Plastics & Metal Welding Assembly

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The automotive industry is at the threshold of a disruption not seen since the Brass Era of the 1900s. Electric vehicles, connectivity, mobility-as-a-service, and autonomous vehicles promise to change the future of transportation in the same way that the "horseless carriage" did a century ago.

There's nothing better than starting an ultrasonic plastic welding application and finding the process "window" right away - the sweet spot in which people, parts, equipment and processes run smoothly, with great yields and timely, efficient production.

For basic welding jobs, companies often rely on blueprints, tools and tape measures to build and weld the parts. However, when using these conventional tools, there's a high risk of mistakes being made and, at the end, having to break the parts loose, which is expensive and time consuming.

When designing plastic parts to be assembled by ultrasonic welding, engineers have several options: a butt joint, a step joint, a tongue-and-groove joint, and a shear joint.

Since 2016, China has been the world's largest industrial robot market. Reports from the International Federation of Robots show that foreign robot makers sold nearly 90,000 units to Chinese manufacturers that year and more than 103,000 robots in 2017

Although Kuopio, Finland-based Savonia University of Applied Sciences (SUAS) is a multidisciplinary school, its common theme amongst all areas of study is developing real-world solutions based on creative experiments.

"Scratch-resistant plastic parts" is more than a phrase with great appeal to car buyers. It also presents a great challenge to automotive Tier 1s to make sure these parts perform as promised in the real world.

Some automotive enthusiasts get their fix by building a car themselves. Others thoroughly enjoy watching the pros do it; i.e., assemblers on the production line.

WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, PA—ASTM International’s committee on additive manufacturing technologies is developing a standard for mechanical testing of additive-manufactured plastics.