Steelmaker Corus is commissioning a new research and development facility to study the next generation of automotive laser welding and brazing techniques. The new facility will be based at the company’s R&D centre in IJmuiden in Holland and already has a full schedule of Automotive R&D programmes.
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The centre, in which over €2 million has been invested, will provide Corus with a valuable off-line capability to further understand the cost, safety, weight and cosmetic benefits of laser welding and importantly be directly involved with the growing area of laser brazing, an innovative new joining technique, which is now starting to be exploited in the automotive sector.
Corus anticipates that there will be a growing trend by vehicle manufacturers globally to adopt laser brazing and welding, with German carmakers in particular pushing hard for these joining technologies.
The new centre will allow the company to determine the performance of materials during laser welding and brazing, thus enabling the company to improve material properties, to maximise the benefits for vehicle manufacturers. For example,
Corus will be able to research the effect of different coatings and pre-treatments, improve joining of components such as hydroformed tubes and make prototype tailor-welded blank components in steel or aluminium for automotive customer evaluation.
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By GlobalDataThe new centre will house 4.5kW Nd:YAG (neodymium-yttrium aluminium garnet) and 6kW carbon dioxide lasers, which have the ability to cut and weld steel, aluminium and other materials of different thickness as well as parts ranging from flat panels to complicated three dimensional components.
The advantages of using laser welding for certain automotive applications have already been recognised by vehicle manufacturers. These advantages include a better quality weld due to a narrower heat affected zone and reduced deformation of the structure due to the lower heat input. Laser brazing is an advanced process combining the benefits of brazing with all the advantages of using a laser.
The traditional brazing process involves the melting of a ‘filler’ material between two parts to form the joint, thus helping to reduce the risk of adversely affecting the properties of the parent materials by the heat source. By using a laser to melt the weld filler, the temperature required can more easily be controlled and importantly, the heat source can be accurately directed onto the filler material, further reducing any risk of detrimental effects on the parent materials.
Laser welding and brazing offer a number of strength and safety benefits over traditional welding techniques. As long recognised by racecar teams, a continuous seam, whether produced by direct laser welding, traditional brazing or the latest laser-assisted brazing techniques, produces a stronger weld than a traditional seam of resistance spot welds, leading ultimately to a stiffer body structure, which in turn results in improved passenger passive safety.
