Text D. Laser technology

In the last decade there was outstanding progress in the development of laser technology and it's application in science, industry and commerse. Laser cutting, welding and machining are beginning to be big business. The market for laser systems represents around 2,5 % of the world machine tool market.

Which country is the biggest producer and consumer of lasers? Why, Japan, naturally: Japan produced 46% of world's lasers in 1989, while figures for Europe and the USA are 32% and 22%. Japan is building 1 200 to 2 000 CO2 lasers per year of which some 95% are over 500W power and 80% of them are used for cutting operations.

Europe is the second largest user and the third largest producer. In 1990 Europe's market for lasers was $128 million, of which Germany consumed about $51 million, and Italy — $12 million. The Germany met 90% of its demands through domestic producers. Growth rate of the European market is estimated at 10 to 15% per year.

In future the main trend influencing the industry will be laser source prices. The prices are dropping. There appear lasers of modular construction. The complexity of laser machines is rising. Multi-axes systems are in more use now. Recently 7-axis CNC laser machining center has been introduced. In addition to X,Y and Z axes, there are two rotary axes, A and C, and two more linear axes, U and V, to give a trepanning (прорезать большие отверстия) motion to the laser.