Laser welding of copper and aluminium battery interconnections

The adoption of lithium-ion and/or super-capacitor battery technologies is a current hot topic in the automotive industry. For both battery types, the terminals and busbars are manufactured from copper (Cu) and/or aluminium-based (Al-based) alloys, as a result of their high electrical and thermal conductivities. Laser welding is considered an attractive process to industry due to its easy automotability, high processing speed and highly repeatable cost-effective processing. However, laser welding of Cu-Cu and Al-Al joints presents several difficulties due to the high surface reflectivity at infrared (IR) wavelengths. This behaviour becomes even more critical when processing thin sheets and foils.This paper summarises recent work performed to develop laser welding techniques suitable for monometallic joining of Cu-Cu and Al-Al electrical interconnections. Laser welding of multiple overlapped foils (with thickness in the range of 17μm-100μm) were investigated.