Laser Plastic Welded Automotive Oil Pans, Sumps and Oil Filters

Use of Plastics to Decrease Weight and Improve Margins Over Aluminum and Steel Oil Pans

The use of thermoplastic and composite materials in automotive oil pans, sumps and engine oil filtration is growing as automotive design engineers look for weight savings as a path to increased fuel efficiencies. New engine designs where the oil pan is a structural element of the engine are being developed to reduce vibration and noise. Strong, light weight, reinforced plastics are used in these new engine components. Laser plastic welding is the perfect assembly technique for plastic oil pans and oil filters for added weight savings, reduced bill of materials, stronger bonds and reduced assembly times. Laser plastic welding is used to secure filter media in plastic housings and in subassemblies integrated into the oil pan.

Welding of Engineering Polymers

Laser plastic welding can weld any thermoplastic polymer, including up to 30% glass filled nylons; PA-6, PA-66, PBT, PET, PC, PBT/ABS alloys, and many others.

Major Benefits of Laser Plastic Welding to Assembly Plastic Oil Pans, Oil Filters and Oil Sumps

Laser plastic welding offers a high degree of flexibility to rapidly and inexpensively change over to new designs and adapt to new product form factors by simply changing the tooling and uploading the latest CAD designs into the machine. Laser plastic welding machines are available in the right size to fit your needs with machines to accommodate part sizes from 100 mm x 100 mm to 1,000 mm x 750 mm.

Key Advantages for Laser Welding of Plastic Fluid Components

Particle Free
Laser plastic welding is a particle-free joining process compared to ultrasonic or vibration welding so your assembly process will not contribute to particulate contamination from the manufacturing process.

Exceedingly Strong
The dynamic process of quasi-simultaneous welding supplies additional material to the joint, much like a welding rod in metal welding, to create joints that exceed the strength of the molded parts themselves.

Significant Savings on BOM and Labor
The laser plastic welding assembly method allows designs without the need for screws that reduces the bill of materials (BOM) and therefore costs compared to components that are secured with screws. Laser plastic welding is a faster assembly method compared to UV cured adhesives and eliminates the costly maintenance and mess of glue dispensing and curing.

Fast Cycle Times
Depending on the part size, laser plastic welding machines from LPKF has cycle time from a few seconds on small parts (100 mm x 100 mm) to under a minute for large parts (500 x 350 mm).

Laser Welding Machine Configurations

LPKF has a wide range of highly flexible, standardized machines with custom tooling to rapidly change from one part to another with a simple CAD import and quick-change tooling. Laser welding machines come in four different standard sizes to match your part size and budget. LPKF has a complete line of standalone and integrated laser plastic welding solutions to fit your R&D, development and low to high volume manufacturing requirements.

Custom Solutions
LPKF also offers custom engineered solutions with multiple lasers, mirrored tooling, clamping systems, and conveyor systems to that are turnkey, drop-in solutions.

Manage Risks

LPKF systems are backed by process development, prototyping and validated production recipes so the you don’t have to worry about the details of laser welding. Let LPKF worry about the welding, so you don’t have to. LPKF’s Getting Started program provides you with rapid materials and design evaluation and guidance to manage risk right from the start. For one low price, you can have a customized development package that includes material tests, design evaluations and guidance, prototype tooling and services to deliver proof of concept parts and prototypes in three to four weeks.

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