The Application of 3D Laser in Automotive Industry Manufacturing

With the rapid development of automobile lightweighting, personalization, and electrification, laser processing is widely used by major automobile manufacturers and upstream component suppliers. Due to the continuous enrichment of laser technology and automation integration, the automotive industry has become one of the most widely used fields for laser processing. In industrialized regions such as Europe and America, 50% to 70% of automotive components are manufactured using laser processing technology. China's automobile industry is huge, with a complete industrial chain, and a huge demand for laser technology in the market. This article will mainly introduce the application of 3D dynamic focusing technology in automotive industry manufacturing.

1、 Laser marking of large and irregular complex workpieces:

The application of marking in the automotive industry is very extensive, from the body frame, wheel hub and tire, seat center console, steering wheel instrument panel, interior and exterior decoration, etc., all have the figure of laser marking. Laser marking can achieve traceability of the entire vehicle and its components, as well as personalized pattern carving of interior and exterior decorations, enriching the design of the automotive industry and other functions.

Early 2D galvanometers were equipped with laser equipment equipped with field mirrors, with a processing range mainly focused on small flat surfaces, such as marking small icons such as buttons and instrument panels. The 3D laser process is achieved by utilizing laser and 3D dynamic focusing technology to instantly adjust the laser spot focus on the surface of a 3D large format workpiece, achieving complete etching of the entire complex component at once, reducing splicing to achieve higher processing efficiency, and making the equipment structure simpler and easier to integrate.

2、 Large format laser cutting:

In automotive manufacturing, 3D laser cutting technology is widely used for materials such as leather, fabrics, and plastics, such as cutting automotive seat cushion fabrics, airbag fabrics, and injection molded parts. 3D large format die cutting technology has the characteristics of flexible and efficient processing, and compared to traditional mechanical film cutting, it has the following characteristics:

1. WYSIWYG, 3D laser cutting faces a variety of film cutting needs, and there is no need to use cutting molds for die cutting processing. The cutting graphics can be freely changed in laser software. Therefore, it greatly improves the utilization rate of materials and reduces the cost and time of manufacturing cutting molds.

2. High processing efficiency. Galvanometer scanning cutting has fast scanning speed and good dynamic performance, and is widely used in pipeline high-speed cutting systems.

3. Larger range and finer cutting. The 3D laser equipped with a dynamic focusing system adopts a forward focusing mode, which can achieve a larger working range and surface processing. At the same time, the smaller focusing spot has a higher energy density, smaller thermal effects during the cutting process, and smaller burrs and hot melt phenomena at the cutting edge.

Airbag 3D laser cutting

3、 Automated laser cleaning and texturing of large and irregular parts:

Laser cleaning and texturing are both used for surface treatment of workpieces to provide appropriate surface requirements for subsequent processes.

Laser cleaning is mainly used to remove pollutants such as oil stains or paint layers, protective films, etc. from the surface of workpieces. For example, surface peeling and paint removal of wheel hubs: commonly used automotive aluminum alloy dual color wheels require processes such as "pre production treatment" → "polishing" → "powder spraying" → "color spraying" → "polishing" → "varnish spraying". 3D laser cleaning mainly replaces the polishing process after painting to clean the paint on the irregular surface of the wheel hub. Traditional mechanical polishing (such as polishing machines and pneumatic grinding heads) consumes a large amount of grinding head, resulting in a harsh working environment for personnel. Laser cleaning has no consumables, no contact, and the polishing process requires no personnel, resulting in high efficiency.

The function of laser texturing is to form micro pits on the surface of the workpiece, increase roughness, and increase adhesion for later paint, glue, or welding processes. 3D laser texturing mainly processes irregular workpieces without the need for splicing, and has good consistency. For example, the application of roughening at the gluing position of the cover plate.

By loading a 3D laser with a dynamic focusing system, suitable parameters can be set in advance for the workpiece model in the control software to achieve uniform cleaning or texturing of irregular curved workpieces at once. The entire processing process is efficient, consistent, and easy to achieve automated production.

Application of laser paint stripping and cover plate roughening for automotive wheel hubs

4、 Laser scanning welding:

In the early application of car light welding, friction welding and hot plate welding were more common. With the increasing requirements of main engine manufacturers for the welding effect of car lights, as well as the diversification and complexity of car light design. In the comparison of various welding techniques, plastic laser scanning welding has become a "potential stock" in car lamp welding technology due to its beautiful welds, flexible welding, and high strength. Therefore, laser scanning welding is in line with the trend of development and has become one of the selection directions for car lamp welding technology.

The diversified and complex exterior design of car headlights poses greater challenges to traditional 2D laser scanning welding. The 3D dynamic focusing technology imports the car lamp model through software, and uses the dynamic focusing system to control the laser. It can perform one-time non-contact scanning welding processing on complex car lamps. At the same time, the dynamic focusing system can perform larger formats without the need for welding. It is widely used in car lights with irregular and complex shapes, as well as through type oversized tail lights and other styles.

5、 Laser relief and deep carving:

Laser relief technology is commonly used in casting molds in automobile manufacturing, such as engraving information such as the model number and production date on the surface of the cylinder block and wheel hub. The mold is engraved with a certain depth of text or barcode, and the corresponding content is left on the surface of the casting after casting. It is difficult for machine tools to process small text and graphics, and laser 3D relief can easily meet the needs. The laser 3D relief process is directly imported into the software for 3D digital modeling, and controlled by a dynamic focusing system for laser material reduction processing, achieving relief fonts and chamfering effects. Laser processing has been continuously developing in the field of precision machining due to its high accuracy and efficiency, no residual mechanical stress, and the ability to achieve smaller size micro engraving.

Car engine number curved surface deep carving