Exceptionally fast, high-quality laser processing is now possible even for thicker materials. With its new technologies and solutions, AMADA is extending its range of products and performance in the field of laser technology. This includes more powerful beam sources, ENSIS technology for welding applications and efficiency-boosting automation solutions.
Axel Willuhn, Product Manager for Punching and Laser Technology, Amada GmbH
In 2010, AMADA became the first manufacturer in the world to fit its own machines with a fiber laser source developed in-house. This showed itself to be nearly 70 percent more efficient than CO2-lasers and permitted exceptionally high-speed, energy-saving cutting, thus dramatically reducing the processing costs per part. In general, the fiber laser was particularly well suited for machining parts of thicknesses up to 3 millimeters. Since then, AMADA has continuously further developed its laser technology in the form of the FLW fiber laser welding cell, the ENSIS AJ and LCG AJ series of lasers and the ACIES AJ punch/laser combination machine. “With this line-up, which will be presented for the first time at the EuroBLECH 2016 in Hanover, AMADA is boosting its performance in the field of laser-based welding and cutting – through improved cutting quality and faster workflows that are now possible even for thicker materials,” says Axel Willuhn, Product Manager for Punching and Laser Technology at AMADA.
New fiber laser welding
The proven ENSIS beam source used in the AMADA fiber laser, originally used for cutting technology, has now been modified for welding applications. The result is the new FLW ENSIS M3 fiber-laser welding system that provides optimum welding results thanks to the integrated beam modulation capability. The system covers a wide range of production possibilities and permits welding with or without wire as well as deep welding. As a result, housing components and claddings can be manufactured with the same outstanding precision and economic efficiency as deep-welded machine components. The laser beam modulation capability makes it possible to respond precisely to the needs of each individual application. Weaving, in which the welding head is equipped with a rotating lens, makes it possible to bridge gaps that are up to 30 percent wider than is possible using conventional welding lasers.
More powerful beam source
For the laser cutting field, AMADA is able to provide the ENSIS-3015 AJ and LCG-3015 AJ – cutting machines for perfect, top-quality cutting results that have proved their worth many times in practice. Both system types are available as of now with more powerful laser beam sources. Thanks to this performance boost, it is now possible to cut even thicker 
materials faster than before. As a result, using the new 3-kW version of the ENSIS-3015 AJ, the nitrogen-based cutting of thick stainless steel sheets is no longer a problem. The LCG-3015 AJ is exhibited in 6- and 9-kW variants equipped with a more powerful laser.
This ensures improved performance in all areas where nitrogen is used as a cutting gas. It makes possible the high-precision cutting of thick sheets as well as the machining of highly reflective materials such as copper, aluminum, brass and titanium. The new, more powerful beam sources in the ENSIS-3015 AJ and LCG-3015 AJ are consequently setting new standards in terms of maximizing productivity, ensuring outstanding cutting quality and permitting the greatest possible flexibility of application.
Now with fiber laser
The proven ACIES punch-laser technology is now also available as a fiber-laser variant in the form of the new ACIES-2515 AJ. The system brings together all AMADA’s metal working expertise and permits the production of even small runs of highly complex components. Once all the punching and forming operations have been performed, the fiber laser cleanly cuts all the parts to the required contour. This ensures exceptionally efficient production operations, in particular because the laser – which now contains virtually no more optical components – is significantly less maintenance-intensive than a CO2-laser, for example. This means: With the new ACIES-2515 AJ, production is possible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – providing outstanding process availability combined with extremely low maintenance costs. One final benefit is that the ACIES operates without any risk of scratching, because the lower tool system is actively controlled and retracts as necessary whenever the sheet is moved.
Automatically more successful
The outstanding efficiency and performance of the new systems can be boosted even further thanks to a range of automation options. Thus, for example, the ENSIS AJ and LCG AJ models can be equipped with an ASF-EU storage tower and a takeout-loader (TKL). In the ACIES AJ series, the use of the dual-tower system and optional tool changer make it possible to increase the level of automation to 95 percent or even more. This means that with the ACIES AJ it is possible to achieve long periods of unstaffed, uninterrupted operation.
Pictures: AMADA
