In recent years, portable laser welding equipment has rapidly emerged as one of the most significant directions in the industry, experiencing explosive growth and attracting many companies across the entire industrial chain.
As the hottest product, how has the domestic portable laser welding market grown? What are the pressing issues that still need to be addressed? What is the future development trend?
We recently conducted a comparative evaluation of three 1500W fiber laser machines that are widely used for portable welding in the market, creating a significant impact on the industry.
Laser industry observers obtained specific evaluation results and communicated with portable welding equipment manufacturers to jointly explore the actual state of the domestic portable laser welding market.
Why is portable laser welding so popular?
As a new generation of welding methods, portable laser welding has significant advantages in the speed, welding quality and post-processing (smooth and flat without manual polishing) of welding of stainless steel thin plates, iron plates, aluminum and other metallic materials.
Additionally, it is more energy efficient and meets current industry trends.
In order to further test the actual welding capabilities of the three fiber laser welding products, we chose 1mm aluminum, 4mm aluminum, 1mm stainless steel and 4mm stainless steel for testing and comparison. The following are the actual welding results:
| Products | 1mm Aluminum |
4mm Aluminum |
1mm Stainless steel |
4mm Stainless steel |
| A | 800W was enough to achieve full penetration and the back was transparent. | 800W was enough to achieve full penetration and the back was transparent. | ||
| 1,500 W was enough to achieve full penetration, but it did not weld completely. | 1,500 W was enough to achieve full penetration, but it did not weld completely. | |||
| B | 350W was enough to achieve full penetration and the back was transparent. | |||
| 1,500 W was enough to achieve full penetration, but it did not weld completely. | 1,500 W was enough to achieve full penetration, but it did not weld completely. | |||
| W | 500W was enough to achieve full penetration and the back was transparent. | 600W was enough to achieve full penetration and the back was transparent. | ||
| 1500W was enough to achieve full penetration and the back was slightly transparent. | 1500W was enough to achieve full penetration and almost welded. |
Through the above comparison, it was found that all three products were able to complete the welding of 1mm aluminum and 1mm stainless steel. However, as the thickness of the material increased, due to the different degrees of power overkill of Brands A and B at high power, they were unable to weld 4mm aluminum and 4mm stainless steel, while the fully powered Brand C could not. had this problem.
This shows that power overkill has almost become a common phenomenon in the field of portable laser welding, which also reflects the actual situation in the industry.
For the portable laser welding market, although it has been developed for several years, the industry is still in the “barbaric growth” phase. The industry lacks unified norms and standards, which also leads to a mixed industry, low-quality competition, single businesses, poor after-sales service and security risks, which are frequently observed.
For fiber laser welders, after advances in previous key materials and components, the input limit is further reduced.
In addition, with the increasing internal circulation of the industry in recent years, the trend of replacing domestic fiber laser welders has emerged, attracting upstream and downstream industrial chain and cross-border transformation of other fields to independently develop fiber laser welders fiber laser.
Due to differences in technology accumulation and R&D capacity, to quickly launch products to capture the market, product quality naturally cannot be guaranteed, which has been a persistent problem in the laser industry.
Specifically for the field of portable laser welding, the phenomenon of power exaggeration in laser equipment is naturally inevitable. This has also led to the unique phenomenon in the field of portable laser welding, where manufacturers rely on laser equipment, causing pain to end customers.
How to overcome the current situation of portable laser welding?
Currently, there is no technological barrier or leading manufacturer in the field of portable laser welding, and there are many new entrants. There are also many brands of portable fiber laser welding machines on the market, but the quality is uneven and prices range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan, making it a challenge to choose the right one.
With this issue in mind, we have had discussions with downstream equipment manufacturers.
One manufacturer stated that “the biggest problem now is price competition. We started earlier and more and more brands have entered the market, gradually making low prices an important means of competition.
This has led to user confusion, similar to the situation with laser marking machines where prices have continued to fall.
Furthermore, as an integrated equipment manufacturer, the quality of key components such as fiber laser and welding head greatly affects product quality and after-sales service.
Although there are many laser brands currently available, small brand products are not very stable and the welding quality is not guaranteed.
Therefore, we tend to choose large domestic manufacturers or foreign brands. Although they have higher prices, the quality is guaranteed.”
Portable laser welding equipment generally consists of laser, welding system, portable laser gun and cooling system, and is widely used in cabinets, kitchens and bathrooms, stairs and elevators, shelves, ovens, stainless steel doors and windows, Electrical boxes and stainless steel home furniture.
For consumers, when choosing portable welding equipment, they need to consider the main components in general, not blindly focusing on product prices and ignoring product performance and quality.
For enterprises in the portable laser welding industry chain, they must also break away from previous standards and continuously improve product quality and qualities to pursue long-term benefits.
According to data from the Laser Industry Association, the market size of portable laser welding is expected to exceed 30 billion yuan, which has a very large market space for replacing traditional welding. The portable laser welding market is transitioning from assembly to branding, with increasingly powerful fiber laser companies beginning to focus on this market.
In addition to strategic cooperation with equipment manufacturers, many laser companies have also introduced whole machine products, hoping for a new upgrade in product quality and after-sales service. This will further promote the development of the domestic portable laser welding market towards standardization.
As one of the key components, domestic fiber laser manufacturers must focus on product quality realistically, providing more stable and high-quality lasers downstream. Starting from user needs, continuous technological innovation and iterative products are the key to ensuring the healthy development of the industry and further expanding the portable welding market.
