US 12,172,233 B2
Laser-beam welding method and laser-beam welding apparatus
Toru Hioki, Miyoshi (JP); Shuhei Ogura, Nagakute (JP); Hiroki Toriyama, Toyota (JP); Ryosuke Kawai, Okazaki (JP); and Shun Kato, Ichinomiya (JP)
Assigned to TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed by TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed on Oct. 30, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/084,698.
Application 17/084,698 is a continuation of application No. 16/002,437, filed on Jun. 7, 2018, granted, now 10,857,624.
Claims priority of application No. 2017-117997 (JP), filed on Jun. 15, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2021/0046585 A1, Feb. 18, 2021
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. B23K 26/242 (2014.01); B23K 26/082 (2014.01); B23K 26/244 (2014.01); B23K 103/10 (2006.01)
CPC B23K 26/242 (2015.10) [B23K 26/082 (2015.10); B23K 26/244 (2015.10); B23K 2103/10 (2018.08)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A laser-beam welding method of performing lap fillet welding by applying a laser beam to a laser-beam application region, the laser-beam application region including a portion of a first metal plate and a portion of a second metal plate, the first metal plate and the second metal plate being included in a plurality of metal plates overlapped with each other, the first metal plate being located on a first side in a plate-thickness direction of the plurality of metal plates and the second metal plate being located on a second side in the plate-thickness direction of the plurality of metal plates, the first metal plate and the second metal plate being overlapped with each other such that a distal end surface of the second metal plate is shifted with respect to a distal end surface of the first metal plate to provide a stepwise configuration, and the laser beam being applied from the first side to the laser-beam application region, the laser-beam welding method comprising:
moving a laser-beam application position such that, while the laser-beam application position is moved along a locus which circularly or elliptically circles around a locus center so as to cross a weld line that is a boundary between the first metal plate and the second metal plate, the locus center is moved in a direction parallel to the weld line, wherein the laser-beam application position is moved within a predetermined range including i) a first-side surface of the first metal plate, ii) the distal end surface of the first metal plate, and iii) a first-side surface of the second metal plate; and
bridging the first metal plate to the second metal plate by laser-beam welding, wherein a surface of the first metal plate that is bridged to the second metal plate is flat, wherein:
a moving direction of the laser-beam application position which conforms to the locus is set such that the laser beam is first applied to the first metal plate and then to the second metal plate when the laser beam passes through an unmelted zone of the first metal plate and the second metal plate, the unmelted zone being located downstream of a range through which the laser beam has already passed in the direction parallel to the weld line.