Electric vehicle battery systems are made up of a variety of different materials, each battery system contains hundreds of batteries. There are many parts that need to be connected in the battery system, and welding is often the most effective and reliable connection method. Laser welding has the advantages of non-contact, high energy density, accurate heat input control, and easy automation, which is considered to be the ideal choice for electric vehicle battery manufacturing. However, the metal materials used for the electrodes of the battery and the connectors used to connect the battery are not the same, so the different materials need to be welded together effectively. Welding different materials together is associated with various difficulties and challenges, as more intermetallic compounds are formed, some of which can affect the microstructure, electrical and thermal properties of the joint. Because the common material of the battery housing is steel and aluminum and other refractory metals, it will also face various problems. In this paper reviews, the challenges and the latest progress of laser welding between different materials of battery busbar and battery pole and between the same materials of battery housing are reviewed. The microstructure, metallographic defects and mechanical properties of the joint are discussed.

In this study, in order to achieve a better understanding of the strengthening mechanism in the commercially pure (CP) Ti welds, autogenously laser beam and laser-MIG hybrid welding of 4.2 mm thick CP-Ti plates were performed and the correlation between microstructure, texture distribution and the mechanical properties were systematically investigated. Microstructural coarsening and increase in microhardness were observed in the HAZ and WZ. The tensile test results suggested the base metal was the weak point of the joint for both welding conditions. The EBSD observations confirmed that a large number of \( \left\{10\overline{1}2\right\} \) and \( \left\{11\overline{2}2\right\} \) twin grains occurred in the HAZ and WZ of both welded joints, while a higher concentration of these twin grains were found in the laser-MIG hybrid joints. High concentration of the twin grain boundaries can act as barrier to stop dislocation slip during deformation and therefore contribute to the strengthening of the welds. The existence of very small twin grains and acicular α phase in HAZ and WZ would equivalently reduce the averaged grain size and therefore induce an increase in strength based on Hall-Petch’s law. In addition, the averaged Schmid factor of BM is higher than that of the WZ and HAZ in both welding joints suggesting that the grain boundary sliding will take place preferably in BM during deformation so that the necking and fracture occurred in base metal during tensile tests of both welding joint specimens.