When considering a thermoplastic welding process for your project, there are a number of options available to you. The choice you ultimately make will depend on several factors; including budget, time constraints, size of your product run, material, joint design and final product requirement.
Vibration plastic welding is a cost-effective and highly efficient process, that comes with some significant advantages compared with other methods. This article explains seven of the most important factors from an engineering and design perspective:
1) No Consumables Are Needed
Plastic vibration welding involves no additional consumables, other than the machine itself. So there is no dealing with solvents, glues or fastening agents that can pose additional risk and complicate the joining process.
2) Suitable For Any Joint Shape
Contrary to popular misconception, which says that vibration welding is only suitable for flat plane welds, modern tools can be designed to cater for complex shapes. Vibration welding can successfully be used to weld irregular or curved parts together where welding profiles are 10˚ or less.
3) Compatible With Almost All Thermoplastic Polymers
Virtually every type of thermoplastic can be welded using vibration welding, making the technique extremely versatile. Furthermore, it is an effective option when you need to weld two dissimilar yet compatible materials together with a seamless join.
4) No Ventilation Required
Some plastic welding techniques generate a lot of fumes, which have to be carefully extracted from the production area. As vibration welding uses friction, rather than an external heat source, the process makes almost no fumes. You can therefore safely use vibration welding machines on your production line with minimal ventilation infrastructure.
5) Cost Effective
Vibration welding is a cost-effective welding technique for several reasons. Firstly, there are no additional materials and solvents to purchase. Secondly, the energy output is less than other technologies, as you don’t need to expend energy continually heating hotplates. This makes it a clean and environmentally sustainable option, as well as being cheaper than other methods. Thirdly, vibration welding comes with low cycle times, leading to greater productivity and a lower cost per unit – all with consistently reliable results.
6) Versatility
Vibration welding machines can be used to process components ranging from the very small, to the quite large. Larger machines, such as the Cemas 999 Vibration Welder have an opening of 1,700mm so can cater for large components. For smaller parts the 901 Vibration Welder is more suitable, with 7 standard machine sizes and many customisable options there is always a machine suitable for your application.
For high volume production it is also possible to weld multiple parts in one operation using multi cavity tooling, thereby increasing productivity.
7) Suitable For Mass Production
Vibration welding tools can integrate easily into automated production and assembly lines. Combine this with their relatively low purchase and running costs, and you get a machine that is eminently suitable for mass production welding.
The Cemas range of Vibration Welders have a sliding front door as standard and the option of a rear sliding door making them ideal for robot loading/unloading.
Image shown is from inside a 912ir Vibration Welder with Infrared Pre-heating, the infrared mirrors enter from the left and right side leaving the rear of the machine free for robot unloading through the sliding door. This rear light welding project was also completed using a 4 impression multi cavity tool.
Your FREE Guide To Plastic Vibration Welding
For a comparative guide to commercial welding techniques and how vibration welding compares, please download our free Guide to Vibration Welding from our website today. The e-book was written by our engineers to explain how vibration welding can help you boost efficiency and save costs on your engineering project. If you have any more questions, please get in touch with our team and we can discuss how our range of CEMAS vibration welding tools can benefit your business.
