Trend analysis of laser micromachining

Abstract

Laser plays increasingly important roles in modern science and engineering, laser machining, especially laser micromachining, has become part of the foundation of advanced manufacturing. On one hand, laser was invented 50 years ago and big progress was made; on the other hand, laser business in general has been moderately growing when we compare laser business with other businesses, such as IT business. This paper will use TRIZ tool to analyze the trends of laser material processing, with a focus on laser micromachining. People practicing laser material processing should not treat laser as a special energy field; rather, laser should be treated as one of the common energy fields in engineering. This is a natural conclusion from the philosophy of Intelligent Energy Field Manufacturing, which treats manufacturing as the process of injecting human intelligence to integrate and control energy fields to convert materials into desired configurations. Finally, the grand challenges of laser material processing are discussed.Laser plays increasingly important roles in modern science and engineering, laser machining, especially laser micromachining, has become part of the foundation of advanced manufacturing. On one hand, laser was invented 50 years ago and big progress was made; on the other hand, laser business in general has been moderately growing when we compare laser business with other businesses, such as IT business. This paper will use TRIZ tool to analyze the trends of laser material processing, with a focus on laser micromachining. People practicing laser material processing should not treat laser as a special energy field; rather, laser should be treated as one of the common energy fields in engineering. This is a natural conclusion from the philosophy of Intelligent Energy Field Manufacturing, which treats manufacturing as the process of injecting human intelligence to integrate and control energy fields to convert materials into desired configurations. Finally, the grand challenges of laser material processing ar...