RASTERED LASER MELTING OF A CURVED SURFACE PATH WITH UNIFORM POWER DENSITY DISTRIBUTION

摘要

There is provided a method of advancing the melt front 55 about a curved path of travel 20 through a pattern LP of cross-sectional laser scan lines S1-S8 of different lengths. The multiple area zones B1-B8 conceptually divide the width of the curved path. Multiple transverse scan lines disperse laser power between the bands with a predetermined uniformity that provides a relatively consistent power density across the melting front. The scan lines may extend from the less curved side 24 of the curved path to the more curved side 22 of the path through the largest area of the band B4 or B8. At least one of the scan lines S1, S8 may traverse all bands. The other scan lines are shorter and extend by changing the distances to the inner bands (B1-B3 or B1-B7), which normalizes the power density across the bands.