In our daily life and industrial production, steel, aluminum and copper are the most widely used metal materials.

Steel has a large storage capacity, low cost and long history, and copper is more expensive. It is mainly used in household appliances, batteries, electronic products and other fields. Steel and copper materials will encounter a big problem, that is, rust, and it is continuous oxidation rust. In comparison, aluminum materials have advantages.

Aluminum will also be oxidized on the surface, but the aluminum oxide on the surface will act as a barrier, and the internal materials will not continue to oxidize and rust. In addition, aluminum materials have moderate price, light material, high hardness and high temperature resistance, and are widely used in high-end fields such as high-speed railway locomotives, aerospace vehicles, passenger aircraft, etc.

Aluminum metal products are widely used

Aluminum has huge storage capacity, excellent plasticity and ductility, low cost and wide use. Especially at present, China is in the period of industrial manufacturing and large-scale construction, and the demand is even greater. Therefore, China has become the largest aluminum consumer in the world.

In daily life, we often find aluminum doors and windows, aluminum building structures, and aluminum bathroom products; The high-speed rail, aircraft, and even space rockets that people often travel on also use a large number of aluminum metal parts, which can greatly reduce weight while maintaining rigidity.

The promotion of lightweight concept often uses aluminum alloy to replace steel.

In terms of automobiles, the characteristics of aluminum are also favored by manufacturers, such as Audi A8, Tesla, Cadillac and Chery Jaguar Land Rover, which all use aluminum architecture on a large scale.

The Model S all-aluminum body developed and manufactured by Tesla has the characteristics of lightweight and high strength. Most of its body and front and rear suspension materials are made of aluminum.

The application of aluminum is far more than that. Aluminum and aluminum alloys are widely used in container transportation, flood control facilities, bridge construction, daily necessities, household appliances, mechanical equipment and other fields.

Laser processing technology of aluminum

The traditional cutting method of aluminum and copper is mechanical cutting, such as grinding wheel and saw blade, but it will bring large dust and material loss.

With the rapid development of the aluminum alloy application market, its demand is also increasing. It is particularly important to develop new aluminum processing, and laser processing technology is a better choice. Aluminum is a kind of high reflection material, and its absorption rate to laser is not high, and the reflected light will also cause damage to the laser head parts.

A few years ago, foreign laser manufacturers have improved the protection of optical components and realized the design of anti-high reflection. The optical isolator is added to the transmission fiber of the beam combiner. All optical gates and optocouplers have optical path isolation function. With the careful development of the process window, it will become a cutting edge of highly reflective materials.

The problem of high reflection is solved, and the application of laser processing aluminum is opened. As long as the power is increased, the aluminum plate with thickness of more than 50mm can be cut. Of course, the commonly used aluminum plate in reality is of medium and thin thickness.

In terms of welding, pure aluminum has poor weldability, and often needs to add solder or flux to realize splicing. But in reality, in order to better use aluminum, aluminum alloy is often used, and the alloy elements often added include copper, magnesium, zinc, silicon, manganese, etc.

Aluminum alloy can be well used for laser welding. For example, a locomotive company of CRRC has adopted high-power CO2 laser welding for locomotive body. In addition, fiber lasers and semiconductor lasers can be used for aluminum alloy welding. In recent years, due to the rise of the new energy automobile industry, the aluminum alloy shell sealing process of the power battery has used a large number of laser welding, bringing good orders to equipment manufacturers such as Han's and Lianying.

It is worth mentioning that aluminum metal parts are widely used in common fields such as door and window frames, curtain frames, office desks and chairs, furniture, landscape architecture and structures. Due to the low and medium power laser welding, flexible handheld welding equipment has emerged and has been widely used in steel sheets and pipes. In the future, laser handheld welding will inevitably enter the application of small aluminum alloy parts, which will bring greater demand potential for handheld welding.
 

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.