A Study on Electrical Conductivity of Micro Friction Stir-Welded Dissimilar Sheets for Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs)

摘要

Nowadays, the demand for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) is increasing to control harmful gas emissions. In HEVs, batteries play a vital role as a power source. Generally, aluminum and copper of micro thickness are being used as electrodes, and each of the cells are interconnected to bus bars of the same material. The challenge is to achieve the appropriate joining of micro-thick sized sheets and to have maintain good electrical conductivity of the joints. The present study is focused on the joining between pure copper of 0.3 mm and pure aluminum of 0.2 mm, in a lap configuration by using friction stir welding process. A 4-probe high-temperature resistivity test was carried out to measure the electrical conductivity of the welded samples. The electrical conductivity of the welded joint was depending on the proper material mixing, and IMCs formation at the interface.