What Is CNC Machining And What Is Its Role in Mobile Phone Manufacturing?

一, What Numerical Control Machining Is and Its Main Ideas
Control by Numbers Machining is a high-tech way to make things that uses a computer numerical control system (CNC) as its main part. It uses digital programming to control machine tools so that workpieces can be automatically machined. The main idea can be broken down into three parts:
Digital instruction system: Use G-code/M-code programming to turn things like the shape, size, and cutting route of the workpiece into digital signals that the machine tool can understand. For instance, making iPhone cases requires designing a program with more than 200 instructions to manage the tool's movement path with an accuracy of 0.01mm.
Closed loop control system: real-time correction of machining defects using a servo motor drive and a grating ruler feedback device. This method keeps the size tolerance of Huawei Mate series smartphones within ± 0.005mm during frame processing. This is three times more accurate than standard machine tools.
Technology for linking many axes: The five-axis machining center can change the spatial angle between the tool and the workpiece at the same time. This technology is used in the milling process for the curved glass on the Samsung Galaxy S series. It creates a surface roughness of Ra0.2 μm in the transition zone of the curved surface, which meets the optical grade criteria.
二, Main uses of mobile phone manufacturing
1. Making metal structural parts with great accuracy
Processing of aluminum alloy frames: The Apple iPhone series employs one 6061 aluminum alloy billet, then CNC machining removes 90% of the material to make a precise framework that is only 0.3mm thick. Using a five-axis machining center makes the rounded transition zone's curvature continuity error smaller than 0.003mm, which greatly improves the machine's overall anti-drop performance.
The Xiaomi 14 Ultra Titanium Special Edition has a titanium alloy frame. It uses CNC and polishing composite technology to cut at a speed of 12000 revolutions per minute with diamond-coated cutting tools. The surface roughness of the machined surface is kept below Ra0.1 μ m while the material stays strong.
2. Ultra-precision machining of glass cover plate 3D curved glass forming: The OPPO Find X series uses a combination of CNC milling and hot bending. A ball end milling cutter is used to machine the first curved surface, and then hot bending is used to shape it. This technique makes sure that the glass edge's curvature radius mistake is less than 0.05mm, which makes sure that it fits perfectly with the metal frame.
Microstructure processing: The Honor Magic series employs CNC engraving to make a nanoscale texture on the glass surface that is 0.02mm deep. It also uses AF coating to make the screen less reflective, bringing the reflectance down to less than 1.5%.
3. Making parts out of composite materials
Processing the carbon fiber battery cover: The Lenovo Legion Y90 gaming phone uses a combination of CNC milling and laser cutting to make precise arrays of heat dissipation holes on carbon fiber prepreg. This method gets the hole position accuracy to within ± 0.02 mm, which is five times better than typical stamping methods.
Ceramic frame processing: The vivo X Fold+ uses zirconia ceramic blanks and CNC and grinding composite technologies to make the walls of the frame 0.1mm thick. Using ultrasonic-assisted machining technology increases the life of tools by 40% and lowers the cost of cutting a single item by 25%.
三,Technological advances led to the manufacturing revolution.
1. Processing efficiency improves by a lot
Technology for cutting quickly: The cutting speed of aluminum alloy machining goes up to 3000m/min, which is five times faster than typical machine tools. This is because the electric spindle spins at 18000–30000rpm. The Huawei Nova series' frame processing cycle has been cut down from 120 seconds to 45 seconds.
The turning milling composite machine tool for the composite machining center allows you to "clamp once to complete all processes." This cuts the number of steps needed to process the Xiaomi 13 Ultra camera bracket from 7 to 2 and cuts the size of the equipment by 60%.
2. A revolutionary leap in how well materials are used
Near net forming technology: By combining five-axis linkage machining with an online detection system, the Apple MacBook Pro aluminum alloy shell's material use rate has gone up from 65% to 88%, which means that 23000 tons less aluminum is used each year.
Microstructure processing: The VC heat distribution plate of the Honor Magic6 Pro has CNC-engraved microchannels that are 0.05mm wide. This increases the area for heat to escape by 40% and cuts the amount of etching solution used by 80%.
3. A change in the way environmentally friendly products are made
Dry cutting technology: In processing titanium alloys, a low-temperature cold air system is employed instead of cutting fluid. This lowers the VOCs emission concentration in the Huawei Mate 60 Pro frame production workshop from 12mg/m ³ to 0.3mg/m ³. ³. Tool life management: An intelligent tool library system that keeps track of how much wear and tear tools have experienced in real time cuts down on the number of times tools need to be replaced in OPPO Find N3 folding screen hinge processing by 35% and cuts down on the quantity of hard alloy waste by 12 tons per year.