| 摘要 |
<p>A method of lap welding for producing a welded lap joint (110) having good integrity, high peel strength, high tensile strength, high fatigue resistance, where the overlapped sheets (30, 32) are fused together across their region of overlap (50). Before welding, one sheet (30) is overlapped with another sheet (32) forming a lap joint (94). Preferably, the width of overlap is at least 50 % of the thickness of the thinnest sheet and no greater than twice the thickness of the thickest sheet. During welding, a high energy density radiation beam (34) is trained on at least one of the sheets and is acutely angled relative to the plane of overlap (56), which coincides with the weld interface (48) of the sheets (30, 32). Preferably, the sheets (30, 32) can be oriented relative to the direction of gravity such that the plane of overlap (56) of the sheets (30, 32) is acutely oriented relative to gravity so that during welding the direction of gravity influences formation, geometry and flow of a molten weld nugget (102). To join the sheets (30, 32), the beam (34) is trained on at least one of the sheets for a sufficient period of time and with a sufficient energy density to weld the sheets (30, 32) together completely from front to back of the overlap (56) producing a weld (110) having high peel strength with no unfused lip across the overlapping area. After welding is completed, the sheets (30, 32) can be formed using any conventional forming or any shaping process.</p> |
