EMAG celebrates opening of laser welding lab

The two-station ELC 250 DUO laser welding system allows a station to be loaded while laser welding occurs in the other station.

The two-station ELC 250 DUO laser welding system allows a station to be loaded while laser welding occurs in the other station.

The primary reason for the opening of EMAG’s new laser welding lab at its Farmington Hills, Mich., facility is not so much to save the world, but it will play a role in helping to reduce CO2 emissions.

That’s what visitors to the company’s grand opening event on June 8 learned. The laser welding lab, which is being set up to offer weld seam design consultation and prototype support for customers, is coming online as the automotive industry pushes to make drivetrain technology more efficient while at the same time reduce the overall weight of vehicles. Unfortunately, those two goals are often conflicting, Dr. Andreas Mootz, managing director, EMAG Automation GmbH, explained during a presentation. Many of the new technologies, which can help to reduce automotive emissions, also call for more parts than the traditional technologies they are replacing, which can add weight to a vehicle design.

Laser welding can help to remedy that, according to Mootz. As an example, he cited a differential case and a ring gear assembly that was redesigned to eliminate the use of bolts. Laser welding with a filler wire replaced the bolts and helped to reduce the weight of the assembly. (Laser welding also allowed two different materials, cast iron and hardened steel, to be joined with little worry.) The redesign of the part provided an opportunity to redesign the manufacturing process as well; now a laser is used to clean the weld zone and the ring gear before the joining process begins, and ultrasonic testing of the weld and laser marking are done in-process.

This is the kind of process that will be investigated in the laser welding lab. EMAG’s ELC 250 DUO laser welding machine will be used to test out the potential production plans.

Visitors to the open house also had the chance to see demonstrations of the company’s lathes and turning equipment and listen to guest speakers, including Pat McGibbon, vice president, strategic analytics, Association For Manufacturing Technology, and Dr. Jens Standfuss, Fraunhofer Institute.

--Dan Davis, Contributing Editor