The automotive industry has always been the first to innovate and adopt automation more quickly and completely than most other industries. Driven by factors such as fuel efficiency, safety standards, and unique design specifications, industrial automation has promoted greater use of next-generation metals and new materials. For the automotive industry and the general manufacturing industry, this has stimulated the creation and improvement of alternative connection methods.

Laser welding

Robotic laser welding can produce strong and repeatable welds at relatively high speeds with extremely high accuracy, thereby increasing productivity in the workshop and enabling manufacturers to weld materials that were once considered unweldable. This process is very suitable for mass production. The process uses a focused laser beam to provide precise heat input and align the weld. For metals of various thicknesses, this is a good choice. Laser welding can be performed by thermal conduction (ie remote laser welding), deep penetration welding (ie laser seam stepping) or hybrid laser arc welding.

Variants of traditional laser welding have become a suitable substitute for spot welding. The precise and clean weld provided by the laser spot welder or laser seam stepper is very suitable for Class A surface treatment. Like the laser used in laser ablation, the laser can also help remove material to prepare the surface to be coated.

In addition to laser welding, manufacturers have discovered that there are several other popular mixed metal welding methods. Especially in terms of cost saving and cycle time reduction, these welding methods are beneficial.

Flow drilling

A very clean single-sided process that uses rotating screws to generate heat and friction during drilling, melt the base metal, and then use the screws as filler metal. This method is very suitable for connecting dissimilar sheet metal, such as sheet metal used in electric vehicle (EV) battery trays or motor brackets.

Friction stir welding

The solid-state connection process (the metal does not melt) requires a rotating planer to apply pressure and friction to melt the metal. This method excels in continuous welds, requires very few consumables, and does not require filler metal. It is also ideal for joining alloys or dissimilar metals with a thickness of 0.5 to 65 mm.

Brazing

Using a traditional process similar to GMAW or GTWA, the process usually uses silicone bronze filler brazing material to form a metallurgical bond between two dissimilar metals (that is, stolen materials of dissimilar steel or aluminum). The low melting point filler metal flows to the base part or joint without deformation. This method is usually used to fill gaps or glue or reinforce parts. It is recommended for parts with larger gaps.

Friction element connection

Connecting lightweight materials such as aluminum with high-strength steel, this method uses steel friction elements to penetrate the upper layer before being welded to the substrate. The friction force generated by proper process control and mechanical force directly acts on the friction element. The generated frictional heat acts on the element and the substrate without reaching the melting temperature, and only the adhesive is generated between the friction element and the substrate. This process is beneficial for the connection process of strict automotive structural parts.

Self-piercing riveting

A welding method that can automatically riveting and punching holes in harder materials by using self-piercing rivets, thereby eliminating the cost of pre-drilling and pre-drilling. This process is very suitable for metal-to-metal fastening applications, and is very suitable for joining mild steel, brass, aluminum and stainless steel.

These welding process libraries enable manufacturers to adapt to changing customer needs. Although the best solution for a given task will depend on compatibility, cost, and cycle time, effective use of any of these robotic processes has the potential to increase throughput and product quality.

Beginners argon arc welding spot welding skills

The length of time to hold the switch is related. If the material is thick, press a little longer and send the welding wire in. When it is burned, you can easily burn through if you don’t send the welding wire. If the material is thin, it will take a short time to press it lightly. These are all related to the welding machine. First of all, you have to adapt to that welding machine.

In addition, it is possible to weld very thin plates without adding welding wire; hold the tungsten needle with your hand and hold it flat against the place to be welded and lightly tap it. It’s easy to burn through the weldment, so reduce the current so that you don’t think it will burn through the weldment. After the current is low, the speed of melting the welding wire will slow down. Don’t worry, weld little by little. For the ultimate goal, just solder the place to be welded.

When the welding is proficient, the current can be increased slowly, and the speed and appearance will be hinted. The difficulty of welding at the beginning is that the hand must be stable, the distance between the welding needle and the welding wire must be controlled properly, and the contraction freely requires the accumulation of experience.

After the arc is ignited, the weldment should be preheated for 3-5 seconds at the beginning of the weldment to form a molten pool and start wire feeding. When welding, the angle of the welding wire torch should be appropriate, and the welding wire should be fed evenly. The torch should move forward steadily, and the left and right swings should be slower on both sides and faster in the middle.

Pay close attention to the changes in the molten pool. When the molten pool becomes larger, the weld becomes wider, or the weld appears concave, speed up the welding speed or re-adjust the welding current. When the molten pool is not well fused and the wire feeding feels like it cannot be fed, reduce the welding speed or increase the welding current. The remaining light is on the opposite side of the slit, pay attention to the change of the remaining height.

Current adjustment skills of argon arc welding

Generally used tungsten electrode specifications are 2.0 or 2.5/2.4mm, cerium tungsten electrode, the current is controlled between 80 and 140, which is determined according to the plate thickness or wall thickness.

If welding thin steel plates, a current of 40-60 is sufficient.

Gas generally refers to flow rate, but rarely talks about pressure. The flow rate is generally 10~15L/Min.

The basic skills of the welding method of argon arc welding should be the basic skills of gas welding. The gas welding practice is good and the argon arc welding is quick to get started. Suppliers with instructions on the use of the machine can be used under the guidance of the supplier after buying it back.

The essentials of argon arc welding wire feeding

The outer filler wire can be used for bottoming and filling. It uses a large current. The welding wire head is on the front of the groove. The left hand pinches the welding wire and continuously feeds it into the molten pool for welding. The groove gap is small or not required. gap.

The iron guardrail adopts the assembled integral frame structure, which is conducive to the construction, and the installation is convenient and fast

Its advantage is because the current is large and the gap is small, so the production efficiency is high, and the operation skills are easy to control. The disadvantage is that when it is used for bottoming, because the operator cannot see the blunt edge melting and the discordant height, it is easy to produce unfused and unimaginable discord formation.

The inner filler wire can only be used for bottom welding. It is a joint wire feeding action with the left thumb, index finger or middle finger. The little finger and ring finger clamp the welding wire to control the deflection, and the welding wire is close to the blunt edge on the inner side of the groove and melts all the way with the blunt edge. For welding, the groove gap is required to be larger than the diameter of the welding wire. If it is a plate, the welding wire can be bent into an arc.

The advantage is that because of the discordance of the welding wire in the groove, you can clearly see the blunt edge and the melting of the welding wire, and you can see the discrepancy with the overgrowth from the peripheral light of your eyes. Fusion can be well controlled. The disadvantage is that the operation is very difficult, and the welder is required to have relatively intensive operating skills. Because the gap is large, the welding volume increases in response, and the gap is large, so the current is low, and the work efficiency is slower than that of the external filler wire. .

Source: Youtu.com, Welding Technology

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