From 2024 To 2029, The Compound Annual Growth Rate of The Laser Cleaning Market Will Reach 14.61%

Figure 1: Global laser cleaning market size.

Laser cleaning technology is an advanced industrial technology that uses the interaction between laser and matter to achieve surface cleaning of materials. At present, laser cleaning has been widely used in the coating of pole pieces, decontamination and rust removal of parts, tire cleaning and other scenes in the manufacturing process of lithium batteries due to its advantages of no contact, no consumables, no pollution, high precision, no damage or little damage, and has shown a promising market growth prospect.

A report from market research firm Mordor Intelligence shows that the global laser cleaning market size is expected to reach US$780 million in 2024 and reach US$1.53 billion by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.61% between 2024 and 2029.

Laser Cleaning Market Development Drivers

Laser cleaning has become an important cleaning method and is widely used in the manufacturing industry. With the rise of refined production, laser cleaning hardware technology has also undergone multiple upgrades.

Automated cleaning processes are often used to prepare clean surfaces for subsequent industrial processes, so they need to follow the changes brought about by Industry 4.0. In addition, sandblasting systems produce a lot of waste and damage fragile surfaces, and the use of chemical solvents produces potentially dangerous vapor and liquid waste. These problems have led to the popularity of surface cleaning solutions based on laser technology.

In addition, compared with these traditional cleaning methods, laser cleaning has potential huge advantages, including high precision, no contact, less damage to the substrate, no consumables, and more environmentally friendly. These core advantages at the technical level are also driving laser cleaning to gradually replace traditional cleaning methods.

The automotive industry's demand for laser cleaning has grown significantly

Laser cleaning removes all contaminants, not just those that are visible. In the automotive industry, laser cleaning can be used to remove corrosion, remove coatings, remove topcoats, and for oxide treatment in automotive production or maintenance.

Laser cleaning can restore a high-value vehicle to have all its original parts and a good surface condition. General Motors, Toyota, Michelin and other automakers have developed laser technology, including laser cleaning technology.

In addition, the significant growth in demand for electric vehicles and the actual deployment of laser cleaning equipment are driving the growth of the laser cleaning market. Laser cleaning absorbs and eliminates impurities by emitting thousands of laser pulses per second. This is very beneficial for automotive parts that require bonding and pre-welding processes, improving the chemical properties that hold battery or electric vehicle components together by removing contaminants before bonding or welding, and extending the service life of the product. Coating removal, injection mold processing, post-weld processing, and tire mold cleaning are all application scenarios for laser cleaning technology in the automotive production process.

For example, using lasers to clean battery components allows manufacturers to work quickly and safely while keeping the amount of material removed during the ablation process to 1-3 μm. This makes it easier to keep the substrate layer intact, resulting in connections that are far superior to uncleaned areas and significantly improves bonding stability over time and mileage. Laser ablation is an advanced electric vehicle battery cleaning method that can improve the conductivity between battery cells and bond wires. Electric vehicle batteries are usually cleaned using typical pulsed fiber lasers.

The growth in electric vehicle production is expected to further drive the development of the laser cleaning market. In February 2022, Tesla plans to build a second electric vehicle factory in China to help it meet the growing demand in the local and export markets in China. In the short term, Tesla plans to increase its production capacity in China to at least 1 million vehicles per year and build a second factory near the existing factory in the Lingang Free Trade Zone in Shanghai.

In addition, Toyota Group also revealed in May 2022 that it plans to invest 48 billion Indian rupees (624 million US dollars) in India to produce electric vehicle parts.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), there will be about 25.9 million electric vehicles in operation worldwide by 2022.

Figure 2: According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), there will be about 25.9 million electric vehicles in operation worldwide by 2022.

Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market

China is paying more and more attention to environmental protection, and people are paying more and more attention to protecting themselves from pollution. Since traditional cleaning methods have many pollution problems, the demand for laser cleaning solutions has begun to grow.

In addition, with the implementation of the national strategic Industry 4.0 and Made in China 2025, China's manufacturing processing level is rising. As an important supporting technology for modern manufacturing, laser cleaning technology is expected to have more and more application scenarios.

In South Korea, due to the huge demand in the automotive market, laser cleaning machines need to ensure the highest possible pre- and post-weld processing, resulting in growing and strong connections without any coating process. According to the Korea Imported Vehicle Association (KAIDA), in 2022, South Korea sold about 851,000 gasoline vehicles, followed by diesel vehicles and hybrid vehicles in third place; however, sales of electric or hybrid vehicles increased significantly from the previous year. In February 2022, South Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI began using laser equipment to clean square battery cans.

Other Asia-Pacific countries, such as Japan, India, Australia, Thailand and Indonesia, are expected to have a relatively significant increase in demand for laser cleaning technology during the forecast period.

Figure 3: A rough comparison of the growth rate of the laser cleaning market in different regions of the world.

Key Players in the Laser Cleaning Market

The potential growth prospects of the laser cleaning market are attracting many manufacturers to quietly enter this field in order to win a place in the market with their own product solutions and services.

DOYA Laser's handheld laser cleaning equipment can remove the most challenging corrosion and improve adhesion before painting. It is also constantly upgrading its laser cleaning product portfolio, launching handheld laser welding and cleaning products, which have a smaller spot size and provide higher energy density to achieve a wider range of handheld laser welding and cleaning functions, and can handle more materials and thicknesses.