Dual Laser Beam Joining Process for Polymers in Automotive Applications to Reduce Weights

Laser heat source was used for automotive interior and exterior parts to reduce weights. Typically, 900's nm wavelength of laser has been widely used for polymer joining, however, the transmittance of the laser beam thorough clear polymers such as PMMA or PC has been an issue to overcome. To solve this issue, 1,940nm laser was applied on the clear polymer for the better absorption and 900nm laser beam was used for main laser for the joining. Conventional Gaussian or Elliptical heat source approximation has limitation in polymer which had deeper skin depth where major laser beam absorbs. To accurately simulate the physical laser beam absorption and joining optical properties were experimentally measured for the computer FEM simulation. The simulation results showed close correlation between theoretical and experimental results. The developed laser process is expected to increase productivity and gap closing which can cause failure of joining in laser material processing.

차량경량화를 위한 듀얼 레이저 에너지 플라스틱 접합의 응용