Developments in welding/joining applicable to the electrification of aircraft

Aircraft are recognised as having areas for improvement regarding carbon dioxide emissions and general energy efficiency. Part of the solution to this is the electrification of aircraft. Electrification has been ongoing in many sectors for a number of years. The obvious area is Automotive but other sectors, such as yellow goods for example, are moving from the combustion engine to battery driven systems. Aerospace is looking into electric aircraft, for example the E Fan X project run by Airbus and partners. Typically, technology from the automotive sector has been used in an enhanced form to provide demonstrator platforms for potential future aircraft use. The power output of such systems is too low for purely electric passenger aircraft of any size currently, but it is a commonly held prediction that hybrid and then electric aircraft will be the future of flight.

To enable electrification there are a number of manufacturing challenges. The integration of battery packs, light-weighting and heat management are example areas where there are a number of welding/joining challenges. This presentation will review the current state of the art for welding/joining for electrification covering processes such as laser, pulsed TIG, and resistance welding, as well as wire bonding and brazing. Friction Stir Channelling (FSC), a new approach to the fabrication of heat exchangers, and welding for light-weighting, will also be covered.