Development of new welding technology for aluminum

摘要

Mazda has been developing new products based on the brand image "Zoom-Zoom", aiming at development of vehicles that deliver pleasure and emotion to customers. Under this situation, we practice creating production facilities, process that consider the global environment in addition to providing low emission vehicles for fun to drive. Through these activities we have obtained good results, for example, "Development of new environmentally friendly coating technology to reduce Volatile Organic Compounds and CO{sub}2 Emissions in painting area and "Adoption of a semi-dry machining process to reduce the amount of lubricant required" in a powertrain area. In a body production engineering area, we have developed welding technology for an aluminum engine hood and a rear door of RX-8. This technology uses only friction heat energy for welding without any use of cooling water and air. With special consideration given to environment, it has been introduced into production facilities of RX-8.