The core component of a laser cutting machine is a laser. The core components of the medium and low power laser cutting equipment promoted by Xintian Laser are medium and low power lasers. Looking at the market structure of industrial lasers from a power perspective, it can be found that the high power processing laser market has occupied for 17 years. The proportion of the entire industrial laser market is 53%, with a growth rate of 34% in 2017. This is the main contributor to the growth of industrial laser.
Subdivided into specific application fields, cutting is the most important application direction, accounting for 36% in 2016, and marking ranked second, accounting for 18%.
The technology of low power fiber lasers is mature, and domestic substitution is basically realized. In recent years, domestic manufacturers such as Ruike have gradually seized the small and medium-sized power market, resulting in a sharp drop in the price of IPG small and medium-sized power products from the high price of 300000 units.
The number of domestic medium power fiber lasers has exceeded that of imports for two consecutive years: According to the 2017 China Laser Industry Development Report, domestic medium power fiber lasers have grown at a rapid rate of nearly double in the past two years. In 2017, the sales volume was 13000 units. The volume shows that the localization rate of the Chinese electric power market has significantly improved.
High power fiber lasers are still mainly dependent on imports: 4200 high-power fiber lasers were imported in 2017, more than eight times the number of domestic 500, and the localization rate is still very low. Due to the fact that high-power lasers are the most valuable, domestic manufacturers will have great room for growth after conquering high-power technology.
Why fiber lasers can leverage their strengths and avoid their weaknesses: energy-saving, efficient, and reliable.
Judging from 36% of industrial laser cutting applications, whoever wins the cutting market will win the world. Before the rise of fiber lasers, CO2 lasers have always been the world’s first lasers, with their core being energy efficient, efficient, and reliable fiber lasers:
Energy saving: Fiber lasers have high electro-optical conversion efficiency. The higher the efficiency, the smaller the energy loss, and the more energy saving. For CO2 lasers, the power conversion efficiency is 8% to 10%, while for fiber lasers, the conversion efficiency is 25% to 30%.
High efficiency: When cutting materials smaller than 6mm, the cutting speed of the 1.5kW fiber laser cutting system is equivalent to the cutting speed of the 3kW CO2 laser cutting system.
Reliable: CO2 laser systems require regular maintenance, mirrors require maintenance and calibration, and resonators require regular maintenance, but fiber laser systems rarely require any maintenance.
It should also be pointed out that carbon dioxide lasers will not be completely replaced by fiber lasers. Due to the blind spots of fiber lasers, and the inability of fiber lasers to cut non-metallic materials or materials with coatings on their surfaces, the value of these fields is relatively small. Therefore, based on data from recent years, fiber lasers have occupied a structurally fertile market with their advantages.