The development direction and application trends of laser technology

Lasers are also evolving in four directions in industrial manufacturing: faster, higher, better, and shorter.

As a key driver of industrial manufacturing, laserpecker metal engraving laser technology is also evolving in four directions: faster, higher, better, shorter.

Laser power has reached 100,000 watts on average, and it is on the rise. To weld 300mm thick steel plates, the first 100,000-watt fiber laser was installed in 2013 in the NADEX Center in Nagoya, Japan. In conjunction with laser cutting's development to a higher power, its power is also increasing to 8~12kW.

The quality requirements for laser output beams are continuously improving. Single-mode fiber laser beam quality problems have reached 100,000 watts. The brightness of fiber lasers, disk lasers, and semiconductor lasers has significantly improved over the past year.

In many advanced manufacturing processes, cold processing is required, such as the manufacture of smartphones, which usually requires the use of short-wavelength, short-pulse ultraviolet lasers. Lasers with short wavelengths cover a shorter band, so they are widely used. In addition to surface marking and semiconductor wafer processing, short-wavelength lasers have been widely used for drilling, cutting, and other applications.

As laser pulses get faster and faster, ultrafast lasers become more convenient to use, cheaper, more stable, and have more applications outside of the lab.

Future market potential

Future applications have always been a concern.

Environmental awareness has led to the development of a variety of cleaning technologies, including laser cleaning.

As a result of laser cleaning, a high intensity laser beam and a material culture are simultaneously used to remove the surface of the workpiece material, resulting in instant evaporation or stripping without chemical cleaning agents, pollution-free green development. The product can be used to clean paint, oil, oxide layers, screws, rust, welding, etc.

In addition to electronics, construction, nuclear power plants, automobile manufacturing, medical care, the protection of cultural relics, steel rust and mold decontamination, automobile manufacturing, and construction, laser cleaning is used in many other sectors as well.

For metal 3D printing, selective laser cladding (SLM) technology is typically used 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. 3D printing is getting more precise, and fine structures can now be printed at micron resolution.

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

A number of well-known car manufacturers have adopted laser lighting management systems. Automotive laser lighting is mainly used in headlights. Laser lighting is part of the corporate market for automotive laser lighting. As well as providing a warning sign for people riding at night, safety laser lighting is also an important part of the product market.