Laser Pulses Weld Metal and Glass

Mar-05-19 A new laser-based method of welding metal and glass together could transform manufacturing.

Typically, glass and metal cannot be welded together due to their different melting points, and so attaching these and other disparate materials requires adhesives.
As a stronger and less-messy alternative, a team from Heriot-Watt University developed a way to bond glass and metal together using an ultrafast laser system that delivers picosecond pulses of infrared light. When the laser light is targeted at the interface of the materials, a microplasma (compared to “a tiny ball of lightning”) is created that welds together a highly confined region.

The welds remained strong even at extreme temperatures, and the team is now investigating commercializing the process.

More Info about this Invention:

[BBC.COM]
[HW.AC.UK]

---