Laser processing technology is now widely used in consumer electronics, medical equipment, machinery, automobile manufacturing, aerospace, metal products, furniture and household goods, among many other industries. Laser equipment offers high efficiency, high precision, clean processing and cost-effectiveness, and is gradually replacing the original processes used in these industries.
Laser processing is an emerging manufacturing process. Not to mention its application in highly sophisticated industries such as biomedical, aerospace and new energy, laser processing is also widely used in our daily lives and in traditional industries. The demand for an early batch of laser equipment in traditional industries has promoted the laser processing market.
As an important part of industrial production, the choice of metal cutting process directly affects production efficiency and the degree of environmental protection. Although traditional cutting methods such as mechanical knife cutting, punching, wire cutting, flame cutting and waterjet cutting meet production needs to a certain extent, they have the drawbacks of high tool loss and producing pollutants and being low-efficiency.
The advent of laser cutting technology has transformed the metal cutting industry. Thanks to its high speed, precision and efficiency, it has quickly become widely used in various metal cutting scenarios. It is used in the manufacture of automobiles, engineering machinery, offshore equipment, energy devices and aerospace equipment, among others.
Compared with traditional cutting methods, laser cutting is a non-contact process with almost zero tool loss. The processing method does not produce pollutants and is fully in line with modern industrial production requirements for environmental protection and high efficiency.
In the case of stainless steel and carbon steel materials, laser cutting has replaced more than 50% of the traditional process and has become the most widely used method of metal cutting.
Most products in the packaging industry, including paper, plastic bags/bottles, aluminium cans and tinplate boxes, need to be packaged to be sold. According to the provisions for packaging products, they need to be labelled with the production date, place of origin, barcodes and other information. In the past, it was common to use screen printing with ink, which was not environmentally friendly and had an odour. Using ink for food products posed security risks. The advent of laser marking and coding has essentially replaced the ink method.
If we pay careful attention, we will see that almost all bottled water, bottled medicine, aluminium cans of beer and plastic packaging now use laser marking rather than ink screen printing. Automated flight marking equipment is in line with the needs of high-volume assembly line production and has played an important role in the packaging industry.
A CO2 laser is suitable for marking wooden materials, leather, plastic and paper.
A fibre laser is suitable for marking the surfaces of stainless steel, aluminium oxide, copper and other alloy materials, such as for marking jewellery, metal, electronic components, batteries, chargers and switches.
UV lasers are commonly used for precision marking in the electronics industry, for example on plastic, PVC, circuit boards, cables, chips, LCD screens, glass and food packaging.