Overview of Laser Cleaning Technology
Laser cleaning is hailed as "the most promising green cleaning technology of the 21st century." It can alter the grain structure and orientation of a substrate surface without damaging it, and can control the surface roughness, thereby enhancing the overall performance of the substrate surface. With the acceleration of industrialization and the steady advancement of the "dual carbon" target, it is gradually replacing traditional cleaning processes in many fields and has become an indispensable equipment manufacturing technology in high-end manufacturing sectors such as industry, military, shipbuilding, and aerospace.
The concept of laser cleaning originated in the mid-1980s. Its principle utilizes the high energy density, controllable direction, and strong focusing ability of a laser beam to interact with contaminants such as oil, rust, dust, coatings, oxide layers, or films adhering to the workpiece substrate. These contaminants are separated from the substrate through instantaneous thermal expansion, melting, and gas volatilization.
The entire laser cleaning process is complex and can be roughly divided into laser vaporization decomposition, laser separation, thermal expansion of contaminant particles, substrate surface vibration, and contaminant detachment. Currently, there are laser ablation cleaning methods, liquid film-assisted laser cleaning methods, and laser shock wave cleaning methods, which can stably and effectively clean various regular substrate surfaces, including metals, alloys, glass, and various composite materials.
| Comparison Item | Laser Cleaning | Chemical Cleaning | Mechanical Grinding |
| Cleaning Method | Non-contact laser | Contact with chemical cleaners | Contact with mechanical/sandpaper |
| Workpiece Damage | No damage | Causes damage | Causes damage |
| Cleaning Efficiency | High | Low | Low |
| Consumables | Only requires electricity | Chemical cleaning agents | Sandpaper, grinding wheels, oilstones |
| Cleaning Effect | High cleanliness | Average, uneven | Average, uneven |
| Precision Cleaning | Controllable, high precision | Uncontrollable, low precision | Uncontrollable, average precision |
| Pollution | No pollution | Pollutes the environment | Pollutes the environment |
| Manual Operation | Simple operation, easy to automate | Complex process, high operational requirements, anti-pollution measures needed | Time-consuming, labor-intensive, anti-pollution measures needed |
| Cost Investment | High initial investment, no consumables, low maintenance cost | Low initial investment, very high consumable cost | High initial investment, high consumable and labor costs |
Application of Laser Cleaning in Lithium-ion Battery Manufacturing
Currently, laser cleaning has become a major method for battery surface treatment and is widely used in the three main power battery production processes: electrode manufacturing, cell fabrication, and battery assembly. By employing lasers, cleaning heads, and control software, and integrating computer control, the battery manufacturing process level is greatly improved.
- Electrode Laser Cleaning
When coating electrode materials, the metal strips of the positive and negative current collectors need to be cleaned. Common positive current collectors are aluminum foil, and negative current collectors are copper foil. To ensure the stability of the current collectors inside the battery, the purity of both must be above 98%. Traditional wet ethanol cleaning can easily damage other components of the lithium battery. Using laser cleaning of metal foil not only improves the efficiency of the cleaning process and saves cleaning resources, but also establishes real-time monitoring of cleaning process data and quantitative judgment of cleaning results, effectively improving the consistency of batch production of electrodes.
ACEY-G100W fiber laser cleaning machine is basically a very innovative process that is used completely contact-free mostly by means of fiber lasers to remove rust, oxides, paint and other coatings from metallic surfaces. The great advantage is that it does not change the properties of the material in the process.
- Laser Cleaning Before Battery Welding
In recent years, laser welding has become standard practice on power battery production lines, widely used in welding power battery tabs, sealing nails, busbars, and battery modules. A clean and uniform surface is a fundamental prerequisite for successful and durable welding and bonding. Therefore, surface treatment of each welding part before welding to remove contaminants at the weld joint can effectively improve welding quality and reduce costs. Laser cleaning is applied to the cleaning process of sealing nails and adapter plates in the cell section, and electrode posts, blue film, silicone, and coating of single cells in the module section. It effectively removes dirt and dust from each end face, preparing the battery for welding and reducing defective products.
- Laser Cleaning During Battery Assembly
To prevent safety accidents in lithium batteries, lithium battery cells are often coated with adhesive to provide insulation, prevent short circuits, protect circuits, and prevent scratches. Laser cleaning is used to clean CMT welds on battery pack trays, electrophoretic paint on battery pack covers, oxide layers on battery pack casing sealant tracks, and pre-welding oxide layers on protective base plates. This improves the adhesion of adhesives or coatings, and the cleaning process does not produce harmful pollutants. In an environment of heightened environmental concerns, this green and environmentally friendly cleaning method will become increasingly important.
Advantages of Laser Cleaning
Environmental Advantages: Laser cleaning is a "green" cleaning method that does not require any chemical agents or cleaning solutions. The waste generated is primarily solid powder, small in volume, easy to store, and recyclable. It involves no photochemical reactions and does not produce pollution. It easily solves the environmental pollution problems associated with chemical cleaning. Often, a single exhaust fan is sufficient to handle the waste generated during cleaning.
Effectiveness Advantages: Traditional cleaning methods are often contact cleaning, which exerts mechanical force on the surface of the object being cleaned, damaging the surface or leaving the cleaning medium adhering to the surface, resulting in secondary pollution. Laser cleaning's non-abrasive, non-contact, and heat-free nature avoids damaging the substrate, thus solving these problems.
Control Advantages: Lasers can be transmitted via fiber optics, allowing for convenient remote operation in conjunction with robotic arms and robots. This enables cleaning of areas difficult to reach using traditional methods, ensuring personnel safety in hazardous environments.
Convenience Advantages: Laser cleaning can remove various types of contaminants from the surfaces of various materials, achieving a level of cleanliness unattainable by conventional cleaning methods. Furthermore, it can selectively clean contaminants from material surfaces without damaging them.
Cost Advantages: Laser cleaning is fast, efficient, and time-saving. While the initial investment in a laser cleaning system is higher, the system offers long-term stable operation with low running costs. More importantly, it can be easily automated.
about us
Acey Intelligent is specialized in researching and manufacturing of high-end equipment for lithium-ion batteries. We can not only provide one-stop solution for lithium ion battery production line for cylindrical battery, coin cell, pouch cell, but also provide one-stop solution for lithium battery pack assembly line, if you are new in lithium ion battery industry, and want to build your own lithium ion battery production line or lithium ion battery pack assembly line, we can provide you professional technical support and guidance, please feel free to contact us!