ThyssenKrupp introduced the mechanical arm laser welding system, which has excellent thermal crack and splash resistance

Under the background of upgrading automobile intelligent manufacturing, laser welding technology is playing a key role to meet the performance of automobile manufacturing in light weight, safety, intelligence and environmental protection.

At present, high-strength aluminum and cast aluminum materials have brought a series of advantages to automobile structures, but also put forward higher requirements for laser welding. In the process of laser welding, these material parts are easy to appear hot cracks and splashes.

Not long ago, ThyssenKrupp, a German steel and heavy industry giant, announced the launch of a new type of welding system, which can effectively break through the bottlenecks often encountered in laser welding.

Image source: ThyssenKrupp

Coherent ARM laser+ThyssenKrupp precision chuck

It is reported that the robot arm laser welding system is composed of the new LSK06 laser chuck and Coherent ARM laser of Thyssenkrupp Automotive Body Solutions, which can weld aluminum, zinc and ultra-high strength body sheet metal, thus expanding the application range of the process.

Based on LSK06 laser chuck, a new gas flow mode is adopted. The clean machining tools and the annular geometry of ARM laser bring the optimized process stability to this system. In addition, the system has an integrated clamping device, and has obtained Class 1 laser product certification. There is no need to invest in laser protection room, which brings huge cost advantage and quite simple implementation. LSK06 laser collet realizes modular design (adjustable clamping force) and special guidance of laser beam, enabling simultaneous clamping and welding of welded parts, as well as adapting to various joint geometries, joint shapes and special function combinations. The integrated gas ventilation solution ensures high quality welding joints of galvanized sheet metal. The welding speed can reach 12m/min, depending on the beam source and material.

Image source: ThyssenKrupp

Welding high-strength steel and other materials with traditional fiber lasers is prone to some problems, including splash, material cracking, etc. The new fiber laser HighLight FL ARM, developed by Coherent Coherent, realizes the adjustable annular spot mode laser. With its flexible configuration, it can not only solve the problems of welding porosity, spatter, aluminum weld crack and other problems existing in traditional laser welding, but also greatly improve the quality and efficiency of the welding process, realizing efficient, high-quality and mass production.

ARM laser adopts double beam output: a central spot surrounded by a second concentric laser ring. The power in each beam can be set or even modulated independently to achieve the required control. The HighLightFL － ARM laser relies on this kind of beam dynamic adjustment, uses the annular light spot to melt the welding wire, and the central beam to weld the keyhole, which can finally achieve almost no welding porosity, spatter, etc.

The appearance of the system is an arm type fiber laser, and there will be no material cracking and other problems under the pressure of welding high-strength steel. The key is to distribute the laser energy to a larger area and more accurately control the laser energy distribution in this area. This allows the temperature gradient and cooling rate in the material to be managed more carefully. If properly handled, spatter, cracking and martensite can be avoided.

ThyssenKrupp's Laser Welding Strength for Decades

ThyssenKrupp tailor welded blanks (TWBs) Co., Ltd. in Germany began to produce TWBs in 1985. The appearance of laser tailor welded blanks (TWBs) technology has transferred automobile manufacturing from vehicle manufacturers to material suppliers. In recent years, ThyssenKrupp has developed and designed compact and flexible laser welding systems for car bodies for well-known car enterprises such as Volkswagen and Audi.

The product range of ThyssenKrupp Body Solutions covers all forms of projects, from process development to prototype production and simulation, to mass production of joint tasks at customer sites.

Side frames, doors, roof and underbody components are typical applications of laser welding. In appearance such as tailgate or roof section, ThyssenKrupp realizes laser brazing steel and laser welding aluminum. Since 1998, ThyssenKrupp has implemented a series of laser welding projects for steel, aluminum and other materials.

ThyssenKrupp automotive body solutions can be applied to mass production equipment. The scheme combines the advantages and skills of a series of professional manufacturers, such as Trumpf's intelligent flight welding system "3D iPFO", Scanlab's welding laser scanning head "IntelliWeld", Prezt Precitec's automatic laser welding solution "WeldMaster" and Scansonic's non-contact laser welding system "RLW-A".

With the development of laser technology, laser welding has been widely used. At present, laser welding technology can be used to weld various materials, especially high thermal conductivity and high melting point materials. At present, large foreign steel companies are vigorously developing laser tailor welded production lines, and some foreign steel companies are also building laser tailor welded plate production lines with large domestic steel enterprises. It is reported that ThyssenKrupp has established a laser tailor welded joint venture in Indonesia and the United States (Detroit). On July 31, 2013, Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Co., Ltd. fully completed the acquisition of ThyssenKrupp laser welding technology.

Source: OFweek