Laser technology is widely used, in the current hot automobile manufacturing industry is the same, laser technology in automobile manufacturing is mainly used in the body of unequal thickness plate welding, body welding and auto parts welding.
Laser welding technology in the automobile body application, can do to reduce the weight of the body to achieve the purpose of saving fuel; laser welding technology of solidity and lightweight, can improve the degree of integration of the body; laser welding technology of high precision and high efficiency characteristics, can be in the production of high efficiency at the same time to ensure its safety and stability.
Laser Self-Melting Welding
Laser self-melting welding, i.e., the two or more parts of the welded parts melt themselves to form a whole, without the need to add welding wires and other auxiliary materials, multiple parts of the welded parts melt themselves into a whole.
Laser self-melting welding is mainly divided into two main parts in the manufacture of automobile body, body group welding and welding.
Body Welding
Body welding mainly has the roof and side of the column, rear fender, body bracket and door welding, with the demand for product replacement, laser welding is more and more widely used in the field of automotive, group welding has been accepted by most manufacturers, only Volvo is still insisting on the use of laser self-melting welding; side of the Ford SUV and sedan respectively, there is a use of laser welding, Volkswagen's many models are also in use.
Automotive Laser Welding
Welded panels are made of steel with different strengths, thicknesses and coatings, and laser welding is widely used because of its high speed, high precision and small weld seams. Most of the welded panels in the current automotive industry are laser welded.
Compared with the old body of pure steel plate, welding plate has the following advantages:
- The body weight is light, using the welding method to make the plate thinner, so as to reduce the weight of the body;
- The overall strength is high, the body through the welded plate composition, the strength even more than the parent material body, increasing the safety of the body;
- The cost is relatively low, welding strength, precision are higher than traditional materials, reducing the use of parts can also ensure performance.
The use of laser welding plate applied to the body manufacturing, can reduce the number of parts, molds and welding fixtures, reduce the weight and cost of the body, and improve the competitiveness of the product market. The main application of weld plate in the automobile body, mainly used in the majority of cover parts, but also used in some structural parts.
Weld seam form
The weld seam of the welded plate in the automobile is mainly divided into the following three kinds:
- Single linear weld;
- Plural linear weld;
- Non-linear weld.
Among them, the type of single straight line weld is the most used, and the production process is relatively simple. Non-linear weld is the most complex, generally according to the shape of the stamped part after molding design weld, so as to improve the strength of the product and stamping performance.
Since the automotive welded plate will be subsequently stamped, so the quality of the welded plate molding and defect control requirements are particularly strict. The main requirements include appearance (scars, cracks, inclusions, holes and scratches, etc.), weld formation (weld width, weld lump projection, effective depth of the weld, backside fracture and weld misalignment, etc.) and mechanical properties (tensile, cupping, hardness and bending tests on the weld). For example, it is required that the tensile properties test break in the non-welded area, and that the cupping test not crack in the weld or have a cupping value greater than the specified value.
