According to the researchers, battery manufacturing has become a market that demonstrates significant growth nowadays. Mostly, that is because of the accelerated demand from the electric vehicle (EV) industry. Fiber laser manufacturers predict the high growth for integrating fiber laser technology in battery welding equipment (particularly laser-based).
Fiber laser working principles are applied in battery welding. It is not a new laser application but it became really popular only when the electric vehicle (EV) industry started using it.
Nowadays, researchers are working on creating effective production centers for battery cells for the electric vehicle (EV) industry. They need to investigate how fiber laser technology can be produced to economically contact and join dissimilar materials. So that will help to manufacture battery cells more efficiently and reliably.
There are several scientific projects that are studying the usage of fiber laser technology in battery manufacturing. One of the studies has a goal to find the most effective way to manufacture lithium-ion batteries. The researchers developed a fiber laser system that could join anodes and cathodes to the contacts. The anodes are made of copper and the cathodes of aluminum. The scientists chose different types of fiber lasers for testing. The solution was in applying a turntable with several stations so that a stack is ready in two seconds.
The other project studies how to connect battery cells more efficiently. The scientists develop processes for bonding copper, aluminum, and steel with a fiber laser working in the nanosecond range. These processes are complicated because thin electrical contacts should not be heated too much. They are sensitive to temperature. It is important to strike a balance here. The connection will not have mechanical stability if there is little welding energy. And on the contrary, when there is too much welding energy, the mode of operation or service life of the batteries can be shorter.
The third project connected to fiber laser technology includes the experiments on copper-aluminum and copper-steel joints on the pouch and cylindrical cells respectively. The tests demonstrated that they can achieve as good joints as continuous-wave (CW) welding. However, the energy consumption is much lower. And there is high repeatability and fewer intermetallic phases. The only disadvantage is that the whole process takes more time, so there are still aspects that need to be improved.
In conclusion, the range of laser applications is wide, one of them is battery manufacturing. The fiber laser systems can unite both a CW fiber laser and a nanosecond pulsed fiber laser. The laser beam can be controlled apart. And except joining, the fiber laser system can also remove material, for example, to construct surfaces.
Optromix Inc., headquartered in Cambridge, MA, USA, is a manufacturer of laser technologies, optical fiber sensors, and optical monitoring systems. We develop and manufacture a broad variety of Fiber lasers, СО 2 lasers, Ti: Sapphire lasers, Dye lasers, and Excimer Lasers. We offer simple Erbium laser and Ytterbium laser products, as well as sophisticated laser systems with unique characteristics, based on the client’s inquiry.
We manufacture laser modules using our technologies based on the advanced research work and patents of the international R&D team. Laser processes are high-quality, high-precision, easily automated manufacturing solutions that provide repeatability and flexibility.
If you are interested in Optromix fiber laser systems or Optromix CO2 lasers, please contact us at info@optromix.com
