Thyssen Krupp Ag

Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe Ag

Thyssenkrupp System Engineering Gmbh

Andreas Niesen

Azeddine Chergui

Peter Cornelius

Thomas Ralle

The present disclosure concerns devices and methods for resistance welding sandwich sheets to other components. Many sandwich sheets include a thermoplastic material layer disposed between two metallic cover layers. The sandwich sheet and the other component may be secured relative to one another by a clamping arrangement. A region of the sandwich sheet to be welded may be heated by a preheating current to soften and displace the thermoplastic material layer when the cover layers are pressed together. With respect to the preheating current, a first electrode arrangement may at least temporarily contact an electrically conductive contacting region of the clamping arrangement such that the preheating current can flow via the clamping arrangement. The cover layers may be welded to the other component with a welding current via the first welding electrode of the first electrode arrangement and a second welding electrode of a second electrode arrangement.

Method and device for the resistance welding of sandwich sheets

A method for resistance spot welding a metallic material to a sandwich material that includes a plastic core layer with two metallic cover layers may involve positioning a first electrode onto a surface of the metallic material, positioning an opposing second electrode onto a surface of the metallic cover layer that is apart from the metallic material, heating a region to be welded in such a manner that the plastic core layer in the region to be welded softens, moving the electrodes together to displace the softened plastic from the region to be welded until the two cover layers make contact with one another in a contact region, and welding the metallic cover layers to the metallic material in the contact region by a flow of electrical current across the first and second electrodes. A device by way of which a simple structure with a limited heat-affected zone is also disclosed for performing such methods.

Method for resistance spot welding of a sandwich material and corresponding device

The present invention proposes a device, robot with such a device, punch for such a device and method for punching an opening into a lightweight metal sheet that has at least two metallic outer layers and at least one non-metallic core layer arranged between the metallic outer layers, the device having means for carrying out a relative movement of a punch with respect to the lightweight metal sheet and a quill with an integrated heat source, the punch being able to be heated up by the heat source.

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Klausen, Germany

Andreas Niesen