Due to the mandatory requirements of AEB regulations for commercial vehicles and the exaggeration of new car manufacturing forces led by TESLA, autonomous driving has long become a hot topic in the automotive industry. Millimeter-wave radar and cameras are necessary hardware for autonomous driving, but plastic laser welding machines are technically reliable and have good welding effects, and are increasingly used in the welding of millimeter-wave radar and camera products.

Plastic laser welding application of millimeter radar wave (Figure 1)
                          

Some companies' millimeter wave radars and camera casings are sealed with glue. First of all, because plastic laser welding technology was not considered in the early design, or due to assembly reasons, the parting surfaces of the upper and lower shells were in the middle of the product. For general plastic laser welding, this structure obviously makes the thickness of the penetration layer too large, which does not meet the requirements of plastic laser welding. In practice, this structure can meet the requirements of laser welding with only a few modifications or changes. The welding wire can be placed on the side of the product. Through clever design and plastic laser welding tooling, cameras 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 issues with materials. Millimeter wave radar mainly uses PBT materials. In the material selection process, not only the functional requirements of the final application must be met, but also the penetration requirements of laser welding for penetrating materials and the absorption requirements of laser-absorbing materials.

Plastic laser welding application of millimeter radar wave (Figure 2)
                

When selecting laser-penetrable plastic upper layer materials, users often use "laser penetration rate" as a detection indicator, and use this indicator to arbitrarily judge whether certain materials are suitable for laser plastic welding. The penetration rate of the laser is a reference index. The penetration rates detected by different thicknesses, different detection instruments, and different detection methods are very different. The laser penetration rate detected by a certain instrument cannot be used as the only judgment. according to. In addition, the welding performance of low penetration materials is not necessarily better than the welding performance 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 when laser welding with millimeter wave radar or cameras. For example, for millimeter-wave radar, users have strict requirements on the longitudinal size, straightness, and breakage after welding. Now, most plastic laser welding equipment on the market has implemented simple monitoring of welding collapse, but there are few complete solutions for post-welding flatness and post-welding longitudinal size control.