Highlights from research and development

Bosch Rexroth in Boxtel, Netherlands, is a leading manufacturer of very large hydraulic cylinders. They used an existing coating machine for plasma welding, adapted it for laser coating processes and doubled the work space. The reconfigured machine started operation at the end of 2015. The system has a 20 kW high power diode laser as an energy source. A special laser module is designed so that the process is reliable but can later be upgraded to include inductive preheating. The machine is equipped with the latest generation of wide jet powder nozzles “COAX11” and also includes several process monitoring, control and observation systems. The Fraunhofer IWS is responsible for process and machine functionality and safety.