Would appreciate advice and help on Resistance welding of Aluminium. I need to join, on a fairly regular basis, two sheets of new, 0.8mm thick, Aluminium sheet together. Would appreciate advice on this subject, and what equipment I need to buy, to do this (I am Spain/UK based). TIA
Its for the heat collector fins of Solar Panels, which clamp tightly around copper tubes. Not sure I would trust an adhesive with the continuous heating/cooling of the fins, what do you think?
Aluminum can be spot welded reliably... Audi's aluminum frame is so assembled.
It takes much more energy though to weld aluminum in this manner than welding mild or stainless steel.
I would suggest that you take some samples of what you wish to weld to a business that does spot welding and try it out. They could then tell you the power requirements.
From my reference RESISTANCE WELDING by P.L. Chuloshnikov: "...strong current pulses 3 - 3.5 times as strong as as for low carbon steels... welding pressures... the same as for low carbon steels. A forging force should be applied while the molten nugget is crystallizing (solidifying).
Non-hardening aluminum alloys are somewhat easier to weld than hardening alloys."
I would consider pop rivets unless you are going to be manufacturing them in quantity. A spot welder for aluminum will not be cheap. Pop rivets just require a portable electric drill and a manual rivet gun.
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