Systematic adjustment of the joining time in pulsed laser beam welding of aluminum-copper joints by means of a closed-loop control

Abstract

Electric mobility has become increasingly important in recent years. For this purpose, the use of copper is essential due to its electrical properties. In order to save weight and costs, copper is replaced by aluminum in many electrical conductors.In this paper, the required joining time for pulsed laser beam welding of aluminum-copper joints is investigated to minimize the mixing of both materials. By using an external controller and photodiodes, it was possible to develop a real-time pulse control laser welding process based on process emissions. The spectral emission was used to detect when the lower joining partner is reached during the deep welding process. The control enables the adjustment of different joining times, on the one hand by a signal drop of the spectral emission, on the other hand by a specific time. The laser pulse was terminated between 500 – 800 µs after reaching this event. This led to differences in process conditions, resulting in significant changes in mechanical properties. In this way, a decisive influence was exerted on the resulting joining zone. The interaction duration and the work piece transition are of primary interest. By comparing the results with high-speed recordings in the half-section set-up, the resulting mechanisms can be identified. It could be shown that the breakup time have an high impact for the shear tensile force and the welding depth. A Change in the breakup time of 40 µs could lead to high changes in the tensile shear force.