Welding procedures for every plastic joining task

Procedure

In quasi-simultaneous welding, the laser beam is guided along the weld seam and can be steered in the X and Y directions. The laser continues to deliver energy until the desired welding depth has been reliably attained. Due to the high scanning speed, the material melts along the entire weld seam, causing the components to join more or less at the same time. Seam monitoring allows qualitative statements to be made about the welding result. Pyrometer monitoring reliably detects flaws in the weld seam.

Procedure

Contour welding is used to process both small and large components, such as chassis, car lights, and solar panels. It differs to widespread quasi-simultaneous and simultaneous versions mainly in its feed rate.

A positioning system guides the laser beam along the weld seam once, with the laser either directly moved by the robot or coupled to moving focusing optics by means of glass fibers.

Procedure

When a rotation body is being joined, the component is rotated axially multiple times in order to uniformly heat up the weld seam using a principle similar to that of contour welding. The required contact pressure comes about through the use of an interference fit between the components being joined.

If the component itself cannot be rotated, then alternative versions of this welding procedure are used: Either the optics spin around the stationary component, or a mirror and scanner-based laser head focus the laser beam on a revolving, horizontal welding plane.

Principal applications

Welding large 3D components with a variable weld seam width, e.g. taillights in cars.

Main characteristics

Patented, newly developed high-performance welding system

• For series production of plastic components up to 1000 mm x 750 mm in size
• The weld seam width can be infinitely adjusted from 1.5 mm to 5 mm
• Flexibility in the Z direction: height differences up to 400 mm
• Following the welding process through seam monitoring
• Very short cycle time
• Robust process

Procedure

Wobble welding is a special welding process for large 3D components. Using additional amplitudes in a quasi-simultaneous welding process, the laser beam is deflected perpendicular to the feed direction, thereby making it possible to produce different weld seam widths between 1 mm and 5 mm with particularly homogeneous temperature distribution. Local tolerances are balanced out. Machine-specific software automatically activates the wobble function and calculates uniform energy input levels, even when there are differences in height.

Procedure

In patented LPKF hybrid welding, special halogen spotlights provide additional energy in the welding zone. This combination increases the process speed and processes aesthetically high-quality weld seams, while simultaneously reducing stress. LPKF hybrid welding thus achieves what other welding processes cannot always perform: reliable, impeccable, and nearly stress-free welding seams without the need for follow-up treatment.

The LPKF solution’s use of the complete weld head on a multi-axis robot allows a high level of flexibility.

Do you have specific, challenging plastic welding tasks? And do you have the impression that your project cannot be completed using standardized machines? We will take on any challenge and prepare a wide variety of versions for customer-specific tasks for laser welding of plastics. For example:

• A customized combination of the laser, beam guidance, and control system
• Development of manual assembly workstations
• Automatic component feed
• Complex robotic stations

The experts at the LPKF application center are familiar with a wide range of production processes thanks to many years of supervising projects. You profit from this extensive expertise when we develop a customer-specific laser welding solution for you.