JP5045293B2 - Workpiece joining method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a workpiece joining method.

  For example, in an automobile manufacturing factory, a welding technique such as spot welding or laser welding or a bonding method using an adhesive is employed as a means for joining sheet metal members constituting a vehicle body.

In particular, in recent years, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, internal energy is self-generated by being cured by energy that is a trigger given to a part from the outside, and the internal energy is adjacent to a site where the self-generated energy is generated. Attention has been focused on a chain reaction type adhesive in which the portion to be cured is chain-cured by causing a curing reaction by the internal energy. When a chain reaction type adhesive is used, the application of energy as a trigger for curing can be reduced as much as possible to reduce the number of man-hours. can do. In addition, since a continuous adhesion site can be obtained, a desired adhesion strength can be obtained.
JP-A-11-193322

  When adopting the adhesive as described above, it is efficient to mainly apply a liquid adhesive from a coating device by discharging it onto a workpiece.

  However, when the application device is broken during application of the adhesive, such as clogging, and when an application failure occurs such as the adhesive being interrupted, the chain of the curing reaction is interrupted, and the uncured part remains. there were. If such an uncured portion remains, there is a problem that the desired adhesive strength cannot be obtained. In order to prevent such problems, it is conceivable to increase the number of parts to which the trigger is applied, but in that case, the number of man-hours will increase, or it will be impossible to join the main part of the adhesive that cannot be given the trigger. There's a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a workpiece joining method capable of ensuring the adhesive strength of the main part of the adhesive more reliably while preventing an increase in the number of steps for applying energy. Is an issue.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention self-generates internal energy by curing with a trigger energy applied to a part from the outside, and a portion adjacent to the site where the internal energy is self-generated In a method for joining workpieces using a chain reaction type adhesive that cures in a chain by causing a curing reaction by energy, a plurality of rows are formed in any one of the main bonding portions of a set of workpieces to be joined by the adhesive. The application step of applying the adhesive is overlapped with the workpiece on which the plurality of rows of adhesive are applied and the workpiece on the other side of the workpiece, thereby mixing adjacent ones of the plurality of rows of adhesives. comprising a Kon'itsu step of one, by applying the energy for curing the adhesive, which is in Kon'itsu, and a curing step of curing the adhesive, the coating The adhesive storage tank, the pump that pumps up the adhesive from the adhesive storage tank, the discharge nozzle that discharges the adhesive pumped up by the pump, and the adhesive supply pipe that supplies the discharge nozzle Is a workpiece joining method characterized in that it is applied simultaneously by a plurality of adhesive supply systems individually having . The chain reaction type adhesive according to the present invention is a resin composition mainly composed of a photopolymerizable resin, a photo / thermal polymerization initiator, and a photopolymerization initiator, and includes ultraviolet rays, electron beams, X-rays, infrared rays, Cations and cure inside when a predetermined amount of stimulation is received by energy rays such as sunlight, visible rays, laser beams (excimer laser, CO ₂ laser, etc.), heat rays (radiation, radiant heat, etc.), or internal energy such as heat. Reaction heat is positively generated, and a chain curing reaction is caused by these cations and curing reaction heat. In the aspect of the present invention, when the chain reaction type adhesive is applied to any one of the main parts of the set of workpieces, a plurality of rows of adhesives are applied, and the workpiece and the counterpart workpiece are overlapped. In this case, since the plurality of rows of adhesives are mixed, it is possible to maintain continuity between the plurality of rows of adhesives adjacent to each other. For this reason, when energy is provided in the curing process, the chain of curing reaction is spread without interruption, and the entire adhesive applied to the main part of the adhesive can be cured. In addition, when a plurality of rows of adhesives are mixed, sufficient heat of curing reaction can be secured during the curing reaction of the adhesive, and the reliability of the curing reaction can be improved. The “one set of workpieces” may include not only two members but also three members or more, for example. “Adhesion essential part” refers to a portion to which an adhesive is applied, and the form thereof may be linear or planar. In addition, “a plurality of rows of adhesives are mixed” is preferably an embodiment in which a plurality of rows of adhesives are mixed together at a location adjacent to each other. It may be in the state which can carry out hardening reaction by chain.

Further, in the aspect of the present invention, since the application process is simultaneously performed by a plurality of adhesive supply systems, a plurality of rows of adhesives can be applied at a time.

In particular, since the plurality of adhesive supply systems have a plurality of configurations each having an adhesive storage tank, a pump, a discharge nozzle, and an adhesive supply pipe, the fault tolerance function for failure can be more reliably improved. Can do.

  In a preferred embodiment, the application step is performed by simultaneously moving discharge nozzles respectively provided in the adhesive supply system by a common multi-axis robot. In this aspect, the remaining adhesive supply system can be operated at the time of application work by a specific adhesive supply system, and a plurality of adhesive supply systems can be operated simultaneously to perform the application work.

  As described above, the present invention can maintain continuity between adjacent ones of the plurality of rows of adhesives. Therefore, when energy is applied in the curing process, the chain of the curing reaction occurs. As a result of spreading to all the adhesives without interruption and curing the whole adhesive applied to the main part of the adhesive, it prevents the increase in man-hours for applying energy, and more reliably the adhesive strength of the main part of the adhesive There is a remarkable effect that can be secured.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of a method for joining workpieces W according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing the workpiece W according to the embodiment of FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 2, a workpiece W illustrated in FIG. 2 is an assembly in which a center pillar inner panel 1 and a side frame outer panel 2 of an automobile are joined, and constitutes a side portion of a vehicle body as a whole. .

  First, the workpiece W will be described.

  3 is a perspective view showing the bottom side of the workpiece W in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view of the workpiece W in FIG.

  2 to 4, the center pillar inner panel 1 and the side frame outer panel 2 constituting the workpiece W are each formed in a cross-sectional hat shape, as shown in FIG. 4, and flanges 1 a, 2a. A chain reaction type adhesive 4 is applied between the flanges 1a and 2a (see FIG. 1). The center pillar inner panel 1 and the side frame outer panel 2 are integrated by joining the flanges 1 a and 2 a with the adhesive 4.

The adhesive 4 mainly comprises a photopolymerizable resin (mainly an epoxy resin, particularly preferably an alicyclic epoxy resin), a photo / thermal polymerization initiator (such as an aromatic sulfonium salt), and a photopolymerization initiator (such as a sulfonium salt). A resin composition as a component, energy rays such as ultraviolet rays, electron beams, X-rays, infrared rays, sunlight rays, visible rays, laser beams (excimer laser, CO ₂ laser, etc.), heat rays (radiation, radiant heat, etc.), or When a predetermined amount of energy such as heat is applied, cations and curing reaction heat are positively generated in the interior, and a chain curing reaction is caused by these cations and curing reaction heat. A preferable application thickness of the adhesive 4 is 0.01 mm to 10 mm, an application width is 1.0 mm to 30 mm, and a preferable curing condition of the adhesive 4 is “apply heat of 100 ° C. or more”. .

  In the case of the illustrated embodiment, the center pillar inner panel 1 and the side frame outer panel 2 are each set to a thickness of 0.8 mm, and the thickness of the adhesive 4 disposed therebetween is set to 0.5 mm. The Maintaining the thickness of the adhesive 4 at about 0.5 mm is an important management item in connecting the center pillar inner panel 1 and the side frame outer panel 2. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a plurality of protruding portions 1b are formed on the flange 1a of the center pillar inner panel 1 along the path to which the adhesive 4 is applied, and the thickness d of the adhesive layer is set as shown in FIG. I try to keep it uniform.

  Next, the application process of the adhesive 4 will be described.

  Referring to FIG. 1, the coating process of adhesive 4 is performed by coating apparatus 20. The coating apparatus 20 includes a pair of adhesive supply systems 21 and 22, a multi-axis robot 24 that drives a pair of discharge nozzles 21 a and 22 a provided in each adhesive supply system 21 and 22, and these adhesive supply systems. And a controller 26 that controls driving of the multi-axis robot 24.

  Each of the adhesive supply systems 21 and 22 includes adhesive storage tanks 21b and 22b, pumps 21c and 22c that pump up the adhesive 4 from the adhesive storage tanks 21b and 22b, and adhesive 4 pumped up by the pumps 21c and 22c. The discharge nozzles 21a and 22a for discharging the liquid and the adhesive supply pipes 21d and 22d for supplying the discharge nozzles 21a and 22a are provided.

  The discharge nozzles 21 a and 22 a are mounted on the holder 24 a of the multi-axis robot 24 and are configured to be able to supply the adhesive 4 to the workpiece W at the same time by being integrally operated by the multi-axis robot 24. The multi-axis robot 24 itself executes the program of the controller 26 including a CPU, a storage device, and the like, thereby driving the holder 24a in the three-dimensional direction, so that the adhesive 4 discharged from the discharge nozzles 21a and 22a is discharged. This is a known device that can be applied to the workpiece W. Then, the multi-axis robot 24 drives the holder 24a along the main part of the bonding (the part indicated by the broken line in FIG. 2), thereby simultaneously bonding the pair of discharge nozzles 21a and 22a held by the holder 24a. An application step of applying the agent 4 to the workpiece W is performed. As a result, two rows of adhesives 4 are applied to the workpiece W.

  By the way, as indicated by the symbol P in FIG. 2, a predetermined part (for example, a part having a large curvature) of the main part of the adhesive is likely to cause poor application of the adhesive 4 (for example, breakage of the adhesive 4). In the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the adhesive 4 supplied from the redundant adhesive supply systems 21 and 22 is discharged simultaneously from the pair of discharge nozzles 21a and 22a. Even if the application state of the adhesive 4 discharged from the discharge nozzles 21a and 22a is poor or the application of the adhesive is cut off due to clogging or the like, it is applied by the mixing process described below. Thus, the continuity of the adhesive 4 is ensured. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, since the redundantly configured adhesive supply systems 21 and 22 can be individually controlled by the controller 26, there is a path that one discharge nozzle 21a follows and a path that the other discharge nozzle 22a follows. In the case of having different radii of curvature, it is possible to apply the same amount of adhesive 4 to the main part of the adhesive having different curvatures by changing the discharge amount by the pumps 21c and 22c according to the respective radii of curvature. It becomes possible.

  Next, the workpiece W (for example, the side frame outer panel 2) and the counterpart workpiece W (for example, the center pillar inner panel 1) are overlapped with each other by using a jig (not shown) to bond the two workpieces W in two rows. The mixing step is performed in which the agent 4 is crushed and flows toward each other to mix adjacent adhesives. In this mixing process, the two rows of adhesives 4 are mixed with each other. As described above, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the adhesive 4 supplied from the redundant adhesive supply systems 21 and 22 is simultaneously discharged from the pair of discharge nozzles 21a and 22a. Therefore, even if the application state of the adhesive 4 discharged from any of the discharge nozzles 21a and 22a is poor or the application of the adhesive is cut off due to clogging or the like, this mixing step Thus, the continuity of the applied adhesive 4 is ensured.

  After that, energy for curing is applied to the adhesive 4 applied to the main part of the adhesive by a known method (for example, laser beam irradiation), and a curing process is performed. By this hardening process, the center pillar inner panel 1 and the side frame outer panel 2 constituting the workpiece W are integrally coupled.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the effect of the present embodiment, where (A) shows the application state of the adhesive according to the present embodiment, and (B) shows the application state of the adhesive according to the comparative example. Show.

  With reference to FIG. 5A, in the above-described embodiment, the adhesive 4 is applied in the application process shown in FIG. 1 along the two rows of application lines L1 and L2 indicated by phantom lines. The adhesive 4 applied to the two lines of the coating lines L1 and L2 through the process is mixed with each other. For this reason, even if the adhesive 4 is interrupted in the middle like the upper application line L1, the adhesive 4 on the upper application line L1 is mixed with the adhesive 4 on the lower application line L2. By matching, energy input points PE for curing and continuity are ensured.

  On the other hand, in the comparative example, even after the workpieces to be joined are brought into contact with each other, the adhesive 4 is separated in two rows. For this reason, if any of the adhesives 4 has a discontinuous portion, the continuity with the energy input point PE is lost, so that an uncured portion remains as shown by the hatched portion in FIG. I will let you. In addition, since there are a plurality of energy input points PE, the number of steps for inputting energy that triggers the curing reaction increases.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the chain reaction type adhesive 4 is applied to any of the main bonding portions of the set of workpieces W, a plurality of rows of adhesives 4 are applied. When the workpiece W of the other party is joined, the plurality of rows of adhesives 4 are mixed with each other at the adjacent portions, so that the adjacent ones of the plurality of rows of adhesives 4 maintain continuity with each other. It becomes possible to do. For this reason, when energy is applied in the curing step, the chain of the curing reaction is spread without interruption, and the entire adhesive 4 applied to the main part of the adhesive can be cured. In addition, when a plurality of rows of adhesives 4 are mixed with each other at adjacent portions, sufficient curing reaction heat can be ensured during the curing reaction of the adhesives 4, and the reliability of the curing reaction can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, the coating step is performed simultaneously by the coating apparatus 20 having the plurality of adhesive supply systems 21 and 22. Therefore, in this embodiment, a plurality of rows of adhesives 4 can be applied at a time.

In the present embodiment, the application process includes the adhesive storage tanks 21b and 22b, the pumps 21c and 22c that pump up the adhesive 4 from the adhesive storage tanks 21b and 22b, and the adhesive pumped up by the pumps 21c and 22c. 4 a pair of ejection nozzles 21a for ejecting, 22a and, the discharge nozzles 21a, the adhesive supply pipe 21d for feeding the 22a, facilities of a plurality of adhesive supply lines 21, 22 and a 22d individually Is done. Thus, in this embodiment, since each adhesive supply system 21 and 22 has multiple structures, the fault tolerance function with respect to a failure can be improved more reliably.

  In the present embodiment, the application process is performed by simultaneously moving the discharge nozzles 21 a and 22 a of the plurality of adhesive supply systems 21 and 22 by the common multi-axis robot 24. For this reason, in this embodiment, the remaining adhesive supply system 22 is also operated at the time of the application work by the specific adhesive supply system 21, and the plurality of adhesive supply systems 21 and 22 are simultaneously operated to perform the application work. it can.

  The above-described embodiments are merely preferred specific examples of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments.

  FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a workpiece W according to another embodiment of the present invention.

  Referring to FIG. 6, in the mixing process, spacers 8 are interspersed between the center pillar inner panel 1 and the side frame outer panel 2 constituting the workpiece W, and the spacer 8 is used to increase the thickness of the main part of the bonding. The height d may be kept uniform.

  The “one set of workpieces W” may include not only two members W but also three members or more, for example. The “main part of adhesion” refers to a portion where the adhesive 4 is applied, and the form thereof may be linear or planar.

  It goes without saying that various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

It is a perspective view which shows the outline | summary of the joining method of the workpiece | work which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a front schematic diagram which shows the workpiece | work which concerns on embodiment of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the bottom face side of the workpiece | work of FIG. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the workpiece | work of FIG. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the effect of this embodiment, (A) shows the application state of the adhesive agent which concerns on this embodiment, (B) has shown the application state of the adhesive agent which concerns on a comparative example. It is sectional drawing of the workpiece | work which concerns on another embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Center pillar inner panel 2 Side frame outer panel 4 Adhesive 20 Application | coating apparatus 21, 22 Adhesive supply system 21a, 22a Discharge nozzle 21b, 22b Adhesive storage tank 21c, 22c Pump 21d, 22d Adhesive supply pipe 24 Multi-axis robot 24a Holder 26 Controller PE Energy input point W Workpiece

Claims (2)

Internal energy is self-generated by curing with a trigger energy applied to a part from the outside, and the part adjacent to the site where this internal energy is self-generated causes a chain reaction by causing a curing reaction by the internal energy. In the method of joining workpieces using a chain reaction type adhesive that hardens,
An application step of applying a plurality of rows of the adhesive to any of the main bonding portions of the set of workpieces joined by the adhesive;
Overlaying the workpieces coated with the plurality of rows of adhesive and the workpiece of the other side of the workpiece, a mixing step of mixing adjacent ones of the plurality of rows of adhesives,
A curing step of applying the energy for curing to the mixed adhesive and curing the adhesive ; and
The application step includes an adhesive storage tank, a pump that pumps up the adhesive from the adhesive storage tank, a discharge nozzle that discharges the adhesive pumped up by the pump, and an adhesive feed that is supplied to the discharge nozzle A method for joining workpieces, wherein the workpieces are simultaneously applied by a plurality of adhesive supply systems each having a pipe . In the joining method of the workpiece | work of Claim 1 ,
The coating step is performed by simultaneously moving discharge nozzles respectively provided in the adhesive supply system by a common multi-axis robot.

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