WELDING TECHNOLOGIES IN COMPARISON
How can you know the welding technique that best suits your production and price requirements?
In the following tables pros and cons of three welding processes have been highlighted:
- traditional hot-plate welding
- hot-plate welding with automatic cleaning of the plates at every working cycle
- welding with localized infrared
TRADITIONAL HOT-PLATE WELDING

TRADITIONAL HOT-PLATE WELDING
PROS | CONS |
very widespread technology | with materials that stick to the hot-plates the mechanical stability of the welding can be achieved only on condition to manually clean the hot-plates |
the most economical solution | the highest welding quality can be achieved only on condition to clean the hot-plates at each working cycle |
simple to use | the cleaning extends the total manual cycle time |
few parameters to set | beyond 250° C the non-sticking tape must be changed more often |
very simple mechanics | |
contained dimensions | |
simple maintenance | |
low price of the commercial and non-commercial spare parts | |
low total cycle time | |
low switch time | |
the hot-plates can be shaped on the surfaces to weld | |
maximum temperature: beyond 400° C | |
welding of articles that are not perfectly repeatable* | |
welding of different materials as long as they are compatible | |
welding of most of the thermoplastic materials, including the most problematic ones (e.g. PPS+GF 40%) | |
welding of materials that stick to the hot-plates, by using a non-sticking tape with quick change |
*within a reasonable limit
HOT-PLATE WELDING WITH THE AUTOMATIC CLEANING OF THE HOT PLATES AT EVERY WORKING CYCLE

HOT-PLATE WELDING WITH AUTOMATIC CLEANING OF THE HOT-PLATES
PROS | CONS |
simple to use | this technique is not very widespread because it is not well known |
few parameters to set | a little more expensive than the traditional hot-plate welding |
very simple mechanics | a little bigger than the traditional hot-plate welding |
simple maintenance | it can be applied only to flat hot-plates: it is not possible to shape the hot-plates on the surfaces to weld |
low price of the commercial and non-commercial spare parts | it is not possible to use the non-sticking tape with quick change |
low total cycle time | |
low switch time | |
maximum temperature: beyond 400° C | |
welding of articles that are not perfectly repeatable* | |
perfect repeatability of the welding quality | |
highest constant stability of the welding quality | |
welding of different materials as long as they are compatible | |
welding of most of the thermoplastic materials, including the most problematic ones (e.g. PPS+GF 40%) |
*within a reasonable limit
LOCALIZED INFRARED WELDING

LOCALIZED INFRARED WELDING
PROS | CONS |
low switch time, slightly shorter than the traditional hot-plate welding | this technique is not very widespread because it is not well known |
the emitters can be shaped on the surfaces to weld (upon feasibility study) | more expensive than the traditional hot-plate welding |
maximum temperature: beyond 400° C | sophisticated to use |
perfect repeatability of the welding quality* | more parameters to set |
highest constant stability of the welding quality* | very complex mechanics |
welding of most of the thermoplastic materials, including the most problematic ones (es. PPS+GF 40%) | bigger than traditional hot-plate welding |
sophisticated maintenance that requires particular technical knowledge | |
considerable price of the commercial and non-commercial spare parts | |
in some cases the cycle time can be longer: approximately 30% more, variable depending on the material to weld | |
shorter life of the heating elements of the emitters | |
need to set up the welding parameters each time that the heating elements of the emitters are changed |
*the factors that influence the final quality of the welding are many. Among these: the room temperature, the temperature of the articles to weld, the dimensional non-repeatability of the articles to weld, the non-repeatability of the quality of the material used for the articles to weld, the uneven concentration of the addition agents present in the composition of the articles to weld
Our standard welding machines use the traditional hot-plate welding technology alone or combined with the localized infrared technology on the same machine. In any case, it is possible to supply any hot-plate welding machine with the automatic cleaning of the hot-plates.