The requirement for improved corrosion resistance in sheet steel applications in the automotive industry has led to the widespread introduction of coated steels. The coatings developed have included hot dipped and electrolytic zinc, iron-zinc alloy and more recently, plastic coated steels where the coatings are generally deposited onto an underlayer which has been previously zinc coated. Generally the thickness of the electrolytic zinc and iron-zin alloy coatings is less than 10 microms but for added protection in some areas, thicker coatings (> 20 microms), which are normally hot dipped zinc or plastic, are required. Work has been undertaken worldwide to investigate the CO2 laser welding of zinc coated steel in butt and lap joint configurations. This paper will discuss the results of an investigation to evaluate CO2 laser butt welding on a wide range of coated steel materials in the thickness range primarily associated with automotive body parts. Butt welds were chosen for evaluation as this weld configuration is becoming widely used in tailored blank technology where flat sheets are welded and then formed into components such as side member panels. The plastic coated steels were chosen as typical products being developed for the automotive body market. Commerically available laser and 'conventional' laser welding equipment have been used throughout the trials and the range of experimental variables available has been deliberately minimised in order to present to the reader an uncomplicated picture. The welds produced were assessed by sectioning, visible inspection and formability testing.


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    Title :

    CO2 laser butt welding of coated steels for the automotive industry


    Additional title:

    CO2-Laserstumpfschweißen von beschichteten Stahlsorten für die Autoindustrie


    Contributors:
    Ayres, K.R. (author) / Hilton, P.A. (author)


    Publication date :

    1993


    Size :

    8 Seiten, 4 Bilder, 1 Tabelle, 1 Quelle



    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




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