Thyssen Stahl Ag

Thyssen Industrie Ag Maschinenbau

Wilfried Prange

Adam Frings

Manfred Zeimes

Gerhard Alber

Joseph Sturm

Heinrich Schmitz

Kurt Jack

Josep Strum

Hans Schachheim

The invention relates to a process and apparatus for the welding of strips 1, 2 without a filler by means of a laser beam 6. To keep the gap width of the joint edges formed by the strips 1, 2 at the joint as small as possible, disposed downstream of the welding focus in the direction L in which the strips 1, 2 run is a cooling device 10, 11, the cooling intensity is controlled to a constant small gap width in dependence on the gap width measured immediately upstream of the welding focus, referred to the direction L.

Process and apparatus for the continuous welding of strips guided in

A device and method for butt-welding metal strips using a laser is disclosed. The present invention utilizes clamping bridges to selectively grip the metal strips to be welded together. The ends of the metal strips are first prepared for welding by severing the ends using a movable laser. After the prepared strip ends are moved into butt-welding relationship, the same laser is used to weld the two strips together. Where the strips are of differing width, the laser may be rotated and its height above the strips adjusted in order to achieve the proper welding angle. Where one strip is continuously moving, a buffer facility is provided for selectively storing a portion of the continuously moving strip prior to cutting and welding. Through adjustment of the buffer facility, the clamped portion of the continuously moving strip, i.e. the trailing portion, remains stationary during cutting and welding while the leading portion of the strip continues to advance. Such a buffer facility might be used where the strip is undergoing a continuous process, such as the application of coating, downstream from the welding.

Laser butt-welding device and method

A shaped member of welded pieces of sheet metal of different thickness, more particularly having a metallic anti-corrosion protection, for example of zinc, on at least one side, wherein the pieces of sheet metal are joined to one another by a laser-beam-butt-welding process and shaped as a unit.

Process for the production of a shaped part from pieces of sheet metal

The invention relates to an apparatus for the continuous butt welding of strips and sheets by laser beams. The sheets or strips 1,2 are moved together in abutment and retained in the same level by tension rollers 3,4 on both sides and right and left of the welding gap. On at least one side of the strips or sheets the tension roller 3 comprises a hollow shaft 9,10 and roller shells 13, 14 pivotably mounted thereon. Both the hollow shaft 9,10 and the roller shells 13, 14 are formed with an aperture 18a, 18b through which the laser beam 25 of a welding head 19 disposed inside the hollow shaft 9,10 extends. The welding head 19 is so aligned that the focused laser beams 25 impinges through the apertures 18a, 18b in the hollow shaft 9,10 and the roller shells 13,14 on to the welding gap in the clamped zone of the strips or sheets 1,2.

Apparatus for the continuous welding of strips and/or sheets

A process for making a shaped member from sheet metal pieces (37,38) of different thicknesses. In the process flat sheet metal pieces (37,38) are butt welded at their cut edges by laser beam welding. Then the unit, welded together from a number of sheet metal pieces (37,38) of different thickness, are converted into a shaped member by pressing or deep drawing. Since the material of sheet metal pieces (37,38) is not much affected by laser beam welding and the laser-beam-welded joint (39) does not expand much, the joint (39) has no adverse effect on shaping, nor is any anti-corrosion protection, for example, of zinc lost during laser beam welding.

Process for the production of a shaped parts from pieces of sheet metal

A process for the butt-welding of especially deep-drawable steel sheets or steel strips galvanized at least on one side, in which the welding seam is protected against corrosion. To obtain a welding seam flush with the sheet and protected against corrosion, without the reworking of the welding seam and without the use of filler material, sheets or strips having essentially rectangular cut edges with a corrosion in the longitudinal direction of at most 0.4 mm are used. The sheets and strips brought into touch contact with these cut edges are melted in the region of the welding joint by means of a laser beam, of which the focal spot covering the cut edges has a diameter of at most 0.2 mm. Because of the extremely narrow welding gap, the voids are filled by the molten material of the adjacent sheets, without any detectable reduction in the thickness of the sheets or strips. Furthermore, the welding seam is protected against corrosion as a result of the long-range protection effect exerted by the zinc of the adjacent regions.

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Dinslaken, Germany

Wilfried Prange