Today's requirements for vehicles with an internal combustion engine are characterized by more sophisticated emission regulations, rising fuel prices and higher driver's demand for driving dynamics, and comfort in line with increased environmental awareness. That's why more and more auto manufacturers around the world are concentrating on electric vehicles. There are various components that make up an electric vehicle, batteries and electric motors are the core of these electric vehicles and are built using a combination of different materials, including highly reflectively aluminium-based alloys and copper. Electrical batteries and motors require welding techniques that can join light and electrically conductive metals such as aluminium and copper alloys without any welding defects. The quality of the weld is very important because it must operate safely and reliably throughout the life expectancy of the vehicle manufacturer, which is at least ten years.

At Everfoton, we developed a range of low- and high-power single-mode (SM) fiber lasers, including new lasers called Variable Beam Profile (VBP) lasers for welding electrical mobility materials. The VBP laser uses a dual beam outlet to produce a central point, surrounded by another concentric ring of laser light. The power in the central and annular points can be controlled independently, allowing for very careful control of the dynamics of the modulated fusion basin.  VBP fiber lasers are available for up to 12 kWs of total power, with different centre-ring ratios and different power levels that can be adapted to specific applications. The result is that the welding process is more stable and maintains consistently during welding, regardless of surface variations in the workpiece, thus overcoming the limitations experienced with traditional fiber lasers.