Contour Welding

Contour welding is characterized by a relative movement between the joining partners and the laser beam along a programmed contour, which is managed by rotational or linear axes or industrial robots. Melting and fusing the joining partners is carried out during one single pass. The width of the weld seam can vary between a few tenths of a millimeter and several millimeters, depending on the laser model and the employed focusing system.

The process offers a high degree of flexibility and can create complex, three dimensional welding contours. As for part size, the process is only limited by the clamping tool required to press the joining partners together, although process time increases in a linear manner with weld length. The capability of the process to compensate for geometrical deviations of the joining partners is limited due to the localized melting of the polymer.

Contour welding is mainly used in applications with rotationally symmetric seam geometries or if very large components need to be joined without flash or debris.