What is laser welding?

Laser welding is a welding method that uses focused laser beam as energy to bombard weldments and generate heat.

Because of the optical characteristics of laser, such as refraction and focusing, laser welding is very suitable for welding micro parts and parts with poor accessibility. Laser welding also has the characteristics of low heat input, small welding deformation and no influence of electromagnetic field. Laser welding has not been widely used because of its high laser price and low electro-optical conversion efficiency.

In 1970s, it was mainly used for welding thin-walled materials and low-speed welding. The welding process belongs to heat conduction type, that is, laser radiation heats the surface of the workpiece, and the surface heat diffuses to the inside through heat conduction. By controlling laser pulse width, energy, peak power and repetition frequency, the workpiece is melted and a specific molten pool is formed. Because of its unique advantages, it has been successfully applied to precision welding of micro parts.

Application of laser welding

On-line laser welding in automobile industry is widely used in the assembly and connection of white body stamping parts. The main applications include laser welding of roof, laser brazing of trunk lid and laser welding of frame. Another important application of laser welding of automobile body is laser welding of automobile body structural parts (including doors, side frames and columns). The reason why laser welding is used is because it can improve the strength of the car body and solve the problem that it is difficult to implement conventional resistance spot welding in some parts.

Many ships first manufacture many independent local assembly structural units, and then assemble them one by one on the underwater slipway. It is very suitable to use laser welding technology to manufacture local components of marine buildings, because it combines welding and cutting automation technology with laser technology. Compared with arc welding, this technology can greatly improve productivity.

Refer to the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-Laser Welding