Project Details
Projekt
Multi-criteria, comprehensive design of the manufacturing process of aluminum cold plates based on the holistic modeling of the process chain metal forming/laser welding
Subject Area
Primary Shaping and Reshaping Technology, Additive Manufacturing
Joining and Separation Technology
Joining and Separation Technology
Term
since 2025
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 558591047
In modern battery management systems for high-performance applications such as electric vehicles and renewable energy systems, efficient battery cooling via specially designed cooling plates is essential. These cooling plates are typically produced by forming cooling channels into a flat metal sheet, which is then laser-welded to a second sheet using an overlap joint. When welding the seams, which usually cover several meters along the cooling channels, relatively high laser powers are used to join the two subcomponents at the highest possible feed rates. However, when laser welding at such high speeds, high-strength aluminum alloys, which are used for the production of cooling plates, are susceptible to hot cracking. This leads to leaky seams and thus to component rejects. For the design of the manufacturing process of such aluminum cooling plates, the production steps of sheet metal forming and laser welding today are modeled and optimized separately using FE or CFD simulations. Here, the main objective of optimizing the forming process is to induce as low residual stresses as possible in the component in order to keep springback effects to a minimum and thus achieve high dimensional accuracy. To avoid hot cracks in the welding process, however, residual compressive stresses in the welding area are advantageous, which is contrary to the requirement of a component that is as free of residual stresses as possible after forming. This constitutes the initial situation of this research project, which aims at the multi-criteria design of the production process chain of aluminum cooling plates, taking into account all quality (dimensional accuracy, strength, tightness) and cost (energy consumption) targets relevant to the component. To this end, the individual processes are first modeled and optimized. Later, by combining the developed sheet metal forming and laser welding models, the entire process chain and the interactions occurring between the manufacturing processes will be considered. To ensure that the manufacturing process for the aluminum cold plate is as robust as possible, not only deterministic process input variables, but also uncertainties caused by specific fluctuation ranges of the material properties and the process environment are considered and taken into account in the overall model. Finally, the process chain is implemented in the laboratories of the institutes and sensors are integrated into the tools and devices to enable direct feedback from the process and validation of the models. The simulation methods and analytical models developed in this way in the first funding period will then provide the basis for the development of an inverse, multi-criteria optimization strategy for the considered process chain in the second funding period.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
Co-Investigators
Professor Dr.-Ing. Mathias Liewald; Professor Dr.-Ing. Andreas Michalowski
