1) Background: the modeling, characterization, transformation and propagation of high-power CW laser beams in optical (including fiberoptic) trains and in the atmosphere have become hot topics in laser science and engineering in the past few years. Single-mode output is mandatory for high-power CW laser applications in the military field. Moreover, an unstationary, dynamic operation regime is typical. Recognized devices and procedures for laser-beam diagnostics could not be directly applied because of dynamic behavior and untypical non-Gaussian profiles. 2) Methods: the Wigner transform approach was proposed to characterize dynamically variable high-power CW laser beams with significant deterministic aberrations. Wavefront-sensing measurements by means of the Shack-Hartmann method and decomposition into an orthogonal Zernike basis were applied. 3) Results: deterministic aberration as a result of unstationary thermal-optic effects depending on the averaged power of the laser output was found. Beam quality determined via the Wigner approach was changed in the same way as the measurements of the beam diameter in the far field. 4) Conclusions: such an aberration component seems to be the main factor causing degradation in beam quality and in brightness of high-power CW laser beams.

The presented results are for the numerical verification of a method devised to identify an unknown spatio-temporal distribution of heat flux that occurs at the surface of a thin aluminum plate, as a result of pulsed laser beam excitation. The presented identification of boundary heat flux function is a part of the newly proposed laser beam profiling method and utilizes artificial neural networks trained on temperature distributions generated with the ANSYS Fluent solver. The paper focuses on the selection of the most effective neural network hyperparameters and compares the results of neural network identification with the Levenberg–Marquardt method used earlier and discussed in previous articles. For the levels of noise measured in physical experiments (0.25–0.5 K), the accuracy of the current parameter estimation method is between 5 and 10%. Design changes that may increase its accuracy are thoroughly discussed.

In this paper, the microstructure of laser beam welded Sc-modified AA2519-F has been taken under investigation. The welded joint has been produced using Fanuc 710i industrial robot equipped with YLS-6000 6 kW laser beam source. The welding speed and laser power were equal to 0.75 m/min and 3.2 kW, respectively. The investigation involved microstructure observations with the use of both light microscope and scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis of chemical composition and microhardness distribution measurements. It has been stated that laser beam welding allows to obtain Sc-modified AA2519-F weld of good quality, characterized by the presence of an equiaxed grain zone containing scandium-rich precipitates adjacent to the fusion boundary.

What is the limit of improvement the structure obtained directly from the liquid state, with possible heat treatment (supersaturation and aging)? This question was posed by casting engineers who put arbitrary requirements on reducing the DAS (Dendrite Arm Spacing) length to less than a dozen microns. The results of tests related to modification of the surface microstructure of AlSi7Mg alloy casting treated by laser beam and the rapid remelting and solidification of the superficial casting zone, were presented in the paper. The local properties of the surface treated with a laser beam concerns only a thickness ranging from a fraction to a single mm. These local properties should be considered in the aspect of application on surfaces of non-machined castings. Then the excellent surface layer properties can be used. The tests were carried out on the surface of the casting, the surface layer obtained in contact with the metal mould, after the initial machining (several mm), was treated by the laser beam. It turned out that the refinement of the microstructure measured with the DAS value is not available in a different way, i.e. directly by casting. The experimental-simulation validation using the Calcosoft CAFE (Cellular Automaton Finite Element) code was applied.

The work is focused on welding of fine-grained ultra-high-strength steel S960MC by laser beam welding and electron beam welding technologies. For a given type of steel, when the heat input is exceeded, the mechanical properties of welded joints will deteriorate. As a result, using beam welding technologies to limit the amount of heat input is recommended. Several butt welds were made, and mechanical tests and macroscopic analyses were performed to determine the impact of welding parameters on mechanical properties. Using beam welding technologies, the value of heat input was reduced by up to 73% compared to gas metal arc welding. When compared to a gas metal arc welded joint, the width of the soft zone was reduced by 69 to 79%. This resulted in a considerable reduction in the width of the soft zone, which was reflected in a 24% increase in yield strength and a 23% increase in tensile strength compared to gas metal arc welding.