VIDEO: Laser welding of the lock assembly

One of our customers came in with a requirement for a non-detachable connection of a very small component to a lock assembly. A tiny curved tin-plated wire with a diameter of only 0.5mm and a length of 6.75mm was welded to a nickel-plated CuZn lock body.

For the application, a 300W QCW IPG fiber laser with high pulse energy, which can reach up to 30 J, was selected as suitable. In a single pulse, both the wire and the lock material are transformed into a melt which, after mixing and subsequent solidification, forms a very strong bond. Although the use of inert gas is not necessary for the process, its deployment improves the weld design by reducing fumes contaminating the weld environment during the process.

The process is complicated because of very small dimensions of the components to be welded, which make it difficult to position them in relation to each other with repeatable accuracy. Nevertheless, LINTECH's application engineers have managed to successfully debug the process and achieve an unbreakable connection with remarkable accuracy and speed.

You can watch the slow motion welding process in the following video.