Laser welding of current collector foil stacks in battery production–mechanical properties of joints welded with a green high-power disk laser

The qualification of production systems that enable reliable and stable production processes is a major challenge in manufacturing large-format lithium-ion batteries. During cell assembly, the electrode sheets of the anode and the cathode are stacked, and are electrically contacted by a welding process. It was shown that laser beam welding employing a beam source in the green wavelength range is a promising joining approach in terms of high productivity. Therefore, the influence of the process parameters, such as the laser power, the welding speed, the pulse frequency, and the pulse duration, on the weld seam quality was investigated. Particular emphasis was placed on the mechanical strength of the weld seam. Statistically planned experiments were used to determine feasible parameter sets for welding the most common current collectors of lithium-ion battery electrodes, copper (Cu), and aluminum (Al). The influence of the individual process parameters on the tensile shear force was evaluated. Stacks of 40 metal foils were welded with a thin metal sheet in lap joint configuration. Based on an analysis of the requirements for minimum mechanical seam strengths, this study confirms that laser beam welding using a green high-power disk source is an auspicious process for the internal contacting of lithium-ion batteries.