Ultrasonic sonotrodes

What is a sonotrode?

Sonotrode is the technical term for the welding tool assigned to the respective application. Generally, sonotrodes are made of a titanium alloy or high-strength aluminum, as these materials have low damping and high fatigue strength. This means that they are particularly "elastic" and can therefore be set in vibration quickly. If there are high demands on the stability of the sonotrode or if high wear is to be expected, such as during punching or cutting, it can also be made of a hardenable material, e.g. PM steel or ferrotitanite, or provided with a wear-resistant coating.

There are different types of sonotrodes for the various applications, e.g. round, knife, block or piercing or fakir sonotrodes. Two round sonotrodes are also frequently mounted together on a common carrier as composite sonotrodes. 

1. It transmits the vibration energy of the system as well as the contact pressure of the machine to the workpiece.
    
2. The sonotrode shapes the part during riveting or flanging. The shaping itself is on the one hand dependent on the part to be welded and on the other hand subject to physical laws which must be observed in the manufacture of resonance bodies.
    
3. The sonotrode provides the amplitude transformation due to the mass difference between the input side and the workpiece side. This means that if the input side of the sonotrode has a larger mass than the output side, the maximum deflection (oscillation) of the sonotrode changes in the corresponding ratio.