Product category:
Arc welding equipment, manual and automatic
News Release from: TPS-Fronius | Subject: Cold Metal Transfer arc welding
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 04 September 2006
Intelligent welding and soldering are
faster
As well as its growing use among automotive OEMs, cold metal transfer arc welding is just as suited to the small firm with one automated welding workstation as it is for batch production.
'Cold Metal Transfer' - CMT TPS-Fronius, Austria, is already reporting successful implementation in numerous batch production applications The more varied welding and soldering applications are, the more 'Olympian' are the special features of CMT: 'faster' welding speed, 'higher' productivity, going 'further' to bridge gaps than conventional arc-welding processes
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 4 Sep 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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It ensures less distortion and gives uniform seams with no spatter.
CMT is just as suited to the small firm with one automated welding workstation as it is for batch production in large-scale industry.
"We are confident that the innovative CMT process will bring about a dramatic transformation in our products," stated Dr Hiroshi Yamagata, R and D operation chief engineer at Yamaha Motors Japan.
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Power on - weld spatter gone
Because electromagnetic forces in a cleaner system remove the spatter from welding torch nozzles there is no need to use mechanical milling or reaming devices that might damage the nozzles.
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The welding process can now be controlled in a new way, conveniently and yet still safely - in the place which is best for the user, for example next to the welded component.
His colleagues and production executives in the German automobile industry take a similar view.
Some have already integrated the CMT process into production, as have their suppliers and other manufacturers of light-gauge steel.
Below are three typical application examples.
1 - Joining thick/thin light-gauge sheets, such as double-walled bellows made from sheets of 0.4 and 2mm CrNi.
2 - Filigree housing frames made of 2mm V2A sheeting for switch cabinets.
3 - Visible aluminium structural components on convertibles (cars), made from 2mm extruded piping welded to 4mm sheet steel crossbeams.
Soldering processes are used to join sheets of galvanized bodywork on particularly conspicuous and therefore highly visible sections of luxury limousines.
All those who use it comment on the high-quality results and economic benefits.
The seams display excellent uniformity.
This even applies to light-gauge sheeting with gaps more than 1 mm wide.
Because heat application is significantly lower - 20 to 30% in bodywork soldering - distortion is dramatically reduced.
For example, this halves sinkage of the base metal, thus drastically minimising the amount of manual rework required.
In addition the seams are totally spatter-free, both when welding and soldering.
The total time saved in rework alone amounts to 90%.
In the body workshop of a global player in the automobile industry this equates to 2 hours on average.
In intensively competitive industries, this can be an important factor in deciding where to locate a plant.
* The CMT process - the name 'Cold Metal Transfer' hints at a crucial difference from the conventional GMA (gas metal arc) process: significantly less heat applied to the metals to be joined.
Key features of this 'intelligent' process are a processcontrolled 'oscillating' wirefeed synchronised with the digitally-controlled arc.
When the digital control detects the short circuit phase, it reduces the welding current and retracts the wire by a certain amount.
This assists precise droplet transfer.
The system then increases the current once more and feeds the wire forward.
The cycle frequency can be as much as 70Hz.
The alternating steps generate the 'hot' and 'cold' phases and apply only as much heat to the workpiece as is required for the desired metallurgical process.
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