Job knowledge 62:

Welding processes Others

Ultrasonic welding of injection moulded
components
Part II-Component design and weld
parameters
Introduction
One of the key factors to successful ultrasonic welding is good component design,
in particular the shape of the surfaces to be joined ie the joint design. There are a
variety of joint designs possible, each with specific features and advantages. The
choice of design depends on the following factors:
Type of thermoplastic
Part geometry
Weld requirements
Aesthetics
One of the basic requirements of any joint design for ultrasonic welding is a small,
uniform initial contact area. This can be achieved using a projection joint or a
shear joint.
Projection joint
The basic projection or energy director joint is shown in Fig.1. The joint consists
of a small triangular section moulded into the component and typically running
the length of the joint perimeter. The purpose of the energy director is to focus
the ultrasonic energy at the apex, resulting in a rapid build up of heat. This
causes the triangular section to melt and flow across the joint interface, forming a
weld.

Fig.1. Projection joint


The type of thermoplastic to be welded determines the form of the triangular
energy director. Amorphous materials require a right-angled triangle with the 90
angle at the apex. For semi-crystalline materials, a 60 equilateral projection is
used. Typical heights for energy directors are between 0.2 to 1.0mm, depending
on the material.
The projection joint is favoured for use with amorphous materials such as PC, ABS
and PS where a hermetic seal is not required.
Figure 2 shows a variation of the projection joint, in the form of a tongue and
groove design. The advantage of this design is that the weld flash is hidden and
the parts to be joined are self-locating. However, joint strength is relatively weak
since the weld is only about half the width of the joint.

Fig.2. Tongue and groove variation of a
projection joint
Shear joint
For some applications, a projection joint may not provide sufficient strength. In
such cases, a shear joint can be used.
A basic shear joint design is shown in Fig.3. The joint allows one component to
shear inside the other, providing self-location. Welding is accomplished by first
melting the small initial contact area and then continuing to melt with a controlled
interference along the vertical walls as the parts telescope together. The smearing
action of the two melt surfaces at the weld interface is beneficial for two reasons.

Fig.3. Basic shear joint design
Firstly it eliminates leaks and voids, so a strong, hermetic weld is produced.
Secondly, it eliminates exposure to air, preventing premature solidification. This is
particularly important for semi-crystalline materials, which rapidly change from a


molten state to a solid state. As such, semi-crystalline materials should only be
ultrasonically welded with a shear joint.
The vertical dimension of the weld, typically between 1.0 and 1.5mm, controls the
strength of the joint and can be adjusted to suit the requirements of the
application.
A design consideration with this type of joint is the wall thickness of the lower
part, which should be sufficient to prevent outward movement during welding.
Side-wall support from a fixture jig should also be provided.
Other design considerations
Aside from the joint design, other aspects of the moulded component must be
considered if ultrasonic welding is to be effective.
The distance between the joint line and the contact surface where the welding
horn meets the component can be critical. Far field welding, as shown in Fig.4, is
where the distance is greater than 6mm. This arrangement is best suited to rigid
amorphous materials such as PS, ABS and PMMA, which have good ultrasound
transmission properties. Many semi-crystalline materials, such as PP are poor
transmitters of ultrasonic energy, requiring the joint to be as close as possible to
the welding horn area. This is termed near field welding, as shown in Fig.5.

Fig.4. Far field welding


Fig.5. Near field welding
For all materials, the use of near field welding is preferable, since it tends to
require shorter weld times and lower pressures.


Sharp corners on the moulding should be avoided, as these can localise stress, possibly
leading to fracture under the action of the ultrasonic vibratory energy. Minimum radii
of 0.2 to 0.5mm are suggested.
Welding parameters
There are a number of parameters that must be selected correctly in order to
achieve good ultrasonic welds. These include vibration amplitude, welding mode,
downspeed, trigger pressure, weld time, hold time. For this article, the amplitude
and welding modes are considered.
Amplitude
Successful welding depends on the proper amplitude of vibration occurring at the
tip of the welding horn. For any booster/horn combination, the amplitude is fixed.
Amplitude selection is based on the thermoplastic being welded such that the
proper degree of melting is achieved. In general, semi-crystalline materials
require more energy and, therefore, more horn tip amplitude compared to
amorphous materials.
Process control on modern ultrasonic welding machines can allow the amplitude to
be profiled. High amplitude may be used to initiate melting, followed by a lower
amplitude to control the viscosity of the molten material.
Welding modes
Welding by time is termed an open-loop process. The components to be welded
are assembled in the tooling fixture before the welding horn descends and makes
contact. The ultrasound is then applied to the assembly for a fixed duration of
time, typically between 0.2 to 1.0 seconds. This process gives no indication of
successful welding.
It works on the assumption that a fixed weld time will result in a fixed amount of
energy being applied to the joint, giving a controlled amount of melt. In reality,
the power drawn to maintain amplitude is never the same from one cycle to the
next. This is due to factors such as the fit between the components.
Therefore, since energy is a function of power and time, and time is fixed, the
energy applied will vary from one component to the next. For mass production,
where consistency is important, this is undesirable.
Welding by energy is a closed loop process, giving feedback control. The
ultrasonic machine software measures the power being drawn and adjusts the
exposure time so that the desired energy input to the joint is delivered.
The assumption with this process is that if the energy consumed is the same for
every weld, the quantity of molten material in the joint is the same each time.
However, in reality there are energy losses, within the welding stack and
especially at the interface between the welding horn and the component.
As a result, some components may receive more energy than others, with the
possibility of inconsistent weld strengths.
Welding by distance allows components to be joined by a specific weld depth. This
mode operates independently of time, energy or power drawn and compensates
for any tolerance variation in the moulded components, thus giving the best
guarantee that the same amount of material in the joint is melted each time.


Limits can be set on the amount of energy used or the time taken to make the
weld, for the purposes of quality control.


This article was written by Chris Brown.
E-mail: chris.brown@twi.co.uk
Copyright 2004 TWI Ltd
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