Studies and prospect of laser welding technology

The application of laser technology to manufacturing is currently what most countries in the world focus on. With the rapid development of manufacturing, there is an increasing demand for highly effective, environmental friendly as well as automated technologies. Therefore, it is believed that laser welding, one of the basics of laser technology, can be widely applied to various fields in manufacturing. This paper aims to give an introduction to the development of laser welding, with a briefing of its basics principles, advantages as well as disadvantages. Furthermore, a detailed description of researches currently conducted is given out, such as the development of laser equipments, plasma control, automatic testing in laser welding, and so on. By giving an account of the applications of laser welding in various fields (automobile industry, ship-building industry, etc.), the advantages of laser technology are highlighted in welding manufacturing, at the same time prospect into its future development.