A new finite element model accounting for thermal contact conductance in laser transmission welding of thermoplastics

As the traditional laser transmission welding (LTW) generally ignores the influence of real interfacial contact status on welding width, which is not accurate. For this problem, the Thermal Contact Conductance (TCC) was introduced to establish a new LTW prediction model so as to investigate the TCC at different LTW parameters. Then, a mathematical equation between welding process parameters and TCC was proposed by Response Surface Method. At last, the mathematical equation was verified by a series of experiments. The results showed that the TCC increases with the increases of laser power, clamping pressure, and decreases with the increases of welding speed. The simulated weld width considering TCC was consistent with the experimental weld width, which verified that the error of this prediction model was within 3.3%. Therefore, TCC can be a key factor of the finite element model in laser transmission welding.

Automated summary

In this study, Thermal Contact Conductance (TCC) was introduced to establish a new LTW prediction model. Through experiments, it was found that TCC significantly affects weld width and varies with welding parameters. The mathematical equation and experimental results were consistent, verifying the accuracy of the prediction model.