Laser welding systems for differentials in the automotive sector make very high demands on the manufacturers of such systems. The state of the art is to be described in the following sections from the Arnold company's point of view. It is not only the welding process that often turns out to be very difficult due to the wide variety of material combinations and customer requirements and places a wide range of requirements on the process start-up, in addition to laser welding, other complex processes such as testing the weld seam with ultrasonic technology must be integrated. In the case of the differentials, a ring gear and a housing are joined using screw technology or a laser of a higher power class. In the meantime, the combination with the laser has established itself as the more advanced method. The housing is usually made of cast materials and the ring gear is made of case-hardened steel, which often makes the welding process more difficult. The Arnold company therefore recommends testing the material combination in advance with test welds. (More interesting episodes on the topic of laser welding differentials are coming soon.)
