Lasers are promptly forcing resistance welding out of the car industry
Recently laser welding has becoming more popular in the car industry. That is why a possibility that the resistance spot welding will be totally replaced by laser in the near future is discussed.
Advantages and disadvantages of both types of welding are considered. Among advantages of the first types are named noncontact method of application, higher efficiency (0.2-0.3 c against 3 c in case of the resistance welding) absence of pressure upon an item and the resulting deformation, less energy consumption when using new generation of power supplies of solid-state lasers, less overheat of items, better flexibility in relation to materials and sizes of details, the best possibilities to remove zinc fumes when working with zinc-coated materials and a number of other advantages related control and automation of laser process. All these facts allow drawing a conclusion on gradual replacement of contact welding by the laser one.
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