• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.74-78
• /
• 2008

The laser welding of the car body and components has been spread in the automotive industry. The Nd:YAG laser welding system could be used in 3D welding with robot. However, this system cannot efficiently reduce the welding cycle time according to various welding sequences because the robot's moving time is same that of the resistant spot welding system. But the remote welding system with high power $CO_2$ laser and scanner makes it possible welding cycle time much faster than the robot laser welding system. In the $CO_2$ laser remote welding system, laser beam can be rapidly transferred to a workpiece by moving mirrors of scanner system. So, it makes reducing the cycle time of welding process and shaping various welding patterns easily. Therefore, in this paper, the characteristic of weld strength according to patterns of weld bead on $CO_2$ laser welding was investigated. Also, the relationship between shape of weld bead and value of tensile load was studied. Finally, the optimum remote welding condition for car bumper was investigated.

• Laser Solutions
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.32-35
• /
• 2008

In the remote welding system using $CO_2$ laser, laser beam can be rapidly transferred to a workpiece by moving mirrors of scanner system. So, it makes reducing the cycle time of welding process. We can also use and apply various patterns of weld beads by linear controlled mirrors. But most of the domestic car makers have usually applied use stitch-shaped weld bead. In that case, we don't have the merit of remote welding system efficiently. Therefore, in this paper, we investigated the characteristic of weld strength according to patterns of weld bead on $CO_2$ laser welding. And we also studied the relationship between shape of weld bead and value of tensile load.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Laser Processing Conference
• /
• 2005.11a
• /
• pp.7-10
• /
• 2005

Nowadays, most automotives companies are making use of laser welding in car body assembly shop. But even though laser welding is better than resistance spot welding in many points, its application has been limited to special technology for manufacturing. The paper introduces in the field of remote welding system(RWS) to improve the process efficiency of laser welding. Positioning time of RWS between welding stitches are dramatically reduced to zero. It is a kind of solutions to generalize laser welding in mass production.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Laser Processing Conference
• /
• 2006.11a
• /
• pp.17-20
• /
• 2006

In the remote welding system using $CO_2$ laser, laser beam is rapidly deflected by moving mirrors of scanner system and has focusable distance over 1000mm from workpiece. From such arrangement, various advantages and disadvantages arise. Remote welding is a highly efficient laser process. As the mirrors of the scanner system allow positioning speeds exceeding 700m/s, it becomes possible to reduce the welding cycle time. On the other hand, as there no the provision of shielding gas which is normally required for beam powers exceeding 3kW, may become difficult task. Therefore, In this study, the influence of the various penetration of back bead by the different laser welding speed on the weld seam formation without shielding gas was investigated.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
• /
• 2008.05a
• /
• pp.43-43
• /
• 2008

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.75-79
• /
• 2010

The Remote welding system(RWS) using $CO_2$ laser equipment has focusable distance of laser beam longer than 800 mm from workpiece and can deflect the laser beam by the scanner mirrors very rapidly. In the case of normal welding system based on robot, there is a limit to move the shortest path in short time and this causes interference between robot and workpiece. On the other hand, RWS is the optimized equipment to get big merits with advanced sequence of welding and short cycle time. However, there is still a pending task such as the control of plasma in the welding process of thick sheets therefore, it requires high power laser beam because of the absence of assist gas equipment in itself. In this study, high-tensile steel plates were overlap welded with $CO_2$ RWS for the production of car body and the influence of penetration depth according to the existence of assist gas was analyzed. Excellent tensile strength with enough width of molten zone independent to penetration depth was observed under welding condition with 3.6 kW laser power and 2.8 m/min welding speed without assist gas. Finally, the proto-type automotive parts were produced by applying the deduced optimal welding condition.

• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.7-12
• /
• 2001

Real time monitoring has become critical as the use of laser welding increases. Plasma and spatter are measured and used as the signal for estimating weld quality. The estimating algorithm was made using the fuzzy pattern recognition with the area of data that is beyond the tolerance boundary. Also, an algorithm that detects the spatter and the localized defect was created in order to kd the partially produced pit and the sudden loss of weld penetration. These algorithms were used in quality monitoring of the $CO_2$ laser tailored blank weld. Statistical program that can display the laser weld quality result and the signal transition was made for the first stage of the remote control system.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.36 no.10
• /
• pp.1213-1219
• /
• 2012

A remote $CO_2$ laser system can rapidly change both the distance and the direction of the laser beam by moving a lens and rotating mirrors. It is then easy to weld complex patterns of weld lines. A conventional spot weld joint specimen and a remote $CO_2$ laser weld joint specimen with complex weld line patterns were prepared and tested both statically and dynamically. The relationships between the fatigue strength, i. e. the maximum cyclic force, and the fatigue life were obtained. The fatigue strength of the tested welded joints at two million cycles was found to be approximately 10% of the static strength. Furthermore, it was observed that the fatigue fracture mode changed with the level of the applied cyclic force. The fatigue crack origins were confirmed as the highest stress points found in the structural analysis. The maximum cyclic stress for different weld patterns converges as the fatigue life approaches two million cycles.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Laser Processing Conference
• /
• 2006.06a
• /
• pp.25-30
• /
• 2006

최근 차체 용접의 고속화를 통한 생산성 향상 및 차체 설계의 자유도 향상, 차체 강성 증가를 목적으로 원격 용접, 브레이징 등 다양한 형태로 레이저 적용 기술이 개발되고 있다. 뿐만 아니라, 레이저의 종류에 있어서도 $CO_2$ 레이저, Nd:YAG 레이저, 화이버 레이저, 디스크 레이저등 다양한 형태의 레이저가 사용되고 있으며, 사용자의 목적에 부합하는 여러 형태의 레이저들이 개발되고 있다. 본 연구는 $CO_2$ 레이저 원격 용접의 차체 T/GATE 양산 적용 결과를 바탕으로, 적용 용접점 선정, 용접품질 확보, 생산성 향상을 위한 공정의 최적화 요소들에 대한 개발을 진행하였다.