Fundamental Study on Weld-bonding Method Using Induction Heating

Abstract

The weld-bonding method uses adhesion and spot welding it has the advantages of high fatigue resistance, high rigidity, no need of a jig for adhesion, and so on. However, the conventional adhesive is an epoxy resin, which is cured by a chemical reaction. Therefore, the adhesive needs a long curing time. In an automobile assembly factory, the adhesive is cured by drying during the body painting process. The standby period before the drying process influences the quality of the adhesive. To solve this problem, we propose a new method that uses an epoxy resin with a thermal agent added and induction heating (IH) for quick curing. We obtained the fundamental data of IH coil heating steels for practical application of the new method. Based on the experimental and analytical results, suitable conditions regarding the frequency and IH coil position for automobile steel models were selected. Finally, we determined a semi-cured heating temperature for the adhesive of more than 120°C and IH coil movement of 10cm/s for practical application.