Dynamics of Battery Tabs Under Ultrasonic Welding

Ultrasonic metal welding for battery tabs must be performed with 100% reliability in battery pack manufacturing as the failure of a single weld essentially results in a battery that is inoperative or cannot deliver the required power due to the electrical short caused by the failed weld. In ultrasonic metal welding processes, high-frequency ultrasonic energy is used to generate an oscillating shear force (sonotrode force) at the interface between a sonotrode and few metal sheets to produce solid-state bonds between the sheets clamped under a normal force. These forces, which influence the power needed to produce the weld and the weld quality, strongly depend on the mechanical and structural properties of the weld parts and fixtures in addition to various welding process parameters such as weld frequencies and amplitudes. In this work, the effect of structural vibration of the battery tab on the required sonotrode force during ultrasonic welding is studied by applying a longitudinal vibration model for the battery tab. It is found that the sonotrode force is greatly influenced by the kinetic properties, quantified by the equivalent mass and equivalent stiffness, of the battery tab and cell pouch interface. This study provides a fundamental understanding of battery tab dynamics during ultrasonic welding and its effects on weld quality, and thus provides useful guidelines for design and welding of battery tabs from tab dynamics point of view.