- High-Reliability Welding of Aluminum Wires to Copper Terminals, Welds Copper/Aluminum Harnesses, Bus Bars, and Foil Laminates -

Nippon Avionics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Avio"), NEC Corp.'s subsidiary based in Tokyo, announced on December 16 the release of new Ultrasonic Metal Welder SW-3500-20/SH-H3K7, which uses ultrasonic vibration to weld metallic materials such as copper and aluminum. These materials are used for manufacturing harnesses, secondary batteries and motors for the automotive industry, where the shift to lighter materials and improvement in electronics are accelerated in response to expanding market demand for eco-friendly cars.

Avio is the only comprehensive manufacturer of micro joining products in the world (*) offering four types of micro joining solutions, including "resistance welding", "laser welding", "pulse heat (hot bar/reflow) soldering" and "ultrasonic welding". Avio provides the most suitable joining solution to meet the customer's needs.

As a result of the progress of motorization, welding techniques of aluminum and copper, which are the main material of power storage parts (battery, capacitor) and power distribution parts (harness, bus bar), become important especially in the automobile industry. In addition, conventional copper has been replaced by aluminum as a harness material to improve fuel efficiency due to its lightweight and material cost reduction. With aluminum replacing copper as a harness material, there has been an increase in the welding of aluminum wire to copper terminals.

As the new Avio Ultrasonic Metal Welder adopts a synchronization method to keep the pressure stable by using a spring, the slip of the tool and work is reduced during the welding of aluminum wire with large deformations and enables steady welding.

Avio, with the introduction of the new Ultrasonic Metal Welder, has expanded the selections of the most suitable micro joining solution for welding aluminum and copper which also include Avio's conventional resistance welders and laser welders.

* As of November 2014, according to our own research.

Applications

1) Wire harness (aluminum wire x copper terminal, copper wire x copper terminal)

2) Bus bar (aluminum x copper)

3) Compacting of stranded copper wire

4) Secondary battery, capacitor, multi-layer weld with 60 pieces of Cu foils

Related URL:

http://www.avio.co.jp/english/