Originally applied in the 1960’s, ultrasonic welding is a relatively new bonding technique that is evolving all the time. The method uses ultra-high frequency sound waves to bond materials. The fundamental principle is extremely simple; when an ultra-fast frequency soundwave is introduced to some materials, they melt.
This form of bonding technology is unique because of the control that it offers, and its ability to join dissimilar materials. It is used extensively in the aerospace, automotive, medical and plastic manufacturing industries, but in recent years ultrasonic welding has also been utilised in the manufacture of electronics as well. Because all of the heat is localised in the weld area, this method can be used to bond very fragile materials together.
The use of ultrasonic welding has been growing constantly and is employed by various industries today. Because ultrasonic welding can be used to bond delicate materials reliably and quickly, the electronics industry uses it extensively. It was originally employed commercially to fabricate plastic parts for the automotive industry, and it is still used in that field today.
The bond that ultrasonic welding creates is solid and can be used in sterile environments. For this reason it is frequently employed in the food packaging industry. This capability has also become popular in the medical field, because many medical devices need to be manufactured in clean rooms. In addition to being very fast, the accuracy that ultrasonic welding offers is very useful to the medical field.
Ultrasonic welding offers textile manufacturers the ability to bond synthetic fabrics easily, without having to pay for adhesives or cotton thread. This presents an economic advantage for commercial textile operations that need to do bonding work. It also offers them a consistent product that doesn’t pollute or require special materials and can offer watertight seals wear traditional sewing methods cannot.
While the industry has taken advantage of what we currently know about ultrasonic welding, new developments are happening all the time in this exciting field.
We use the Minic-II from the Sonosystems range by Schunk.
“With the Minic-III we offer the most modern, fastest as well as most user-friendly and low-maintenance ultrasonic welding machine on the world market today. The machine covers the range of cross-section sizes that include 99% of your welding jobs. A benchmark for the worldwide leading wire-harness manufacturers, this machine has delivered the best welding results with respect to strength, Cmk / Cpk as well as the visual appearance of the splices produced, in all applications.” – Schunk
