LIGHT - WEIGHT STRUCTURES PRODUCED BY LASER BEAM JOINING FOR FUTURE APPLICATIONS IN AUTOMOBILE AND AEROSPACE INDUSTRY

Schubert E.; Klassen M.; Zerner I.; Walz C.; Sepold G.

BIAS Bremen Institute of Applied Beam Technology, Bremen, Germany

Light-weight components are of crucial interest for all branches that produce moving masses. The aim to reduce weight has to be accompanied by high production efficiency and component performance. Laser beam joining offers the possibility to manufacture joints of all light metals and their combinations. The paper will give examples for structures built with aluminium, titanium magnesium and their combinations and explain how the requirements of the industry could be fulfilled by applying laser beaming joining. For aluminium laser beam welding aerospace applications will be considered. The example deals with increased process stability by a new power modulation technique. Especially for future car manufacturing applications, Al - Steel and Al - Mg joints will be presented for optimised material use. Stiffened titanium structures for aerospace applications will demonstrate the potential of a combination of laser welding and straightening for precision manufacturing.

Keywords : light - weight structure, joining of material combinations, aerospace applications, automotive applications, aluminium welding, titanium welding