Metal welding is mainly classified into gas-shielded welding, argon-arc welding, and laser welding.
Laser Welding
Please click the link below for detailed information on laser welding.
Laser Welding Industry Solution
Argon-Arc (TIG) Welding
Argon-arc welding is suitable for carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless steel, refractory metals, nickel and nickel alloys, copper and copper alloys, titanium and titanium alloys, and ultra-thin plates as thin as 0.1 mm. It allows all-position welding, especially the hard-to-reach parts of complex weldments.
Advantages of TIG welding:
- With an extremely low melting point for tin, it can weld most metals and alloys.
- AC TIG welding can join aluminum and aluminum alloys, where chemistry is relatively active and an oxide film readily forms.
- No spatter or flash during welding.
- Supports all-position welding. Pulsed TIG welding reduces heat input. It is suitable for welding 0.1 mm stainless-steel plates with a high arc temperature. It delivers low heat input, fast speed, a small heat-affected zone, and minimal weld distortion.
- The filler metal and additive levels are not affected by the welding current.
Gas-Shielded (Gas Metal) Welding
Gas-shielded welding refers to welding performed under the protection of CO₂ or argon. CO₂ welding delivers high efficiency, while argon-shielded welding is mainly used for joining aluminum, titanium, stainless steel, and similar materials.
Advantages
The iNexBot control system enables the robot to run smoothly and at a constant speed during welding, completing the work faster and producing more visually appealing seams.
Through multiple interpolation modes built into the iNexBot control system, multiple weld-seam types can be produced.
With welding-specific instructions built in, the entire welding process can be fully customized.
Users can self-define welding parameters. Parameter configuration is flexible, and the UI is intuitive and clean.
The system handles a wide variety of materials with only simple configuration required.
The iNexBot control system comes with field-proven welding processes pre-installed — no extra process package purchase is required; a simple configuration is all that is needed.
- Faster, more stable, and more intelligent
- Feature-complete, supporting multiple weld types
- A rich instruction set supporting multiple customized processes
- Easy to use, with flexible parameter configuration
- Applicable to titanium, aluminum, and alloys, among other materials
Multi-Layer Multi-Pass Welding
Multi-layer multi-pass welding works by dividing a weld into multiple layers, with each layer further divided into multiple passes, executed in the predefined order layer-by-layer and pass-by-pass.
The multi-layer multi-pass function targets relatively deep or thick welds. The benefits lie in reducing heat input and distortion, and lowering the defect rate. It is suitable for butt, corner, and lap welds of all kinds.
iNexBot adds a multi-layer multi-pass process module in the process section to store multi-layer multi-pass parameters, plus two new instructions: multi-layer multi-pass offset start and multi-layer multi-pass offset end. Combined with the configured multi-layer multi-pass process parameters and a pre-built job file, multi-layer multi-pass welding is achieved.
The new version of the control system also improves the multi-layer multi-pass process: head/tail retraction, horn angle, and tilt-angle settings make the workflow more flexible and easier to use (this function depends on the specific release version).
Weave Welding
During the welding process, the robot weaves in a controlled pattern, which controls the seam width and improves the quality of inter-pass and surface welding.
In the 2024 update of the iNexBot control system, L-shape, Z-shape, and figure-8 weave trajectories have been added on top of the existing sine, triangular, and circular weaves — broadening the choice of welding trajectories.
External-Axis Collaborative Weave Welding
External-axis collaborative weave welding refers to operations where the robot uses the assistance of an external axis to realize displacement or motion of the workpiece, so that the welding robot can weld at the optimal angle and pose.
The new control system adjusts external-axis parameters and enables the collaboration function to perform collaborative weave welding between an external axis and the robot. Through precise control of the external axis, the welding robot is guaranteed to weld at the best position and pose, thereby improving welding accuracy.
Arc-Ignition Principle
The principle of electric arc ignition is to use the high temperature and intense light radiation produced when the arc is discharged to melt the surface of the base material and form an arc. An electric arc is a high-temperature plasma body whose temperature can exceed 5,000 °C, sufficient to melt metal materials and form a molten pool for fusion, thereby realizing welding.
Arc-Start Slope Optimization
The arc-start slope refers to the process at the beginning of welding in which welding current, voltage, and other parameters are gradually adjusted from the initial state to a steady welding state. This process helps the welding arc stabilize quickly and lets the welding proceed smoothly.
In the latest iNexBot control system, the arc-start slope has been optimized: by configuring arc-start parameters, enabling arc-start slope, and setting arc-start slope time, current, voltage, and timing are precisely tuned. This guarantees a smooth start, reduces impact and damage to the workpiece from abrupt parameter changes, and thus improves welding stability.
Re-Ignition
When rust, oil, or other contaminants are present at the arc-start location of the workpiece, ignition may fail. The re-ignition function repeats the ignition, effectively preventing such situations.
Arc-Failure Recovery
When the robot stops due to arc failure or other reasons, restarting directly will produce a discontinuity in the weld. The arc-failure recovery function returns the torch to a specified distance at the designated speed after arc failure, then resumes normal welding motion from there.
Scratch-Start
With scratch-start enabled, the robot will move even after a failed ignition; if the arc ignites successfully during motion, it returns to the specified distance and continues welding normally.
Flying Arc Start / Arc End
The robot starts feeding wire slowly before reaching the arc-start point. When the wire contacts the workpiece at the arc-start position, the arc is ignited. This improves welding efficiency.
Anti-Stick Prevention
A short anti-stick current and voltage are output at the end of welding to prevent the wire from sticking to the workpiece.
Wire-Stick Auto-Release
When arc failure occurs, the wire may sometimes stick. To prevent this, a short, relatively high voltage is output at the end of welding to release the wire.
Laser Tracking
A laser sensor provides accurate weld-joint position feedback so that the robot can adjust the torch end's position during welding, keeping the nozzle end precisely aligned with the seam. This ensures a clean weld formation, reduces thermal load, increases productivity, keeps the torch in an ideal pose, compensates for production and equipment tolerances, reduces programming time for complex workpieces, and delivers consistent, repeatable welds.
Arc-Voltage Tracking Welding
Arc-voltage tracking is a technique for keeping the welding arc length stable. Its basic principle is to sample arc-voltage data in real time during welding, filter it, compute the arc length from the voltage, and adjust the torch position in real time based on the processed data, thereby keeping the arc length stable and ensuring welding consistency.
Once this function is enabled, there is no longer a need to worry about weld unevenness and arc-break phenomena caused by pipe ellipticity. The arc-voltage tracking system automatically adjusts the torch height through self-regulation based on the arc length.
The iNexBot control system samples arc-voltage data at a much finer granularity: by configuring sampling period, base voltage, and invalid-data time, real-time arc-voltage detection and feedback are realized, achieving high-precision control of the electric arc length and ensuring welding quality.
Arc Tracking Welding
Arc tracking is used for thick workpieces, where it compensates for current and voltage fluctuations through weave-welding detection, ensuring weld quality and saving on the laser-sensor cost.
Intelligent Teach-Less Welding Programming
iNexBot supports drag welding: a person can manually drag the robot to the desired points and trigger the corresponding IO signal to record each point. Finally, the robot welds along the recorded trajectory.
Compared with traditional manual welding teach programming, drag-programming is far more flexible — there is no need to insert individual instructions; simply trigger the IO signal. The welding and non-welding speeds can both be self-defined. This function must be performed only after a complete dynamic-identification calibration has been completed.
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