Research on a High-Quality Welding Method for Multi-Layer Aluminum Foil Current Collectors Based on Laser Power Control

Reliable joining of multi-layer aluminum foil current collectors is crucial for enhancing the performance and safety of high-capacity lithium-ion batteries. However, laser welding of such thin-thick aluminum combinations is often hindered by porosity, cracks and unstable weld-pool behavior. In this study, a ring-mode fiber laser combined with sinusoidal oscillation and linearly gradient power modulation was employed to achieve high-quality lap welding between 80 layers of 1060 aluminum foil (1 mm in total thickness) and a 1.5 mm thick aluminum plate. Welding experiments and thermo-mechanical simulations were conducted to investigate the effects of welding speed (15–45 mm/s) and central-power modulation parameters (−2, 0, +2, +4) on weld morphology, defect formation, and mechanical properties. The results indicate that increasing the welding speed can effectively suppress cracks and improve the shear strength from 249.8 N to 403.9 N, but it also leads to an increase in porosity from 5.78% to 12.26% and deterioration of the weld reinforcement. Higher central-power modulation (+2, +4) transformed the weld-pool geometry from an ω shape to U shape, effectively suppressing fusion-line cracks but leading to increased porosity (up to 8.41%) and deteriorated surface morphology. Overall, a low welding speed of 15 mm/s combined with an optimized power modulation strategy achieves effective crack suppression while maintaining controlled porosity, resulting in a welded joint with superior comprehensive performance. This research provides a robust process solution for high-quality laser welding of multi-layer aluminum foil current collectors in power battery manufacturing.