Cyan Tec Automating the Power of Light

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Laser specialists Cyan Tec recently celebrated the development of its 16kW disk laser system by hosting an industry open day at Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Rotherham. The modular system features a 16kW Trumpf disk laser, the most powerful of its kind in the UK.

Representatives from across the country enjoyed an exclusive look at this advanced system with Cyan Tec engineers, plus a tour of the Nuclear AMRC workshop and presentations from both organisations. Representatives of various high-end sectors, including nuclear, aerospace and defence, were able to see the latest advances in laser welding techniques. A technology delivering efficiencies and additional capability to advanced technology businesses across the UK and beyond.

Cyan Tec’s disk laser system is designed to produce high-quality deep penetration joins, from around 15mm in stainless steel, over lengths of a metre or more. The laser head is carried by a six-axis gantry over a two-axis manipulator table which can hold components up to 15 tonnes, all contained in a safety enclosure measuring ten by seven metres and eight metres in height.

“We’re extremely proud of this system,” Clayton Sampson, Cyan Tec chief executive officer, told delegates. “It is a highly capable, flexible and robust machine which offers a huge number of advantages to high end industries, in terms of sheer penetrative power – it goes up to 20mm and is able to weld a range of different types of metals.”

Cyan Tec are pleased to have enabled The Nuclear AMRC team to push forward the boundaries of welding research to the benefit of UK businesses and international trade. The system is currently being used to investigate the viability of using the laser to weld seams on large intermediate-level waste containers for the nuclear decommissioning sector. This is vital work supporting power generation across the UK.

Laser welding promises to significantly reduce manufacturing times and costs while maintaining a high quality of weld seams. Thanks to a strictly localised high-energy input and high travel speeds of 10 metres per minute or more, the laser produces a much lower heat input than most other welding technologies, significantly reducing thermal stress and distortion.

Cyan Tec’s system can also deliver a simultaneous MIG weld for hybrid welding, which can offer a better fit-up tolerance than laser alone with less heat distortion than arc alone. The technique is used in the shipbuilding industry to join steel plates.

Cyan-Tec specialises in bespoke high-power laser systems for industrial applications, including joining, cutting, ablation and cleaning, deployed on a variety of robotic and flatbed platforms. The company is currently developing a standard cell featuring a fibre laser and six-axis industrial robot for welding of three-dimensional components, for launch in 2019.