Laser technology development and application trends

Laser technology development and application trends

Laser technology itself is also evolving as a core driving force in industrial manufacturing, moving in four directions: faster, higher, better and shorter.

Industrial manufacturing is driven by laser technology, which itself is evolving in four directions: faster, higher, better, and shorter.

Higher: Laser power is increasing rapidly, and the average power exceeds 100,000 watts. For welding 300mm thick steel plates at the NADEX Center in Nagoya, Japan, the first commercial 100,000-watt fiber laser was installed in 2013.laserpecker metal engraving Laser cutting applications continue to grow, and laser cutting machines are now able to operate at 8~12kW.

In the past year, the brightness of fiber lasers, disk lasers, and directly affecting semiconductor lasers has greatly improved, and laser output beam quality requirements have gotten better.

Lasers with short wavelengths have been widely used since their output wavelength covers the shorter band. In advanced manufacturing processes, cold processing is often required. For example, smartphones are often manufactured using short-wavelength, short-pulse ultraviolet laser processing. Lasers of a short wavelength have been widely applied to surface marking, semiconductor wafer processing, drilling, and cutting.

Faster: Laser pulse speeds are getting faster and faster, and ultrafast lasers have made rapid progress. They have a simpler structure, easier operation, lower cost, and more stable performance, going beyond the laboratory.

Market potential in the future

New applications in the future market have always been a concern.

As environmental awareness has increased, a variety of environmental cleaning technologies have emerged, including laser cleaning.

By combining a laser beam and a material culture to remove workpiece materials from the surface, laser cleaning can produce instant evaporation or stripping, eliminating the need for a variety of chemical cleaning agents, resulting in a green development that is pollution-free and environmentally friendly. It is suitable for removing paint, oil, oxide layer, cleaning screws, rust, welding, etc.

A wide range of industries use laser cleaning, including microelectronics, construction, nuclear power plants, automobile manufacturing, medical care, cultural relics protection, steel rust and mold decontamination, automobile manufacturing, and construction.

Market for metal 3D printing: Metal 3D printing uses selective laser cladding (SLM) technology, which uses laser energy to melt metal powder layer by layer.

In 2016, more than 1,000 SLM systems were sold, primarily using fiber lasers, disk/CO2 lasers, and femtosecond fiber lasers with power ranges from 30 watts to more than 1 kilowatt. As 3D printing becomes more precise, its fine structure resolution has also increased to microns.

Drones, autonomous vehicles, robotics, military, and security are the major drivers of the LiDAR market over the next five years.

Automotive laser lighting: BMW, Audi, and other well-known brand cars have adopted laser lighting management systems, as part of the corporate market for laser lighting. Safety laser lighting, which serves as a warning sign for people riding at night, is also an important part of the product market.