A process for manufacturing a light-alloy hybrid wheel, implements the following separate operation phases: making a flange with an internal profile capable of constituting a tire bead seat; making a rim with, on one side, an outer profile capable of constituting a tire bead seat and, on the other side, a circular flank for assembly with a part of the flange; and assembling the flange with the rim, at the seat of said flange and the circular flank of the rim. The rim is made according to the following consecutive operations: an operation of manufacturing a circular flank; then an operation of expanding said circular flank to the size of the final rim in a single step; then an operation of cold or hot flospinning of said circular flank so as to obtain the rim in the final shape and profile thereof, comprising a shoulder only on the side that will not be welded to the flange.

The invention relates to a method for producing an axle housing of a vehicle axle, by means of integrally connecting an axle tube (1) to an axle shaft (2) which is positioned on the longitudinal axis (L) of the axle tube, is equipped with bearing surfaces (3) for mounting a vehicle wheel, and has a tube cross-section facing said axle tube (1) which is substantially the same as the tube cross-section of the axle tube. In order to develop a welding method for the production of an axle housing that consists of an axle tube and an axle shaft secured thereto, which method is optimised in terms of the dynamic loads to which the axle housing is typically subjected in a driving operation, the method comprises the following steps: •—arranging the axle tube (1) and the axle shaft (2), with the abutting surfaces of their tube cross-sections positioned coaxially to one another, in a workpiece receiving portion of a welding installation (10), said welding installation additionally comprising an arc welding device (11) and a laser welding device (12) which is operated in parallel, •—continuously miming a weld seam (20) in the peripheral direction of the tube cross-sections, both welding devices (11, 12) being directed, actively and from the outside, onto substantially the same peripheral section of the abutting surfaces, wherein the laser beam (S) meets the outside (14) of the tube at right angles, and intersects the longitudinal axis (L) of the axle tube (1), and •—stopping running the weld seam (20) once this has passed over a peripheral angle of at least 360°. A corresponding axle housing is also disclosed.

A wheel for a vehicle includes: a wheel rim; a wheel disc; and a laser-welded portion made by joining the wheel rim and the wheel disc by laser welding. In a circumferential direction of the wheel, a total length of the laser-welded portion is equal to or more than 90% of a length of an entire circumference of the wheel disc. The wheel has, between the wheel rim and the wheel disc, at least one non-welded point at which the laser-welded portion is not provided in the circumferential direction of the wheel.

The present disclosure provides a process for manufacturing a light-alloy hybrid wheel comprising the following separate operation phases: obtaining a front flange with an internal profile including a tire bead seat; obtaining a rim with an annular profile including a tire bead seat at a first end and a circular flank for assembly with a part of the flange at a second end; and assembling the flange and the rim to form a wheel. The annular profiles of the flange and the rim form exterior and interior sides of the wheel. Assembling the flange and the rim comprises welding the flank of the rim and the flange together by a single friction stir weld using a pin such that the weld is exposed at the exterior and interior sides of the wheel.

The disclosure provides a wheel. The wheel includes: a rim (10), a surface of an axial end of the rim (10) forming a first connecting surface (11); a spoke (20), a part of a surface of an axial end of the spoke (20) forming a second connecting surface (21), wherein the spoke (20) is laser welded with the first connecting surface (11) by the second connecting surface (21); and a welding bead structure (100) for fixedly connecting the rim (10) and the spoke (20) is formed at a contact position between the first connecting surface (11) and the second connecting surface (21), and the welding bead structure (100) is formed by a part of the rim (10) and a part of the spoke (20) being melted and then connected.

A process for manufacturing a light-alloy hybrid wheel, implements the following separate operation phases: making a flange with an internal profile capable of constituting a tire bead seat; making a rim with, on one side, an outer profile capable of constituting a tire bead seat and, on the other side, a circular flank for assembly with a part of the flange; and assembling the flange with the rim, at the seat of said flange and the circular flank of the rim. The rim is made according to the following consecutive operations: an operation of manufacturing a circular flank; then an operation of expanding said circular flank to the size of the final rim in a single step; then an operation of cold or hot flospinning of said circular flank so as to obtain the rim in the final shape and profile thereof, comprising a shoulder only on the side that will not be welded to the flange.

A wheel manufacturing device for manufacturing a wheel having an annular core body configured by multiple segments and multiple free rollers rotatably provided around an annular axis of the core body includes: a holder that includes a center jig having a circular outer contour; and a laser welder that welds adjacent segments. The laser welder sets an optical axis of the laser in a direction orthogonal to an outer peripheral surface of the segment when welding a portion of the outer peripheral surface of the segment away from a central axis of the annular axis, and sets the optical axis in a direction inclined away from the central axis with respect to the direction orthogonal to the outer peripheral surface of the segment when welding a portion of the outer peripheral surface of the segment close to the central axis.

The invention relates to a method for producing an axle housing of a vehicle axle, by means of integrally connecting an axle tube (1) to an axle shaft (2) which is positioned on the longitudinal axis (L) of the axle tube, is equipped with bearing surfaces (3) for mounting a vehicle wheel, and has a tube cross-section facing said axle tube (1) which is substantially the same as the tube cross-section of the axle tube. In order to develop a welding method for the production of an axle housing that consists of an axle tube and an axle shaft secured thereto, which method is optimised in terms of the dynamic loads to which the axle housing is typically subjected in a driving operation, the method comprises the following steps: arranging the axle tube (1) and the axle shaft (2), with the abutting surfaces of their tube cross-sections positioned coaxially to one another, in a workpiece receiving portion of a welding installation (10), said welding installation additionally comprising an arc welding device (11) and a laser welding device (12) which is operated in parallel, continuously miming a weld seam (20) in the peripheral direction of the tube cross-sections, both welding devices (11, 12) being directed, actively and from the outside, onto substantially the same peripheral section of the abutting surfaces, wherein the laser beam (S) meets the outside (14) of the tube at right angles, and intersects the longitudinal axis (L) of the axle tube (1), and stopping running the weld seam (20) once this has passed over a peripheral angle of at least 360. A corresponding axle housing is also disclosed.

A method for rounding off an undesired burr and/or material accumulated on vehicle spoke rear edges, in particular light-alloy automotive wheel during manufacture, the burr having been produced or the material having accumulated during a preceding mechanical processing step of the light-alloy wheel, rounds off the burr or the accumulated material by laser beam remelting. The rounding off is achieved by orienting the light-alloy wheel during the lasering such that the rear edge of the respective spoke being lasered points downwards and by, as a result of laser beam energy applied, the light alloy of the spoke is melted locally, partially and directly from above, i.e. on a front spoke edge, and/or laterally from above so that the resulting molten material flows downwards by gravity, hardens on the spoke rear face as a rounded portion and thereby rounds off the undesired burr or the undesired material accumulated there.

A wheel for vehicles in which the front flange is provided with an annular seat which accommodates at least partly the terminal end of the rim in order to form an external shoulder profile. The rim includes a substantially cylindrically extended central body part; an internal shoulder profile arranged at a first end of said body and is configured to receive an internal edge of a tire; and a terminal end arranged at a second and opposite end of said body. The disc includes a hub portion configured to be connected to a vehicle axle, a perimetric front flange and a connecting portion which connects the hub portion to the front flange. The front-flange is provided with an annular seat in which the terminal end of the rim is accommodated at least partially in order to form an external shoulder profile