The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 23, 2021
Filed:
Nov. 23, 2016
GM Global Technology Operations Llc, Detroit, MI (US);
Hui-Ping Wang, Troy, MI (US);
Yu Pan, Shanghai, CN;
Blair E. Carlson, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Joshua L. Solomon, Detroit, MI (US);
William P. Payne, Macomb, MI (US);
David Yang, Shanghai, CN;
Wu Tao, Tianmen, CN;
GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC, Detroit, MI (US);
Abstract
A method of laser welding a workpiece stack-up () of overlapping steel workpieces () involves heat-treating a region () of the stack-up () followed by forming a laser weld joint () that is located at least partially within the heat-treated region (). During heat-treating, one or more pre-welding laser beams () are sequentially directed at a top surface () of the workpiece stack-up () and advanced along a pre-welding beam travel pattern () so as to reduce an amount of vaporizable zinc within the stack-up (). Thereafter, the laser weld joint () is formed by directing a welding laser beam () at the top surface () of the workpiece stack-up () and advancing the welding laser beam () along a welding beam travel pattern () that at least partially overlaps with a coverage area of a pre-welding beam travel pattern () or a shared coverage area portion of multiple pre-welding beam travel patterns (). The method can help reduce an amount of vaporizable zinc within the stack-up ().