Application of Millimeter Radar Waves in Plastic Laser Welding

Due to the mandatory requirements of commercial vehicle AEB regulations and the rendering of new car-making forces led by TESLA, autonomous driving has long become a hot spot in the automotive industry. Millimeter-wave radar and camera are necessary hardware for realizing autonomous driving, but Plastic laser welding machine has reliable technology and good welding effect, and is increasingly used in the welding of millimeter-wave radar and camera products.

Some companies' millimeter wave radars and camera shells are encapsulated with glue. First, because the plastic laser welding technology was not considered in the early design, or because of assembly reasons, the parting surface of the upper and lower shells is in the middle of the product. For general plastic laser welding, this structure obviously makes its penetration layer thickness too large, which does not meet the requirements of plastic laser welding. In practice, this structure only needs to make very few changes or modifications to meet the requirements of laser welding. The welding wire can be placed on the side of the product. Through clever design and plastic laser welding tooling, the camera can be laser welded very reliably and in batches.

If plastic laser welding is used, the welding process of millimeter wave radar or camera is solved. There are also some problems with the material. Millimeter wave radar mainly uses PBT material. In the process of material selection, it is necessary not only to meet the functional requirements of the final application, but also to meet the penetration requirements of laser welding for penetrating materials and the absorption requirements of laser absorbing materials.

When selecting laser-penetrable plastic upper materials, users often use "laser penetration rate" as a detection indicator, and arbitrarily judge whether certain materials are suitable for laser plastic welding based on this indicator. The laser penetration rate is a reference indicator. The penetration rates detected by different thicknesses, different detection instruments, and different detection methods vary greatly. The laser penetration rate detected by a certain instrument cannot be used as the sole criterion. In addition, the welding performance of low-penetration materials is not necessarily stronger than that of high-penetration materials.

During the plastic laser welding process, attention should be paid to monitoring the material and product structure, and process monitoring should also be paid attention to laser welding of millimeter-wave radars or cameras. For example, for millimeter-wave radars, users have strict requirements on the longitudinal dimension, straightness, and breakage after welding. At present, most plastic laser welding equipment on the market has achieved simple monitoring of welding collapse, but there are few complete solutions for the flatness after welding and the longitudinal dimension control after welding.