Analysis of the hottest laser hybrid welding techn

Analysis of laser hybrid welding technology

maybe you have heard about laser hybrid welding. It is said that this kind of laser and gas metal arc welding (GMAW) can speed up the welding process, reduce the cost and improve the welding quality. But is this application appropriate for your business? Implementing hybrid laser arc welding (hlaw) essentially requires you to rethink the whole processing process and assembly line. Is it worth it? Can investment bring significant return? Let's first look at some factors that may help you determine whether you need hlaw

laser hybrid welding integrates the characteristics of high penetration, low heat and high speed of laser welding, as well as the excellent gap tolerance and metallographic control of GMAW. The composite process finally results in deeper welding, lower heat input, smaller thermal deformation, higher welding strength and toughness, and higher fatigue strength. Faster welding brings three to ten times the speed of GMAW or submerged arc welding (SAW), which brings higher production and cost efficiency. In addition, the hlaw system can be set to be fully automatic as required, thus saving labor costs and generally reducing the operation cost by half or more. Hlaw also provides a new method to obtain high-strength welds without a lot of welding, which reduces the weight of the final product

despite these advantages, hlaw is not suitable for all enterprises. It requires a certain scale of investment and the pursuit of automation. The following four questions can be used to determine whether hlaw is suitable for your current application

1. Is your welding process compatible with hlaw

consistent welding edges hlaw requires that the edges and surfaces of parts and parts should be neat and consistent. If your part has neat edges, you only need to consider whether it is straight and the tolerance of fit. For example, an ESAB hlaw system can locate and track welds that deviate from the predicted path, but must always maintain a close fit

tolerance most hlaw systems allow a gap tolerance of less than 0.5mm. A larger gap can be achieved by slowing down the processing speed and using a larger welding width, but this is contrary to the original intention of hlaw. ESAB has produced a system that can actively measure and fill the gap tolerance. It can reach 2mm with back welding and 1mm without back welding. This system can adapt to the change of fit and achieve this goal by sacrificing welding speed and heat input. In general, the larger the part to be welded, the slower the speed and the workpiece needs to receive more heat conduction. Therefore, the purpose of this adjustment is not to use parts with poor fit, but to achieve better process strength without over welding. In order to adopt hlaw, you must achieve good tolerance now, or be willing to change it because it is expected to help improve the cutting quality and matching of parts due to the use of carbon fiber plastic polymers

penetration depth what is the penetration depth required by your application? Hlaw can achieve a penetration depth of up to 12.5mm at a single time (the less the easier). Although other materials can obtain deeper penetration results in the laboratory, this is the limit that the current commercial system can reach. Thicker parts can be multi pass welded through the hlaw system, using a deeper root pass and the final top pass, similar to any traditional welding process

contour what are the requirements for the contour of welded parts? Hlaw is currently only suitable for welding straight lines, rotating parts, or gradual curves. The accuracy of most motion and control systems at high speed hinders the application of hlaw in complex shapes, which makes it have to reduce the speed. Fortunately, if your part has a relatively simple shape, its process will enable various analysis reasons: mechanical equipment is compatible with each other, including gantry, control/positioning system, cylindrical and rod system, robot and hardware automation system

2. Is your application compatible with automation

if your process has been automated or mechanized, hlaw may be a good choice. If you haven't completed the automation transformation but are considering it, your application needs to have a busy task cycle and repeatable products or processes

generally speaking, the application types applicable to hlaw come from the following industries: shipbuilding, general transportation, railways, trucks, military vehicles, motor equipment, steel mills, pipeline factories, petrochemical, energy, municipal construction, automobiles, electrical appliances, food and medical equipment, water tanks and pressure vessels, as well as building materials, such as reinforcement, steel structures, steel. From the experimental results, during the loading process, the loaded pipes, trusses, etc

hlaw is particularly effective in welding large thin steel structures, special alloys, high-strength materials, stainless steel and high-precision products. It is also ideal for mass production or production of high-precision products. In addition, this technology is also excellent for applications that have very high quality inspection requirements or require deep penetration and multi pass welding

3. Are you a qualified candidate for automation and hlaw

to become a qualified candidate for hlaw technology, you should have sufficient professional technicians to supervise the whole process, and you must be able to operate and maintain precision computer control equipment. You must also have qualified personnel to develop welding processes, check and identify welding parameters, and manage the output quality of hlaw system. Ideally, you already have automation equipment or are ready to carry out automation transformation in the near future. Many of the changes you need to make for hlaw are actually the same as those required for any automated welding process. You must have good control over the processing of parts, and perhaps the most important thing is that you must have the motivation to constantly improve the process and business

4. Is hlaw a good investment

before investing in a hlaw system, you should make a systematic evaluation of the return on investment. You need to believe that the investment decisions you are about to make will yield good returns in the short term. Can you afford a high initial capital investment? Do you really need to improve the welding operation, and how much are you willing to pay to achieve this goal? Will you benefit from the effect of hlaw on the manufacturing process? Does hlaw have a return on investment for your business? How do you know this? What do you need to consider

the following should be used to build a business case for hlaw

can you achieve a large number of circular welding tasks with increased output? Can your upstream and downstream businesses handle the full output of hlaw? Can you sell more products? If a set of hlaw can produce three to five times the products of a single welding station in your factory, how will you deal with the empty workshop? The additional gross profit brought by increasing factory output can usually bring a rapid return on hlaw's investment

reduced welding manpower. Is the operation of your factory manual, mechanized or fully automatic? How large is the current workforce, including welders, machinists, assemblers, material handlers, grinders and porters? Do you have difficulties in attracting and retaining skilled welders? Many companies today face automated welding processes simply because they cannot attract and retain skilled welders. This is becoming a survival problem, and such economic problems are more obvious than the return on investment

hlaw welding system needs to be fully automated. It can reduce the number of workers in some processes to a machine operator. Because hlaw is clean and safe, a job operating hlaw equipment is more attractive to young workers than traditional welding

is the hot deformation of reduced downstream labor costs the main cost source? How much time and cost did you spend on post welding correction and stress relief? What about the layout, machining, drilling, assembly adjustment, decorative parts, fasteners and other processes after welding? How much time is spent on finishing, grinding, balancing, repairing, etc? Hlaw is a low deformation connection means, which can reduce or eliminate the work and maintenance work without added value. The application of hlaw in European shipbuilding industry has shown that it can eliminate the need for thermal correction of usually expensive and technically demanding parts such as deck and bow. Hlaw also enables you to turn your key work to the first Vesta's extensive silicon production capacity and deep expertise in the field of precision thermoplastic extrusion can complement Lubrizol's business, thereby reducing costs. How much time and money can you save by eliminating secondary processing

improve product quality is the improvement of product quality a selling point for your product? Hlaw can bring higher overall fit and completion quality, reduce or eliminate visible defects and deformation, and obtain a very smooth and consistent welding shape. Will better quality products or more attractive products help you achieve higher sales? In addition, designers can use the unique ability of hlaw to produce products with lower weight and higher hardness and strength. Compound welding can also obtain longer fatigue life, and the welding quality is stable and reliable. If the product quality needs to provide opportunities to create higher profits and establish barriers to low-tech competitors at the same time, hlaw is a process that can achieve this goal

conclusion

hlaw is an excellent tool that can be used to increase output, improve product quality, reduce deformation, reduce labor costs, and create better products more easily. However, the implementation of hlaw requires considerable thinking and real investment in improving your products and processes. Manufacturers of hlaw systems can help you see these potential benefits and the potential impact on your existing processes. Is it worth investing? Only you can decide. (end)