In recent years, the aerospace industry - including commercial and military aircraft, satellites, spacecraft, drones, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) - has undergone some earth shaking changes. More and more companies have joined the Space Race, and many of them need innovative manufacturing technologies.

In contrast, the impact of travel restrictions on commercial aviation caused by the COVID-19 epidemic has led to a one-third decline in the manufacturing rate of civil aircraft.

In 2019, Europe was one of the global leaders in the production of civil aircraft and helicopters, including various components and aircraft engines, providing approximately 400000 jobs and generating 130 billion euros in revenue. Although Space exploration and national defense have basically not been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the production and manufacturing of civil aircraft are still in the recovery stage.

In the Uncertainty in Commercial Aerospace published in February 2023, McKinsey, a well-known consulting and research enterprise, reported that the world needs to digest the backlog of 9400 passenger aircraft (mainly narrow body Jet aircraft) by the end of 2027. However, there is uncertainty regarding the future growth of air passenger transportation, the soundness of the supply chain and labor force. Therefore, manufacturers need to improve production efficiency and flexibility to handle the backlog of products and respond to future changes in demand.

The ability of laser processing to improve productivity and maintain low costs may play a crucial role in achieving this response in the aerospace industry. Laser processing - operations achieved through cutting, welding, shot peening, and drilling have become an indispensable part of aerospace manufacturing.

For example, lasers are used to manufacture flaps, wing fasteners, jet engine components, and seat components of aircraft wings, as well as to repair turbines, clean or remove paint from components, and prepare component surfaces for further processing. In recent years, laser additive manufacturing (AM) has become increasingly popular in the field of aerospace flight. In addition, the market hopes to improve the traceability of aerospace components, resulting in increasingly high requirements for laser marking.

Laser cutting and welding

Laser cutting is a fast, cost-effective, and precise process that can be used to meet the stringent manufacturing requirements of the aerospace industry.

Compared with traditional machining, laser cutting has high accuracy, less material waste, fast processing speed, low cost, and less equipment maintenance. In addition, due to its ability to make any necessary changes to the processing quickly and conveniently, it can maximize productivity.

Laser can be used to produce wing fastener parts, fixture parts, end effector parts, tooling parts, etc. It is also suitable for small components, such as grafting oil gaskets and titanium bleed pipe manifolds, as well as larger components, such as exhaust cones. It can process various aerospace materials, including aluminum, Hastelloy (nickel that has been alloyed with elements such as molybdenum and chromium), chromium nickel iron alloy, nickel titanium alloy, nickel titanium, stainless steel, tantalum, and titanium.

Laser welding is also used in the aerospace field as an alternative to traditional bonding methods, such as adhesive bonding and mechanical fastening. For example, the use of laser welding light aluminum alloy and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) in aircraft manufacturing has received more and more attention, and has been used to replace riveting wherever possible. Laser swing welding and other technologies have also achieved success in fuel tank connection, improving connection efficiency and strength, reducing rework, and saving a lot of costs. Other successful welding cases in the aerospace field include: connecting the cast core of turbine blades to the cover plate; And creating new lightweight wing flaps to increase laminar flow control, minimize drag, and optimize fuel efficiency.

Compared with traditional methods, laser welding has the potential to save costs, reduce component weight and improve welding quality. At present, several manufacturers in the market have even begun to consider using laser welding to produce fuselage parts.

About HGTECH

HGTECH is the pioneer and leader of laser industrial application in China, and the authoritative provider of global laser processing solutions. We comprehensively layout the construction of laser intelligent equipment, measurement and automation production lines, and smart factories to provide an overall solution for intelligent manufacturing.

We deeply grasp the development trend of manufacturing industry, constantly enrich products and solutions, adhere to exploring the integration of automation, informatization, intelligence and manufacturing industry, and provide various industries with laser cutting systems, laser welding systems, laser marking series, laser texturing complete equipment, laser heat treatment systems, laser drilling machines, lasers and various supporting devices The overall plan for the construction of special laser processing equipment and plasma cutting equipment, as well as automatic production lines and smart factories.