Ultrasonic welding is increasingly used in industry. In this paper, the influence of ultrasonic welding parameters (USW) on the joint strength and quality was analysed. The properties of the USW joints depend on many factors. The work focuses on the influence of the technological parameters and the surface properties of welded EN Cu-ETP copper sheets with a thickness of 1 mm. The impact of the process parameters, such as welding time, pressure, vibration amplitude and the surface roughness on the lap shear strength and the metallographic weld properties was analysed. The welding energy for each variant was also determined. The research was conducted on the basis of a full factorial design of experiments. The optimal process parameters were determined to obtain high-quality joints in terms of strength and weld quality. Based on the presented experimental study, it was demonstrated that the ultrasonic vibration amplitude has the greatest impact on the joint strength. A surface preparation with acetone resulted in the highest tensile strength and welding energy and, making any additional surface treatment prior to welding unnecessary.

In this experimental research, copper to steel tubular joints were produced by electromagnetic pulse welding. In a first phase, non-supported target tubes were used in order to investigate the influence of the workpiece geometry on the weld formation and joint characteristics. For this purpose, different joint configurations were used, more specific the tube-to-rod and the tube-to-tube configurations, with target workpieces with different diameters and wall thicknesses. Also, some preliminary investigations were performed to examine a support method for the target tubes. In a second phase, suitable support systems for the target tubes were identified. The resulting welds were evaluated in terms of their leak tightness, weld length and deformation of the target tube. It can be concluded that polyurethane (PU), polymethylmethacrylaat (PMMA), polyamide (PA6.6) and steel rods can be considered as valuable internal supports leading to high-quality welds and a sufficient cross-sectional area after welding. Welds with a steel bar support exhibit the highest cross-sectional area after welding, but at the same time the obtained weld quality is lower compared to welds with a PA6.6 or PMMA support. In contrast, welds with a PA6.6 or PU support show the highest weld quality, but also have a lower cross-sectional area after welding compared to steel internal supports.

The demand for joining dissimilar metals has exponentially increased due to the global concerns about climate change, especially for electric vehicles in the automotive industry. Ultrasonic welding (USW) surges as a very promising technique to join dissimilar metals, providing strength and electric conductivity, in addition to avoid metallurgical defects, such as the formation of intermetallic compounds, brittle phases and porosities. However, USW is a very sensitive process, which depends on many parameters. This work evaluates the impact of the process parameters on the quality of ultrasonic spot welds between copper and aluminium plates. The weld quality is assessed based on the tensile strength of the joints and metallographic examination of the weld cross-sections. Furthermore, the welding energy is examined for the different welding conditions. This is done to evaluate the influence of each parameter on the heat input resulting from friction at the weld interface and on the weld quality. From the obtained results, it was possible to optimise parameters to achieve satisfactory weld quality in 1.0 mm thick Al–Cu plate joints in terms of mechanical and metallurgical properties.

Additive manufacturing (AM) processes are playing a significant role in several industrial sectors such as construction and machine building industries, involving a wide variety of metallic materials. Among these, the AM of aluminium alloys has developed significantly over the last decade, mainly through Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) and Directed Energy Deposition (DED) processes. Despite the many advantages of AM technology, some large or complex products cannot be produced entirely without the use of conventional manufacturing and joining processes, generally for financial or operational reasons. In this way, the ability to join conventionally and additively manufactured components or parts represents a crucial step towards their future use and the consolidation of conventional and additive manufacturing technologies. Despite the growing interest in AM technologies, there is still a significant lack of information on the joining of conventionally and additively manufactured components. The present work proposes a first review of the literature evaluating the weldability of AM aluminium alloys. The focus is on the use of fusion and solid-state welding processes and analysing the achieved microstructural evolution and mechanical properties. A clear relationship is observed between the AM technology used to produce the part, and the physical principles of the joining process. In addition, the gaps in the literature are highlighted to enable focused future work.

Ultrasonic welding (USW) is a solid-state welding process based on the application of high frequency vibration energy to the workpiece to produce the internal friction between the faying surface and the local heat generation required to promote the joining. The short welding time and the low heat input, the absence of fumes, sparks or flames, and the automation capacity make it particularly interesting for several fields, such as electrical/electronic, automotive, aerospace, appliance, and medical products industries. The main problems that those industries have to face are related to the poor weld quality due the improper selection of weld parameters. In the present work, 0.3 mm thick copper sheets were joined by USW varying the welding time, pressure, and vibration amplitude. The influence of the process variables on the characteristics of the joints and weld strength is investigated by using the analysis of variance. The results of the present work indicate that welding time is the main factor affecting the energy absorbed during the welding, followed by the pressure and amplitude. The shear strength, on the other hand, resulted mostly influenced by the amplitude, while the other parameters have a limited effect. Regardless the welding configuration adopted, most welds registered a failure load higher than the base material pointing out the feasibility of the USW process to join copper sheets.