Welding Techniques A number of techniques are used for welding of semi-finished plastic products as given below: Hot gas

welding Hot gas welding, also known as hot air welding, is a plastic welding technique using heat. A speciall designed heat gun, called a hot air welder, produces a !et of hot air that softens both the parts to be !oined and a plastic filler rod, all of which must be of the same or a ver similar plastic. "Welding #$% to acr lic is an e&ception to this rule.' Hot air(gas welding is a common fabrication technique for manufacturing smaller items such as chemical tanks, water tanks, heat e&changers, and plumbing fittings. )n the case of webs and films a filler rod ma not be used. Two sheets of plastic are heated via a hot gas "or a heating element' and then rolled together. This is a quick welding process and can be performed continuousl . Welding rod A plastic welding rod, also known as a thermoplastic welding rod, is a rod with circular or triangular cross-section used to bind two pieces of plastic together. The are available in a wide range of colors to match the base material*s color. +pooled plastic welding rod is known as ,spline,. An important aspect of plastic welding rod design and manufacture is the porosit of the material. A high porosit will lead to air bubbles "known as voids' in the rods, which decrease the qualit of the welding. The highest qualit of plastic welding rods are therefore those with -ero porosit , which are called voidless.

Heat sealing Heat sealing is the process of sealing one thermoplastic to another similar thermoplastic using heat and pressure. The direct contact method of heat sealing utili-es a constantl heated die or sealing bar to appl heat to a specific contact area or path to seal or weld the thermoplastics together. Heat sealing is used for man applications, including heat seal connectors, thermall activated adhesives and film or foil sealing. %ommon applications for the heat sealing process: Heat seal connectors are used to !oin .%/s to #%0s in man consumer electronics, as well as in medical and telecommunication devices. Heat sealing of products with thermal adhesives is used to hold clear displa screens onto consumer electronic products and for other sealed thermoplastic assemblies or devices where heat staking or ultrasonic welding is not an option due to part design requirements or other assembl considerations. Heat sealing also is used in the manufacturing of bloodtest film and filter media for the blood, virus and man other test strip devices used in the medical field toda . .aminate foils and films often are heat sealed over the top of thermoplastic medical tra s, 1icrotiter "microwell' plates, bottles and containers to seal and(or prevent contamination for medical test devices, sample collection tra s and containers used for food products.234 1edical and the 5ood )ndustries manufacturing 0ag or fle&ible containers use heat sealing for either perimeter welding of the plastic material of the bags and(or for sealing ports and tubes into the bags. A variet of heat sealers are available to !oin thermoplastic materials such as plastic films: Hot bar sealer, )mpulse sealer, etc. 5reehand welding With freehand welding, the !et of hot air "or inert gas' from the welder is pla ed on the weld area and the tip of the weld rod at the same time. As the rod softens, it is pushed into the !oint and fuses to the parts. This process is slower than most others, but it can be used in almost an

situation. +peed tip welding With speed welding, the plastic welder, similar to a soldering iron in appearance and wattage, is fitted with a feed tube for the plastic weld rod. The speed tip heats the rod and the substrate, while at the same time it presses the molten weld rod into position. A bead of softened plastic is laid into the !oint, and the parts and weld rod fuse. With some t pes of plastic such as pol prop lene, the melted welding rod must be ,mi&ed, with the semi-melted base material being fabricated or repaired. These welding techniques have been perfected over time and have been utilised for over 36 ears b professional plastic fabricators and repairers internationall . +peed tip welding method is a much faster welding technique and with practice can be used in tight corners. A version of the speed tip ,gun, is essentiall a soldering iron with a broad, flat tip that can be used to melt the weld !oint and filler material to create a bond. 7&trusion welding 7&trusion welding allows the application of bigger welds in a single weld pass. )t is the preferred technique for !oining material over 8 mm thick. Welding rod is drawn into a miniature hand held plastic e&truder, plastici-ed, and forced out of the e&truder against the parts being !oined, which are softened with a !et of hot air to allow bonding to take place. %ontact welding This is the same as spot welding e&cept that heat is supplied with conduction of the pincher tips instead of electrical conduction. Two plastic parts are brought together where heated tips pinch them, melting and !oining the parts in the process. Hot plate welding 9elated to contact welding, this technique is used to weld larger parts, or parts that have a comple& weld !oint geometr . The two parts to be welded are placed in the tooling attached to the two opposing platens of a press. A hot plate, with a shape that matches the weld !oint geometr of the parts to be welded, is moved in position between the two parts. The two opposing platens move the parts into contact with the hot plate until the heat softens the interfaces to the melting point of the plastic. When this condition is achieved the hot plate is removed, and the parts are pressed together and held until the weld !oint cools and re-solidifies to create a permanent bond. The most common form of this welding is butt heat fusion welding which welds two circular tubes end to end. High frequenc welding %ertain plastics with chemical dipoles, such as #$%, pol amides "#A' and acetates can be heated with high frequenc electromagnetic waves. High frequenc welding uses this propert to soften the plastics for !oining. The heating can be locali-ed, and the process can be continuous. Also known as /ielectric +ealing, 9.5. "9adio 5requenc ' Heat +ealing. )n a ferromagnetic work piece, plastics can be induction-welded b formulating them with metallic or ferromagnetic compounds, called susceptors. These susceptors absorb electromagnetic energ from an induction coil, become hot, and lose their heat energ to the surrounding material b thermal conduction. 9adio frequenc welding is a ver mature technolog that has been around since the :;<6s. Two pieces of material are placed on a table press that applies pressure to both surface areas. /ies are used to direct the welding process. When the press comes together, high frequenc waves "usuall =>.:=6 1H-' are passed through the small area between the die and the table where the weld takes place. This high frequenc "radio frequenc ' field causes the molecules in certain materials to move and get hot, and the combination of this heat under pressure causes the weld

to take the shape of the die. 95 welding is fast.284 This t pe of welding is used to connect pol mer films used in a variet of industries where a strong consistent leak-proof seal is required. )n the fabrics industr , 95 is most often used to weld #$% and pol urethane "#?' coated fabrics. This is a ver consistent method of welding. .2>4 The most common materials used in 95 welding are #$% and pol urethane. )t is also possible to weld other pol mers such as @ lon, #7T, #7$A, 7$A and some A0+ plastics. )n!ection welding )n!ection welding is similar(identical to e&trusion welding, e&cept, using certain tips on the handheld welder, one can insert the tip into plastic defect holes of various si-es and patch them from the inside out. The advantage is that no access is needed to the rear of the defect hole. The alternative is a patch, e&cept that the patch can not be sanded flush with the original surrounding plastic to the same thickness. #7 and ## are most suitable for this t pe of process. The /rader in!ectiweld is an e&ample of such tool. ?ltrasonic welding 1ain article: ?ltrasonic welding )n ultrasonic welding, high frequenc ":3 kH- to <6 kH-' low amplitude vibration is used to create heat b wa of friction between the materials to be !oined. The interface of the two parts is speciall designed to concentrate the energ for the ma&imum weld strength. ?ltrasonic can be used on almost all plastic material. )t is the fastest heat sealing technolog available. 5riction welding 1ain article: 5riction welding )n friction welding, the two parts to be assembled are rubbed together at a lower frequenc "t picall :66AB66 H-' and higher amplitude "t picall : to = mm "6.6B; to 6.6>; in'' than ultrasonic welding. The friction caused b the motion combined with the clamping pressure between the two parts creates the heat which begins to melt the contact areas between the two parts. At this point, the plastici-ed materials begin to form la ers that intertwine with one another, which therefore results in a strong weld. At the completion of the vibration motion, the parts remain held together until the weld !oint cools and the melted plastic re-solidifies. The friction movement can be linear or orbital, and the !oint design of the two parts has to allow this movement. +pin welding 1ain article: +pin welding +pin welding is a particular form of frictional welding. With this process, one round piece is held stationar , while a mating one is rotated at high velocit while lightl against the stationar piece. The rotated piece is then pressed firml against the fi&ed piece. This is a common wa of producing low- and medium-dut plastic wheels, e.g., for to s, shopping carts, rec cling bins, etc.