Since the early 1990's, there has been an explosion in demand for light weight automotive structures. Aluminum is a viable alternative for structures, if smart designs are combined with proper selection of the joining process. The joining processes covered in this discussion include Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW), Friction Stir Welding, and Laser Welding. GMAW is the most common process used today in production. It is easily combined with robotics and is fairly inexpensive, but it suffers from relatively low uptime. Friction Stir Welding is a new solid state process which offers substantial improvements in uptime. It has not seen wide spread usage as yet, due to questions concerning equipment cost and proper joint designs. Laser Welding of aluminum has unique challenges which are rapidly being overcome by today's higher powered lasers. These welding processes will be compared across a variety of criteria.
Challenges of robotic welding on aluminum automotive structures
Herausforderungen des Roboterschweißens an Automobilkonstruktionen aus Aluminium
1999
16 Seiten, 11 Bilder, 1 Tabelle, 4 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
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