According to one embodiment, a welding method includes preparing a welding member that includes aluminum. The welding method includes welding a weld area of a surface of the welding member by irradiating a laser on the weld area in a state in which a gas including oxygen is supplied to the weld area. A concentration of the oxygen in the gas is not less than 1.5 vol % and not more than 10 vol %. The weld area includes aluminum oxide after the irradiating of the laser.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a method for producing a ball valve for regulating a fluid. In one example embodiment, the method includes the steps of: providing first and second housing parts of the valve housing, said first and second housing parts each including at least a central housing part and a connection end; providing a valve element shaped as a ball with at least one through-going aperture; arranging the first and second housing parts with the respective central part ends facing towards each other, and further arranging the ball at a position inside an inner space defined by the respective central parts; and welding the first and second housing parts together using a welding tool while performing an interrelated rotation about an axial rotation axis between the position of the first and second housing parts and the position of the ball.

A method for producing a sensor on the surface of a functional layer, in which suitable sensor material in the form of powder or a wire is melted in a laser beam by way of a method similar to laser cladding and subsequently is applied to the surface of the functional layer. There is provided a considerably improved method for producing sensors, and in particular in-situ sensors, wherein the sensors can also be deposited onto a functional layer that, in part, is very coarse, without having to employ complex masks, as has previously been customary. The ease of adapting the method parameters ensures broad use both with respect to the sensor to be produced and the functional layer to be detected. The sensors thus produced are used, in particular, to detect components that are subject to high temperatures or the functional layers thereof. The sensors that can be produced in accordance with the invention include, in particular, temperature, pressure or voltage sensors, as well as acceleration sensors.

A method for joining busbars includes reshaping a raw laser beam to obtain a reshaped laser beam. The reshaped laser beam comprises a core focus portion and at least one ring focus portion. The core focus portion and the ring focus portion are coaxial with respect to one another. The ring focus portion surrounds the core focus portion. The method further includes directing the reshaped laser beam to a plurality of busbars to weld the plurality of busbars to one another along at least one weld seam.

An NC device that is a numerical control device controls an additive manufacturing apparatus. The additive manufacturing apparatus performs modeling by application of a melted material. The NC device includes a monitoring unit that monitors occurrence of a drop caused by a material after being melted remaining on the material before being melted, and a command generating unit that generates commands for causing the additive manufacturing apparatus to remove the drop that has occurred.

A method for the generative production of a three-dimensional component includes providing a metallic starting material in the form of a powder bed in a substantially horizontal starting plane, supplying a process gas to the starting material, melting the starting material by a heat source, repeating the above steps, wherein at least a portion of the process gas is supplied through the powder bed. A related device is also provided.

A method of welding including: applying a flux having at least a majority weight percent boron to a surface of a superalloy base material; forming a weldment on the surface wherein boron is melted onto the surface and is incorporated into a resulting weld pool and heat affected zone, and wherein incipient melted inter-dendritic material resulting from presence of the boron is available to flow into a crack formed during cooling of the weldment; and heat treating the weldment to diffuse a remaining concentration of the boron in the weldment and heat affected zone to a desired value.

Various methods for laser welding biocompatible material for use in implantable medical devices are disclosed. A method for laser processing includes applying a laser beam to a biocompatible material comprising at least 85% by weight zirconium oxide (ZrO.sub.2) or “zirconia” in an oxygen-free environment and depleting the material of oxygen. The depletion of oxygen converts the zirconium oxide to elemental zirconium at an interface where the material is applied to the elemental zirconium. In one embodiment, the present invention provides for an implantable medical device or component thereof made of a biocompatible material comprising zirconium oxide. The device includes a substrate that has an intrinsic conductive pathway comprising elemental zirconium that extends from a first surface to a second surface of the substrate.

A processing machine includes a laser irradiation device that emits an annular laser beam, and a wire feeding device that feeds a wire from an inside of the annular laser beam. When a workpiece irradiation proportion parameter (WIP) represented by an equation WIP=P.sub.wp/P (P.sub.wp: laser beam power introduced onto a workpiece surface when the wire exists in an irradiation region of the laser beam, P: the laser beam power introduced onto the workpiece surface when the wire does not exist in the irradiation region) is defined, a control device controls the wire feeding device so that a wire end abuts on the workpiece surface at a beginning of additive manufacturing. The control device determines initial power P.sub.0 based on the WIP at the beginning of the additive manufacturing, and controls the laser irradiation device so that the workpiece is irradiated with the laser beam at the initial power P.sub.0.

A method for directly bonding a metal to a transparent substrate includes providing a substrate; placing a metal foil directly on a face of the substrate; irradiating a portion of the metal foil with a laser beam so that metal corresponding to the portion melts and bonds directly to the substrate and forms a metal pad; and pumping a gas above the portion to prevent oxidation of the melted metal.