Research on laser welding of vehicle body

Based on many experiments of CO2 laser welding of vehicle body, joint microstructure and stress-strain curve of specimen are analyzed. The deep punching performance acquired by adopting Ar as protective gas is better than that of the one acquired by adopting N-2 as protective gas. Meanwhile the percentage of zinc in welding seam can be effectively controlled by means of blowing side protective gas. In this paper, welding penetration and width are shown to vary with laser power and speed of welding. The results indicate that some flaws such as gas hole, crack and softening of HAZ do not appear in laser welding seam in sheet steel of automobile bodies if technology parameters optimizes. The deep punching performance of tailor-welding sheet is fine. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.