c




  

 

 
Current applications and trends

By Jean-Paul Boillot , , Frederic Arsenault



The automotive industry worldwide has experienced dramatic changes in the last 10 years.
Challenges facing the industry include increasingly stringent safety rules; requirements for
dramatic improvement in fuel consumption; and the necessity to maintain or even reduce the
vehicle price, even as warranties are being extended.

The welding industry has responded to these challenges with new joining processes using
intelligent control.

   

 
 
c 


New welding processes, improvements to existing processes, and the combinations of two
welding processes (called hybrids) have enabled increased joining travel speeds, the welding of
previously unweldable materials, and the implementation of new designs and materials.

Realizing the full potential of these processes requires new intelligent process control techniques.
Controls and sensing systems that can adapt to the actual shop tolerances are required to bridge
gaps, manage the joint location variance, and compensate for variations inherent in the welding
process.

In addition, inspecting the weld beads for defects and conformity to applicable standards reduces
scrap and ensures stable product quality levels. Optimally, this weld quality information is
included in a closed-loop control and fed back to the actual welding operation in as close as
possible to real time.
ãome of the processes that have advanced the most include gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and
laser beam welding (LBW), as well as the hybrid combination of these two processes, called
hybrid laser/GMAW.

 
The spot of energy projected in laser welding onto the joint is small, so laser welding alone lacks
the flexibility to fill gaps in joints.

!
 " # 



Laser welding is considered to be one of the most precise and efficient ways to weld automotive
and aerospace mechanical components. However, because the spot of energy projected onto the
joint is small (see
 ), it is not easy to attain a perfect fit. In addition, the expense of the
equipment and support personnel can make laser welding cost-prohibitive for automotive
assembly plants.

Welding formed parts requires increased part and tooling accuracy to render the joint preparation
and fit-up compatible with the requirements of the process.

Despite these constraints, the competitive automobile sector remains interested in laser welding
because of its speed and efficiency, as well as its compatibility with new car design criteria and
trends.

With Nd:YAG laser welding, the laser light beam is delivered through an optical fiber to the
welding torch, which is connected to the numerically controlled machine or robot wrist that
follows the preprogrammed joint path. Nd:YAG's method of automating the delivery of energy
to the joint offers possibilities not achievable with CO2lasers, because CO2laser beam delivery
requires the part to be welded to be moved, rotated, or tilted to access the area to be welded.
Because it is more cumbersome to move large and heavy parts, the size and complexity of the
parts that can be welded efficiently by CO2are limited.

 
Autogenous welding depends on the joint conditions and process operational parameters being
maintained within a small window.

$
  % 

Laser welding is an autogenous process because, in principle, no filler wire is needed. Its dense,
high-energy properties enable simple joint designs. However, when joining parts with
imperfections such as irregular gaps or mismatches, the absence of filler metal means that no
additional material is available to bridge those gaps and to compensate for excessive joint
variation. Filler metal also is useful in compensating for the loss in the final weld chemistry and
to reduce the solidification cracking especially common with aluminum and galvanized material.
In addition, it helps maintain joint strength.

Consequently, the position of the focal point in autogenous welding is critical and is dependent
on the joint conditions. The position of the focal spot relative to the joint requires accuracy
greater than 0.05 millimeter, which is stringent compared to typical arc welding processes. In
addition, process operational parameters need to be maintained within a small window (see

 ).

This is particularly true with square butt joints such as those used with tailor welded blanks, but
it also is true with 3-D parts. In addition, gaps greater than 0.1 mm may produce defects because
the interaction between the light beam of energy and the edge of the part to be welded is either
nonexistent or unstable; consequently, a fusion zone either is completely absent or only partially
present.

 
Joint gaps created by the geometric configuration of the blank can be filled by combining
Nd:YAG with precision-fed cold-wire filler.

This is why it is important to measure the lateral position of the joint. Measuring the vertical
position of the joint top surface can help control or adapt the laser spot size to the joint fit-up
conditions or gap.

Adding a second energy source and filler metal may widen the application range and increase the
flexibility of laser welding; however, it is even more important to use laser sensing to measure
the joint geometry and position to adjust the resulting additional parameters.

For example, when welding tailor welded blanks in which joint gaps are created by the geometric
configuration of the blank itself (see
 ), combining Nd:YAG with precision cold-wire
filler helps achieve full penetration and reduce or eliminate defects. In this case, the filler wire
speed and its position relative to the keyhole can be controlled to improve weld quality. In-
process measurement of the gap joint can provide the data to control the amount of filler metal
needed to ensure the proper joint weld nugget formation and to bridge the gap.

Using hybrid laser/GMAW to adjust the process output characteristics can control even more
operating parameters than Nd:YAG with wire filler, including real-time positioning of the
aiming point of wire and GMAW current, wire feed speed, voltage, and pulse parameters.

# 

&

' (


For every welding process, the actual operating phase can be maintained inside a process
stability envelope. Within this envelope, stable process speed, joint penetration capability, heat
input, and metallurgical characteristics can be obtained. As the process stability envelope
increases, the operational weldability of the process also increases.

Combining processes such as laser welding with GMAW and Nd:YAG with cold wire offers a
larger process stability envelope and operational flexibility than each process alone.

)*)*!
 +
 
A workpiece's weldability is determined by both the geometric and metallurgical attributes of the
joint. High-speed laser cameras calculate the joint and part data, compute the updated parameters
in real time, and send the control point to the welding equipment. Adaptive control allows the
adjustments to be made as changes are detected.

Controlling the process by measuring the joint attributes and setting the process parameters
accordingly can help obtain a weld within the acceptable limits. For example, if the gap is
between 0.5 and 1 mm, a weave routine can be used.

2-D vision systems can sense most of these attributes; however, for a camera to be useful, the
joint or weld bead contour must be sensed with an accuracy of 5 to 10 microns at a pixel rate of
about 200 MHz, which requires a 3-D camera. This degree of speed and accuracy enables the
joint gap and mismatch to be measured in front of the torch, and the weld bead profile
characteristics and defects to be detected behind the torch. 3-D contour digitization detects
minute weld defects and acquires enough information to track the joint at a speed of 1 to 20
meters per minute, which is compatible with the laser welding process speed.

 
A two-axis precision actuator interfaced to a laser head with integrated tracking and inspection is
normally mounted on a robot wrist or on the linear axis of a tailor welded blank laser welding
machine.

!
 
 , 
The laser camera's primary function is tracking the laser joint. Because this function is performed
during welding in front of the laser and keyhole, the laser camera must not be affected by spatter,
heat, or light emitted around the torch.

Processing and feature extraction depends on the joint type. Because the tracking precision must
be within ±0.05 mm, the torch motion generated by the laser tracking system must be carefully
controlled, accounting for the position of the focal point, the speed and the position of the torch,
and the camera orientation in the machine reference coordinates system.

Defining the laser's actual focal spot²the tool-center point of the welding robot²is more
difficult to establish than the GMAW wire tip, but it is important to pay attention to it for
optimum tracking accuracy.
ãeam tracking can be affected by several mechanical issues. A two-axis precision actuator can be
mounted on a robot wrist or on the linear axis of a tailor welded blank laser welding machine
(see
 ). This type of actuator must be free of backlash and precise to the micron. An
alternative is to use an oscillating mirror to deflect the power beam.

 -
Variations from standards, such as these typical tailor welded blank requirements, cannot be
detected by the human eye.

".
(

/

  

 

  


 

  
 

 0
 



  
 
  
1
2  

 


 

  


  
 




 



  
  
 


 

 
 



  
 







  
3

 -41
c

 
  ,
 

  


  




 

,
  

  
 )


 



1
%  
 0



  
 
) )




 
 

 

,


)
 

 
 
  50

1



0




 

 



   
 



  

1

 6
c

  
  



1 

 



7 1  


 
 



 
 

 


 ,
  1 
 

 


,
 50


 

  

 



 
1
( 

 



7 1  




1 
   


 
 



 
 
1' 




      
 


 ,
  


  

1
 
 



 


 

 1c

 


,
 50



   
   


  
 

 
 81
 

  



  1
  

 

  
 

 
 
 3

 641
 ,  (
 " # 



The principles of tracking arc joints and controlling arc welding processes are identical to those
for laser and laser hybrid welding.

Intelligent controls such as these have enabled high-speed tandem arc welding of steel
components and have contributed to the improvement of aluminum chassis part weld
consistency. This intelligent control can be introduced immediately at the prototype stage to
produce key information about the part, fixture, and weld process capability. This information
can be used to make changes before the final production assembly line equipment and tooling are
purchased, thus avoiding later costly changes and launch problems.

Jeffrey Noruk is president of ãervo-Robot Corp., 11121 Riverland Court, Mequon, WI 53092,
jnoruk@wi.rr.com, www.servorobot.com; Jean-Paul Boillot is president and CEO and Frederic
Arsenault is product manager with ãervo-Robot Inc., 1370 Rue Hocquart, ãaint Bruno, Quebec
J3V 6E1E, info@servorobot.com, www.servorobot.com.