FEASIBILITY OF LASER MATERIAL PROCESSING IN THE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE OF SMALL SCALE DEVICES

Small scale laser processing has generated significant interest in the manufacturing industry but at the moment it still lacks real applications. In this study suitability of laser processing in the manufacture of three small devices that required precise engineering was investigated. These devices were: a micro-distillation column, a micro-VLE device and a TT-reactor. These devices are applications from chemical industry and have typical feature dimensions in the range of 200 mu m - 2 mm. It was found that laser processing is well suited for the manufacture of these kinds of devices thanks to low and precise heat input when welding and cutting and freedom of shape and material to cut, which is an advantage best utilized already at the design stage.