Laser Micro-processing of Materials for Transportation Industry Application

Laser micro-processing has been well recognized as a promising technology for advanced manufacturing of transportation industry thanks to its high precision, efficiency, and flexibility. It is known that final quality of advanced manufacturing products is mainly determined by both machines and processing. In this chapter, we develop a novel method of introducing a scanner-stage synchronized system to solve the problem of stitching errors for the requirement of high consistency of the structures on large areas. The scanner-stage synchronized system combines a multi-axis servo motion stage with a high dynamics galvanometer scanner, and allows continuous laser micro-processing over large areas. With this, the stitching error is eliminated and the throughput is significantly increased. Moreover, we introduce our recent findings of laser precision polishing, multifunctional surfaces fabrication and dissimilar materials joining. Laser polishing is promising for reducing surface roughness and enhancing the properties of metallic surfaces. Due to excellent adaptability, high precision, and high automation in an environmentally friendly fashion, laser polishing can change surface morphology without altering or affecting bulk properties. The microstructure, roughness, hardness, wear resistance of laser-polished surfaces and the application for transportation industry are discussed. Furthermore, anti-icing and self-cleaning surface induced by laser micro-processing is capable of reducing the risk of traffic accidents for automobiles. We summarized the surface morphology, wettability, wear resistance, thermal stability, and potential application of induced surfaces. Moreover, with the increasing demands of hybrid components, we propose a direct laser joining method for metal and polymer/fiber reinforced polymer composites, which is effective for reducing product weight, tailoring product properties and enhancing flexibility in automobile design.