Patent ID: 9548545
Date: 2017-01-17
CPC Classifications: B23K,H01R,Y10T

Claim:
1. A method for manufacturing a crimp terminal, the method comprising: bending a metal plate material having opposite side edges to form a barrel member such that the side edges are adjacent each other, the metal plate material comprising copper alloy, the barrel member having a first end portion and a second end portion, the first end portion having a first diameter, the second end portion having a second diameter, the second diameter being less than the first diameter; forming a crimp portion by joining the side edges of the barrel member with each other via laser welding performed by a laser irradiation unit irradiating laser light along the adjacent side edges from a first region of the barrel member to a second region of the barrel member, the second region being spaced longitudinally from the first region, the laser irradiation unit irradiating the laser light with an output power density and a sweep rate to cause fine molten metal particles to adhere to an inner surface of the barrel member, the fine molten metal particles being particles having a particle diameter of 60 μm or less that are ejected during the welding of the side edges of the barrel member.