Recent developments of ultrasonic welding

New ultrasonic welding methods of metal and plastic materials have been proposed by the author and their effectiveness shown. For welding of thick and large metal specimens: (1) ultrasonic butt welding methods joining thick metal specimens end to end are proposed. Large capacity vibration sources and solid state power amplifiers of 50, 100 kW were developed; (2) a welding method using two vibration systems crossed at a right angle is effective, and 10 mm thick aluminum plates were joined successfully. For medium size metal welding specimens; (3) complex vibration welding tips were shown to be very effective, and one-dimensional complex vibration systems are developed to simplify the systems. For welding of small metal specimens; (4) higher vibration frequency and a complex vibration wire bonding system are proposed, and it is shown that they are significantly effective. The bonding systems of 60 to 780 kHz were designed and the required vibration amplitude and velocity obtained for thin aluminum wire using the 40 to 780 kHz bonding systems. For welding of plastic materials; (5) high frequency, complex vibration and two-vibration-system welding methods are effective.