High speed precision laser welding of sheet flange joint

摘要

In a laser welding process for forming an overlapped flange joint between two sheets, the sheets and the laser beam are moved relative to one another and the laser beam lies in the flange joint plane. The sheet flange edges are spread apart by a wedge (3) ahead of the laser beam, and the laser beam (7) is directed onto the base region (4) of the resulting flange gap to produce the flange seam (8). Also claimed is a laser welding apparatus for carrying out the above process, the apparatus including a wedge (3), located ahead of the laser beam (7) for spreading the sheet flange edges apart, and a pressing device (9), located between the sheets (1) and the spread flanges (2), and having pressing tools (10) positioned perpendicularly to the flange seam plane. Preferably, the wedge (3) is rounded at the welding advance direction side and has a bore, for welding wire passage, facing the welding spot. The wedge may be in the form of a spreading roller which travels at the welding advance speed. Preferably, the pressing device (9) has pressing rollers (10) which travel at the welding advance speed and which have rotational axes (11) parallel to the flange joint plane.