Method and arrangement for welding thin sheet

摘要

In the welding of thin sheet, preferably by means of a heating laser beam, expensive machining of the edges, as required in butt welds, is to be avoided, as is local doubling of the thickness of the joined sheets, occurring in the welding area through overlap of the sheets, in combination with the edged steps occurring here. This object is achieved by the sheets to be joined being placed one on top of the other in such a way as to overlap one another with narrow marginal strips remaining and by the heating laser beam being passed across this marginal area, which is reduced in its thickness by means of pressing tools immediately after the heating preferably above the melting point. Rollers have proved successful for carrying out the pressing operation. When passing through the still hot overlap area, the rollers, through the rolling gap formed between them, reduce the thickness of the welded overlap area from double the sheet thickness to a smaller thickness, preferably down to the single sheet thickness.