WELDING IN COMPARISON

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

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

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

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.