Development of spatter suppression technology for copper by high speed laser scanner welding Available to Purchase

Copper is frequently used as the current-carrying component in such products as batteries, power modules, and industrial motors due to its high electric conductivity. A highly efficient and stable welding method has long been sought for copper because of its low weldability due to its high heat conductivity and high reflectivity of 1-μm wavelength laser light. The objective of this research is to investigate the laser welding phenomena of pure copper and to improve the copper welding quality. A synchronized high speed camera and X-ray observation system was used to observe the weld pool in order to better understand it and the keyhole behavior during welding. It was confirmed that the melt pool ejection involved large spatter due to the enhancement of the inside pressure of the keyhole and a surface void was formed after the melt pool ejection. The large spatter and surface void in copper welding was confirmed to be suppressed by using high speed welding. High speed scanning welding was conducted to improve the welding geometry. The scanning track was circular, and the diameter of the circle and the rotation frequency were changed to investigate the effect of the scanning parameters on the spatter and welding geometry. It was confirmed that the large spatter and surface void was suppressed at a scanning speed of over 500 mm/s. In addition, it was found that the welding geometry can be controlled by adjusting the scanning parameters. The details are discussed in this paper.