- 27th January 2014
- Exhibitor Announcements, Manufacturing, Southern
- South14
Major advance in brazing technology from Fronius
Southern Manufacturing exhibitor Fronius claims a significant new advance in brazing technology with the introduction of a patented new gas nozzle, the CMT Braze +.
Developed in collaboration with the joining-technology development department at Audi AG, Fronius’s patented new shape of gas nozzle makes even higher brazing speeds possible, says the firm. Initial applications of the new process in the autobody shops at Audi AG have demonstrated that even under real series-production conditions, robot-assisted brazing speeds of up to 3 m/min are feasible. The resulting brazed seams are flat and clean, making CMT Braze+ especially suitable for areas of use in which seam appearance is of the essence.
The extremely narrow, conical shape of the newly developed gas nozzle causes the shielding gas to emerge at high speed. This, in turn, constricts the arc and so allows brazing to be carried out more rapidly. At the same time, gas consumption decreases by as much as 60 % compared to standard arc processes, to between 3L and 5L per minute. What is more, the high velocity of flow and the optimised design of the torch make for high cooling capacity, which ensures long endurance times. For this reason, too, Fronius claims the CMT Braze+ costs less to procure and operate than do any of the processes used hitherto. Thanks to these attributes, the modified CMT process has already proven successful; by changing over from plasma brazing to the modified CMT Braze+ process in series production of its Audi A7, Audi has been able to boost brazing speeds from 2.5 m/min to 3 m/min at the same time as significantly lowering its costs.
According to Fronius, the main reasons why CMT Braze+ is an attractive option for applications that used to be the preserve of laser brazing include low investment outlays and low costs for wearing-parts; the fact that a seam guidance system is only needed as an optional extra and high reproducibility. Furthermore, anyone who already owns a Fronius CMT system can benefit particularly easily from the advantages of CMT Braze+: in this case, the specially developed torch body and an adapted characteristic are all it takes to be able to use the new process.
Meet Fronius UK at Southern Manufacturing 2014, stand P74 or go to http://www.fronius.co.uk/
