page_title: IR welding
section_title: Applications
hierarchical_section_title: IR welding / Applications
caption_attribution_description: English: Carbon monoxide alarm. Suomi: Häkävaroitin. Svenska: Kolmonoxid larm Deutsch: Kohlenmonoxid-Alarm Français&#160;: Détecteur de monoxyde de carbone Italiano: Détecteur de monoxyde de carbone
context_page_description: IR welding is a welding technique that uses a non-contact heating method to melt and fuse thermoplastic parts together using the energy from infrared radiation. The process was first developed in the late 1900s, but due to the high capital cost of IR equipment the process was not commonly applied in industry until prices dropped in the 1990s. IR welding typically uses a range of wavelengths from 800 to 11,000 nm on the electromagnetic spectrum to heat, melt, and fuse the interface between two plastic parts through the absorption and conversion of the IR energy into heat. Laser welding is a similar joining process that applies IR radiation at a single wavelength.
  There are many different welding techniques that use IR heating, with the three major modes being surface heating, through transmission IR welding, and IR staking. A variety of heating configurations have been applied to these techniques such as scanning, continuous illumination, and mask welding. Advantages such as faster and controllable non-contact heating applicable for a wide range of simple or complex part geometries sets IR welding apart from other forms of plastic welding.
context_section_description: New joining technologies using IR welding are critical for fabricating complex parts and assemblies at high speeds and low costs.  Although IR plastic welding has many advantages over other types of plastic welding, limitations such as equipment costs and susceptible materials properties reduce the amount of industrial applications of the method.  A few examples of current industrial applications are shown below:
  CO detector filters are IR welded to their plastic housing to prevent damaging the filter with particulate
  Medical IV-bags are IR welded to achieve minimal flash and particulate generation for smooth and clean fluid flow
  High-speed cut and seal film (300 m/min) processes allow for minimal fraying at the edges and cauterized seams
  Brake fluid reservoirs are IR welded to prevent clogging and contamination of the small fluid transmission channels
  PE pipes in the infrastructure of natural gas transmission undergo IR welding using TTIr to improve joint strength with minimal coupling deformation
caption: CO detector
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