Application of Laser Welding technology in Automobile Manufacturing Industry

At present, laser technology is popular in all walks of life. The same is true in the current booming automobile manufacturing industry. Laser technology is mainly used in tailor welding of thick plates, body welding, and parts welding.

Using the laser to process cars can reduce the weight of the body to save fuel. This way can achieve perfect welding effect. In addition, it has characteristics of high precision and high efficiency. Therefore, it can ensure the safety and stability while improving production efficiency.

Laser welding mainly includes two parts in automobile body manufacturing: body assembly welding and tailor welding.

Body assembly mainly includes roof and side pillars, tailgate, body bracket, and door welding. With product replacement, laser welding is common to see in the automotive field. Some cars have two unsightly rubber bands on the roof. But the top cover of some cars is a flat steel plate, which looks particularly beautiful. In addition to being beautiful, such a model may be able to maximize the safety of passengers at critical moments. The reason for this difference is whether the car uses laser welding.

Tailored welded blanks are welded steels of different strengths, thicknesses, and coatings. Laser welding has the characteristics of fast speed, high precision, and small weld seam. So, most of the current tailor-welded blanks for automobiles are welded by laser.

The application of laser-welded blanks in body manufacturing can reduce the number of parts, molds, and welding fixtures. By reducing costs, one can improve the company’s market competitiveness. In automobile manufacturing, we mainly use tailor-welded blanks on panels and structural parts.

Usually, technicians have particularly strict requirements on the forming quality and defect control of tailor-welded blanks. These requirements mainly include appearance, weld shape, and mechanical properties. For example, in the tensile property test, the non-weld area breaks and the cracked area in the cupping test cannot be larger than the specified value.

Compared with the pure steel plate of the car body, the tailored welded blank has the following advantages：

1. Reduce the weight of the car body. Workers use laser welding to make the plate thinner.
2. Enhance the overall strength. The strength welded plates exceeds that of original material. This increases the safety of the frame.
3. Reduce costs. Laser welding reduces parts usage without sacrificing performance.

To sum up, laser welding technology reduces the width of the joint between connections. Nowadays, people use laser welding technology widely in the automobile manufacturing industry. In the process of the body assembly and tailor welding, this technology makes the effect more stable. This method not only reduces the costs but also improves the rigidity of the car body. In addition, it enhances the safety of the vehicle to ensure the safety of passengers.