3D glass CNC machining equipment welcomes new opportunities

INTRODUCTION: 3D glass is the preferred trend for mobile devices, and device trends often influence changes in the industry. One researcher believes that the market demand for 3D glass processing and related processing equipment manufacturing will exceed 100 billion yuan.

Since the launch of Samsung Galaxy 3D curved screen mobile phones in 2015, the 3D curved glass cover market has been strongly influenced, and the mobile phone market sales are intensifying. With strong concern, domestic and foreign brands have therefore launched 3D glass screen mobile phones.

3D curved glass is popular for its thin, simple, transparent and anti-fingerprint design, as well as its three-dimensional straight grip and beauty. And both sides of this arc are to allow mobile brands to consider more applications at design time. 3D glass seems to be a favorable trend for mobile devices, and device trends tend to influence changes in the industrial chain. One researcher believes that the market demand for 3D glass processing and related processing equipment manufacturing will exceed 100 billion yuan.

Wireless charging + 5G + AMOLED, glass in the future

From Samsung, Huawei, ViVo, OPPO, Xiaomi, Jinli and more, 3D glass covers are used in more and more models of several brands. Momentum seems to be in the mobile industry and will be glass in the future. Overall, what are the factors that make many people in the industry predict dividends in the 3D glass space? The authors summarize three elements: wireless charging, 5G technology, and AMOLED.

As we know, Samsung Gear Watch, S6 series, S7 series, Apple Apple Watch, Apple8, Apple8plus, AppleX have wireless charging technology, and wireless charging is an important agility for promoting these products. It has become. Regardless of its practicality, it brings new highlights and selling points to the current homogenization of mobile phones. Apple’s final product, a traditional leader in the mobile phone industry, will undoubtedly be the wing of the industry, inevitably trying to wirelessly charge other brands. In fact, many Chinese wireless device makers have already raised a lot of money and are ready, according to newspaper reporters. They believe this delicious cake is ready

The basic principle of wireless charging is the use of electromagnetic waves, but existing metal cases can absorb and shield electromagnetic waves, greatly reducing charging efficiency, and there is no problem with glass. Ceramic casing is a material with low electromagnetic wave shielding / shielding ability, but glass is acceptable in terms of cost, productivity, and yield, which cannot meet the demands of mass production at present.

In addition, the 5G era has become a clear trend in both national policy and industry layout. 5G uses higher frequencies to increase bandwidth, but higher frequencies have lower wavelengths, which reduces diffractive capacity and makes it difficult to receive mobile phone signals. In this case, signal occlusion can only be reduced by relying on the design of the phone cover, and traditional metal back covers are definitely worse than glass. Therefore, in the 5G era, it is foreseeable that the advantages of the glass back cover will become more prominent. AMOLED is also the next generation display technology. A unique feature is the flexible bending, which is best suited for 3D glass panels. Many brands are currently experimenting with this technology. Therefore, in the field of cell phone casings, industry trends indicate that the future is the world of glass.

3D glass technology: pull the elbow

From the process of manufacturing mobile phone casings, it mainly involves cutting, packaging, engraving, polishing and screen printing. From a technical point of view, the main difference between 3D curved glass covers and traditional 2D and 2.5D is that the 3D curved glass manufacturing process includes a heat bending process as shown in the following figure.

Curved glass forming process

Summarizing the importance of 3D hot bending technology in one sentence, you can directly determine whether the entire 3D glass project can be carried out smoothly. This is because of the high temperature bending part, the good rate directly determines the output of the 3D glass cover. Due to the high limits of this technology, household heat bending machines for producing 3D curved glass are mainly imported from South Korea, and the production capacity does not meet the market demands. Therefore, accelerating the development of thermal bending machines, increasing the production of thermal bending manufacturing, and expanding the curved market are the future choices of many companies.

In addition, 3D hot bending requires the selection of graphite molding materials, graphite molding design, molding, equipment bending parameters, etc. and working closely with the relevant personnel. Among them, graphite-processed beds are very important and have become an important product of many companies. According to the author’s understanding, the JTGK-600FS precision graphite processing machine employs a graphite dry cutting (blow molding) process. Internal sealing performance combined with a powerful dust collector prevents graphite powder from affecting machine parts. The 3D contour accuracy of the product can meet the requirements of curved bent glass molds and you can imagine the market outlook.
High precision graphite processing machine

In addition to hot bending technology, under the trend of 3D curved glass, this technology also poses new challenges for CNC machines. Traditional metal CNCs are the first choice for the transition to glass CNCs or both. How to achieve a balance between the two is a problem faced by many CNC equipment manufacturers.

From the perspective of Cantonese Jiatie products, the equipment products also have their own advantages in the process of processing 3D curved glass. For example, our JTGK-500E engraving and milling machine products have complete improvements in performance and construction. It provides excellent cutting performance, high efficiency and high precision machining results, reduces vibration during machining, and improves machining speed and feed rate. It is understood that this product is suitable for aluminum alloys and glass.

Engraving / milling board

It turns out that Guangdong Yoshiyoshi has not given up on metal numerical control equipment, like many existing equipment strategies, to deal with the waves of 3D curved glass covers. In fact, metal numerical controls still have a large market space. This is because 3D glass has its own technical flaws that make it difficult to achieve a complete glass design at once. Many mobile phones still use the “front and rear glass + metal middle frame” design. This is the development trend of high-end machines. In addition, the metal cover is gradually moving towards low-end machines, and the market space is huge.

Therefore, it is speculated that metal CNC equipment manufacturers will lead the spring “post-metal era”, and glass CNC technology can also show its talent in the trend of 3D glass. This shows that for CNC equipment manufacturers, the rate of return on the market is still very high.