Some of the key-words in automotive manufacturing today are: quality, flexibility, high productivity and cost efficiency. Laser processing seems to meet all these requirements, and as an evident proof of this stands the imposing number of lasers already today in operation among the automotive companies. This paper will focus on the excellent flexibility that the laser tool can offer, not only concerning different processes like welding, cutting, marking etc., but also to what is addressed as materials flexibility. The car body concepts of tomorrow are very much directed towards a broad materials scenario, and in that respect it is important to have manufacturing processes which are able to deal with both different grades of high strength steels, different aluminium alloys as well as various polymer components. Among the examples presented will be laser welding of high strength steels in the ULSAB project, aluminium welding in the new Audi A12 and plastics welding of a remote door-locking control for Mercedes Benz. New processing techniques like non-linear tailored blanking, multi-spot welding and twin-spot technique will also be addressed. Finally, a detailed presentation of the production experiences from the roof laser welding of the new Volvo S80 luxury sedan model will follow, together with the company's outlook concerning future laser use.
Lasers for various materials processing - a review of the latest applications in automotive manufacturing
Laser für verschiedenartige Materialbearbeitung. Ein Rückblick auf jüngste Anwendungen im Automobilbau
1999
12 Seiten, 7 Bilder, 2 Tabellen, 8 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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