In the mid-1990s, lasers were used as a heavy industry manufacturing tool in the shipbuilding industry. The manufacturing method of large ships has gradually changed from riveting to welding, and the welding methods, processes and equipment have also developed steadily, from gas welding and arc welding to laser welding. The continuous development of shipbuilding technology has driven significant changes in shipbuilding materials and ship design.

Some shipyards in early Japan used laser cutting equipment to obtain the correct cutting size and good cutting quality, and benefited from it. In 1992, Vosper Thornycroft installed the first laser cutting equipment at a European shipyard. In the mid to late 1990s, European shipyards installed complete sets of equipment for welding and cutting. Bender Shipyard is the first shipyard in the United States to use high-power laser cutting equipment. In 1999, Bender made significant progress in manufacturing costs and quality by using a 6KW Tanaka LMX III laser. In 2001, the Federal Electric Boat Department installed a 4KW ESAB system in its mobile laboratory. The application of laser cutting equipment in Bender has attracted attention to the development of efficient laser welding technology.

Advantages of laser welding process

In the early stages of the development of laser welding machine technology, low-speed welding was mostly carried out on thin-walled materials. With the continuous introduction of higher power lasers, the application of laser welding is gradually penetrating into the field of heavy industry. Compared to traditional welding processes, laser welding technology has many advantages, such as being able to perform more precise and in-depth welding; The hull components are well coordinated and can quickly form profiles. Lower requirements for welding environment, no need to work in vacuum or rare gas environment. Welding is more flexible and can avoid close contact, ensuring better construction safety. The emergence of laser welding has enabled continuous innovation in manufacturing processes. Especially in the field of shipbuilding, its innovation mainly focuses on the field of ship structure design, reducing ship weight and compressing manufacturing costs through innovation.

During full position welding of ships, the laser welding process can not only weld the same material, but also weld materials of different thicknesses. During the laser welding process of steel plates, any defects will be reported in a timely manner to facilitate re welding and avoid band breakage. In addition, the online detection of pre welding assembly status, seam position, welding process stability, post welding seam quality, etc., can predict the possible welding defect, seam position deviation, etc.

In the field of shipbuilding, there are more and more cases of using different materials, and there are also more diverse welding applications for this material. Due to the different parts and structures of the hull, the selection of various materials varies. For example, some parts require materials with strong toughness, while others require materials with strong corrosion resistance. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the research depth of welding processes for dissimilar materials.

Development Overview

At present, the world's industrial fields are developing towards low energy consumption and short process. Laser manufacturing has many advantages that traditional manufacturing methods cannot compare with. Countries around the world have increased their attention to the development of the manufacturing industry. However, compared with foreign countries, the application and promotion of laser technology in China is still relatively limited and has not yet played its due role. The reason for this lies first in the high cost and investment of laser manufacturing systems; In order to popularize the application of laser manufacturing technology more widely and make up for the problem of high investment, it is necessary to fully understand the key factors that affect the application of laser manufacturing technology, comprehensively consider factors such as the needs of ships and the investment of laser processing systems, control costs, find the best processing conditions, and improve processing efficiency, ultimately forming a new generation of laser manufacturing industry chain in China.

Future development

The application of laser technology in ship manufacturing has its unique characteristics, which is closely related to the processing and application characteristics of the ship itself, as well as the characteristics of laser manufacturing systems. At present, aluminum alloy materials have gradually become a key material in transportation machinery manufacturing, and all aluminum structural ships have shown good development prospects. Coupled with advanced laser manufacturing technology, they have demonstrated infinite development potential.

As a universal processing method, one of the cutting-edge fields of modern laser manufacturing is the expansion of its application field. Laser manufacturing application technology proposes and solves new problems. Focusing on the development trend of lightweight, metallurgical industry, and circular economy in transportation machinery such as automobiles, aerospace vehicles, ships, and railway vehicles, we aim to achieve the industrial application of laser manufacturing technology in national defense and key industrial fields. At the same time, new requirements are put forward for laser manufacturing system technology, such as miniaturization, high conversion efficiency, and integration of lasers. Fiber lasers and semiconductor lasers will be vigorously developed. Promote the development of laser manufacturing technology in China towards higher efficiency, lower energy consumption, shorter processes, higher beam quality, better performance, digitization, higher intelligence, and lower costs, and change the current situation where laser manufacturing equipment for major industries in China relies solely on imports.

About HGTECH: HGTECH is the pioneer and leader of laser industrial application in China, and the authoritative provider of global laser processing solutions. We have comprehensively arranged laser intelligent machine, measurement and automation production lines, and smart factory construction to provide overall solutions for intelligent manufacturing.