Method and apparatus for continuous production of tubular bodies by means of laser longitudinal seam welding

Abstract From the Canadian patent

Method and apparatus for the continuous industrial production of tubular bodies in which coated or uncoated steel strip is formed to a slit tube and the opposite strip edges are longitudinally seam welded at high speed by a laser beam of high energy density under protective gas with or without supply of additive material, and after a preparation adapted to the narrow melt zone and bringing together of the strip edges a fusion welding with subsequent controlled cooling and upsetting is carried out which results in a seam geometry suitable for any further processing. (Fig. 1)