Helmut Steinberg

A Novel Approach for Joining EN AW 1050 Stranded Wire and EN CW 004A Contact Elements by Friction Stir Spot Bonding

The increasing demand for comfort and safety features leads to a rising amount of electronic components in modern vehicles. As a consequence, copper is increasingly substituted by aluminum, which raises the challenges for conventional joining technologies especially for stranded wire connections. In this case, the use of aluminum leads to larger cable cross sections in order to obtain constant electrical properties, which limits the applicability of technologies like crimping and ultrasonic welding. Therefore, a new friction based process was developed, which enables the joining of EN AW 1050 59 mm2 stranded wire to EN CW 004A contact elements by friction stir spot bonding. By positioning the strand in line to the tool axis and into a cap-like contact element, this process enables joining the end face of the strand to the contact element without excessive cable deformation, so that the energy transport can take place throughout the whole cable cross section.