made of stainless steel (S20AP) and the wheels are stamped of Ms63 or Ms61Pb. In an
assembled movement stamped brass wheels are in contact with milled steel gears on the axes.
With this combination no lubricants are needed. However the axes and wheels have to be joined
to transmit the forces inside the movement. Up to now they are mostly assembled in a press fit
joint where the geometrical tolerances of the single parts influence the joining forces or glued.
The introduction of the laser beam micro welding solves the contradiction of accurate joining
position and sufficient joining force and decreases the contamination of the parts resulting from
glue.

Fig. 1: Cross section of an overlap joint: Fig. 2: Applications in watch industry: Laser
250 µm stainless steel on 250 µm brass beam welded brass wheels on steel axes

Process development

For small parts a new joining technology was developed during the project CLAW. This
technique is called SHADOW: Stepless High Speed Accurate and Discrete One Pulse Welding.
It is invented to weld small axis-symmetric parts which can be turn fast during one single laser
pulse. This technique combines the advantages of continuous wave welding like a smooth
surface and a high process speed with the possibilities of the pulsed laser systems like lower
costs and the capability of forming the temporal lapse of a pulse. Since the parts are small the
latter advantage of the process enables the application in the microtechnology where the thermal
load of the assembled parts has to be well controlled.
Up to now cw laser welding is used only for longer joints and for larger parts. A high average
laser power, Pav >500 W, and a high processing velocity, v > 5 m/min are required for cw laser
welding. Above all cw laser sources are more expensive than pulsed laser sources. Nevertheless
the joints obtained by cw laser welding show a smooth surface and an optimized microstucture
nearly without any pores. The energy per length is less for cw laser welding than for pulsed laser
welding.
Pulsed laser sources at present are able to generate a maximum pulse duration of τH,max = 20 ms.
To weld parts on a length of l = 2 mm a processing velocity of v = 6 m/min therefore is required.
Comparing the energy input (EH,SHADOW = 6 J) to the energy input for a similar joint using the
multi pulse technique where ten pulses without overlap are needed (EH,p = 10 x 2.4 J = 24 J) it is
less by a factor of 4. Moreover the joined parts show less debris or pollution on the surface and
neglecting the time needed to accelerate the parts, the processing time is dramatically reduced.

Fig. 3: Comparison of conventionally welded and SHADOW welded parts

The reduction of the total energy input and the decreased processing time lead to decreasing
deformation.
Most of the contamination on the parts result form the first impact of the laser beam. The
ejections come from initial transition from solid to liquid because of a strong increase of the
absorption coefficient. In the new process this occurs only once in a welding operation.
Therefore as to be seen in Fig. 3 on the right side only at the beginning of the weld seam a small
shadow can be observed.
The new technology SHADOW has its main advantages in welding of copper and brass. But
even for steel applications this new technique helps to reduce distortions as to be seen later in
this paper.
 Applications in watch making industry

Customized laser head

A customized laser head has been designed in order to integrate all necessary device for both
laser welding and process control. Tests were made with this head on watch parts of different
dimensions.
The aim of integration is to provide a compact laser head in order to fit with the industrial
requirements of versatility. In fact, this laser head has been installed on two assembling machines
of watch components.

As the dimensions of the micro-parts are very small (from 0.1 mm to 5 mm), gap sizes between
them are very small too (from 5 to few 10 µm). That is why high precision is necessary. But high
precision and low mechanical tolerance generate additional costs.

Besides, a laser power control device has been integrated to avoid vaporization, droplets ejection
and contamination of the assembly parts.

Nd:YAG
Laser
Power measurement Optical cable for Nd:YAG beam
Optical
Fibre
Filter
Power sensor and imaging optics
Optics
Optics

Filter
Scanning CCD / CMOS 1-axis scanning mirror
mirror Camera
Mirror 1 Mirror 2 Magnification
Optics
Customized imaging optics for
Focusing
Optics vision system
Nd:YAG focusing optics

Fig. 4: Laser head principle Fig. 5: Photography of the laser head

The laser head integrates the following devices:

Optical fiber for Nd:YAG beam

Nd:YAG focusing optics

1-axis scanning mirror for high accuracy spot positioning

Sensor and imaging optics for laser power control

Imaging camera

Optical imaging system with x4 to x100 magnification capability
All direct and reflected beam are merged into the laser beam path. It allows us to keep more
space around the welding field. This is useful to adjust the lighting parameters for the vision
system.

The design of the magnification system for watch parts has been done with specifications for
optical computing in CODE V software:

Enlargement : x4 to x100

MTF > 0.5

FOV 50x200 µm min.

Use of existing laser focusing optics
This optical system has to be used with several combinations of micro-parts.
Thanks to the special imaging optical system, good images of the gap have been obtained. The
software gives the precise position of the center of the gap to the scanning mirror. This integrated
system guarantees the right position of the laser spot on the parts with the precision of few
micro-meters.

Watch components specifications

The crowns are made in AISI 316 L, and are polished. The winding-stems are made in
AISI 316 L and Steel Sandvik 20 AP. Its hardness HRC is 52 and they are heat treated.
The assembly parts have to resist to a tractive effort up to 30 N, when the strain is applied along
the axis of the crown. The symmetry axis of the two parts remains to be merged with a precision
of 0.05° angle. The parts have to be joined without mechanical distortion.
Ideally, the result of laser welding operation has not to be seen. So, a limited HAZ is required in
order to have no coloring of the bead or a constant color. Droplets or ejected particles are not
accepted.

Laser processing set-up

The crown takes place in a holder fixed on a rotating axis. The angle between the axis of the
parts and the beam could be changed from 15° to 70°. The fixturing holder is made in brass and
can be precisely adjusted by fine screws. N and Ar are tested as shielding gas. Argon is preferred
as shielding gas in order to prevent oxidation and cracks in case of similar pair AISI 316 L /AISI
316 L. Precise positioning of the beam is insured through the vision system.
The incidence angle of the laser beam is fixed at 35° (0° horizontal position, i.e. perpendicular to
the axis of the parts). The illumination system consists in a fiber transmitting halogen lamp with
an electrical power up to 150 W.

The laser used for the experiment (see table below) was a pulsed/cw Nd:YAG laser from Laser
Cheval (Besançon/France) with fiber delivery (fiber diameter: 200 µm). The observed spot
diameter is about 80 µm, what is sufficient for the dimensions of these parts. For tiny watch
components the diameter could bde reduced to 50 µm.
LASER PARAMETERS UNITS
Laser Nd:YAG
Wavelength nm 1064
Max. average power W 100
Mode Multimode
Beam delivery Lens, mirrors and fiber
Focused spot diameter µm 50 to 200
Pulse width ms 0.1 to 70, cw possible
Pulse repetition rate Hz Up to 200
Manufacturer Laser Cheval
Fig. 6: Laser parameters and specifications Fig. 7: Laser welding set-up

Results
The following results were obtained with both common pulsed laser and process controlled laser.
The parts are moving continuously during the welding operation process. The first result
(Fig. 8a) shows a weld seam obtained with a 200 Hz repetition rate and a 0.5 ms pulse duration.
The required peak power was 300W.
The other results (Fig. 8b) that are detailed below were obtained with both in-pulse power
regulation and spot positioning system. The laser power is adjusted in each pulse of the burst
programmed for one round. This power regulation is very close to a pulse forming technique but
seems to be more efficient on smallest parts. Tests have been done with variable repetition rates
and laser powers.
As shown on pictures, the weld bead appears very clean with both AISI 316 L/316 L and AISI
316 L/S 20 AP combination of materials. The cross sections (Fig. 9) of the weld prove the
quality of the joining technique.
The laser parameters are improved for similar metals (AISI 316 L/AISI 316) The weld seam is
not colored for mean power <5W on the parts. No ejections are observed and the width of the
weld seam is reduced.

Fig. 8 a/b: View of the weld seam appearance Fig. 9: Cross section of a laser weld seam

Fig. 10: Dissimilar metals AISI 316 L/S 20 AP Fig. 11: Similar metals AISI 316 L/AISI 316 L

The assembled parts were tested by torsion and tractive effort.

10

4 Mean M ean
8
torsion effort (Ncm)

Tractive effort (kg)

3
6

2
4

1 2

0 0
A B C D E F G H A B C D E F G H

series series

Fig. 12: Measurement of torsion break Fig. 13: Measurement of tractive break

The results of destructive tests show strong concordances with assembly specifications.
Concerning the tractive measurements, all tested samples exceed the required strength of 30 N by
a value of 20 N.
 Applications in electronics industry

For different sensors membranes are the interface to the surrounding liquids or gases which will
be measured e.g. concerning temperature or pressure applied a. o. in the automotive and medical
section. In order to increase the sensitivity of these sensors the thickness of the membrane
becomes thinner with each generation. Therefore the joining of the very thin membranes to a
housing is a more and more important application. For a competitive technology the production
pro??cess or welding process, respectively, has to be cheap, this means the welding process has
to be very fast, reliable and with high quality output. For investigations a typical geometry has
been used for the welding of the very thin Membranes to tubes, see figure 1. The tube as well as
the membrane was made out of stainless steel AISI304. Membranes with thickness’ from 50 µm
down to 5 µm have been welded successfully.

Fig. 14 Geometry used for investigations: Fig. 15 Improved clamping device for
Membrane on tube welding very small membranes on tubes

Clamping
Because of the small dimension of the thin membranes a homogeneous pressure and a gap free
joint are hardly to obtain. For very small membranes below 12,5 µm there is a disadvantageous
ratio of surface tension and material volume of the membrane causing cuts in the membrane
when very small gaps occur in the joint during welding. Clamping just with a blank holder is not
sufficient for this application. Therefore a new fixture device has been set up where the mem-
brane is separately clamped in the blank holder of this device. Then the complete blank holder
with the membrane is pressed to the tube. Due to this method a very close and homogeneous
contact between membrane and tube is achieved at the edge of the tube where the weld seam has
to be positioned, see figure 2. This results in a very robust welding process.

Welding strategies
In principle there are several welding strategies for the welding of membranes to tube. Pulsed
mode welding as well as welding with a continuously excited beam are suitable for this
application. However, two strategies have shown outstanding advantages. First of all the welding
and cutting of the membrane in one sequence. The projecting material of the membrane (clamped
in the blank holder) is cut and welded to the edge of the tube with pulsed mode, see figure 3.
Membranes down to a thickness of 5 µm have been joined to the tube successfully with pulsed
mode. Therefore the focal spot diameter and the beam quality has to be adapted to this
application.

Fig. 16 Pulse mode welding and cutting of membrane (25 µm) simultaneously.
Left: top view on membrane, right: view on weld seam

With respect to production processes on the one hand strategies are required to minimize the
welding processing time and on the other hand to reduce contamination and distortion. In this
context investigations also have been performed with the SHADOW method. For the given ge-
ometry and a maximum pulse duration of 20 ms, 3000 RPM are required for a complete circular
welding seam. This results in a welding velocity of about 80 m/min! Due to the high welding
speed highly dynamic effects in the melt pool occur during the welding process and result in an
unsteady weld seam appearance (humping). It turned out that there was a limited welding speed
at 36.5 m/min for the given welding arrangement. Simultaneous laser beam welding with 3 laser
beams oriented 120° around the membrane reduces the welding speed to about 27 m/min for the
SHADOW welding, see figure 4.
1600
1400
1200
signal [a.u.]

1000
laser pulse plasma signal
800
600
400
200
0
-5 0 5 10 15 20 25
pulse duration [ms]

Fig. 17 Top view on membrane (50 µm) Fig. 18: Comparison laser pulse signal versus
SHADOW welded with 3 beam simultaneously plasma plume signal and corresponding seam
(details: view on seam transition zones) sequences with implemented disturbances.
Process control
During a welding process disturbances can cause fatal welding errors. The reasons are short time
deviations of the gap of the joint, of the beam positioning, laser power or the absorption of the
material. In order to monitor the welding process the detection of the laser plasma emitted during
the welding process is recommended. To detect the broad band light emission of the plume
which spreads out from the weld two silicon photo-diodes for the laser pulse and for the plasma
detection were mounted. In figure 18 the plasma signal and the laser pulse signal have been
detected simultaneously for a specimen with defined implemented disturbances. It was found that
most of the disturbances in the seam are caused by contamination on the surface of the
membrane or by gaps in the joint. With the plasma no reliable identification of the origin of a
inhomogeneity has been achieved. For that reason just a monitoring of the disturbances was
realized, but no real closed loop control.

Part quality after welding

Because welding is a thermal process warping and deviations of the geometry will occur. Due to
intelligent joint geometries and welding strategies warping can be reduced but not avoided in
general. For the specimen welded with different welding strategies the distortion has been
measured with contactless optical measurement methods and compared in figure 6. The
distortion measured is the distance between the top and the bottom level at the membrane.
Tacking before welding can reduce slightly the distortion. A large reduction of the distortion for
welding has been detected at the specimen welded with the improved clamping device. The
distortion drops to 8 µm for single beam welding without tacking. Using 3 beams at a time
positioned with 120° around the tube combined with simultaneous tacking the distortion drops
again to nearly 4 µm. These measurements have been performed at membranes with a thickness
of 25 µm. Using the SHADOW method with 3 beams the distortion decreases again to less than
2 µm (50 µm membrane). For very thin membranes the distortion found was in the range of 2,5
µm for 12.5 µm membranes and about 3 µm for 5 µm membranes.

25 conventional
improved clamping
clamping
20
distortion [µm]

15

10

0
no tacking tacking no tacking no tacking tacking SHADOW no tacking no tacking
1 2 3
one beam one beam one beam 3 beams
4 5
3 beams 6
3 beams one7beam one8beam
25 µm 25 µm 25 µm 25 µm 25 µm 50 µm 12.5 µm 5 µm

Fig. 19 Comparison of distortion with different clamping devices and pulsed mode welding
strategies (number below bar: membrane thickness)
One indication for the quality of the joint is the hermetic sealing. The samples have been tested
at 5 bar. The sealing was proven for membranes down to a thickness of 12.5 µm. For samples
with the 5 µm membranes no hermetic sealing has been achieved, probably due to insufficient
overlapping of the welding spots.
Conclusion

The welding of dissimilar metals has been shown for micro applications. The problems of
different liquidus temperatures and the arising risk of evaporation can be reduced by using the
SHADOW technique. This technique offers new applications with small rotational symmetric
parts and closed weld seams.
The use of the laser micro-welding technique in watch-making industry produces good results
thanks to in-pulse power regulation or pulse forming capability, and spot positioning system.
When right laser and process parameters are well adjusted, a clean laser welding process is
achieved. We can therefore offer new types of watch assembly with the required quality level.
Thanks to the new laser head, watch-components manufacturers could easily test new joining
techniques on several types of parts.
In the particular case of crowns and winding-stems micro-welding, the results allow to eliminate
cost consuming operations in the manufacturing and assembling of both parts (turning, screwing
and precision machining). Besides, the improved quality of the laser micro-welding gives new
assembly without polluting steps like gluing and cleaning with chemical liquid.
Due to the improved clamping devices, improved laser beam quality and new welding strategies
a robust welding processes have been developed for membranes down to a thickness of ≥ 5 µm.
With SHADOW welding speeds in the range of 28 m/min have been achieved, where the
contamination has been reduced to a minimum and the distortion found was less than 2 µm.

Meet the authors

Alexander Olowinsky studied Mechanical Engineer at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische

Hochschule RWTH Aachen. Since 1996 he is at the Fraunhofer-Institut für Lasertechnik ILT,
Aachen in the department of microtechnology. He is heading the group “packaging and
interconnection technology”.
Thorsten Kramer studied Physics at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule
RWTH Aachen. He is working at the Fraunhofer-Institut für Lasertechnik ILT Aachen in the
field of laser beam micro joining. Special interests are the joining of dissimilar metals.
Nicolas Dumont is design engineer at Laser Cheval.
Laser Cheval is an industrial French company (Besançon –France) specialised in Nd/YAG laser
sources and laser machine manufacturing.
Dr. Henning Hanebuth is working at Siemens AG in the central technology. He is responsible
for the laser beam welding.