Getting over the hump to improve fuel cell manufacturing

The production of fuel cells requires the use of a rapid laser welding process; however, welding at too high a speed results in humping, marked by surface irregularities on the weld seam. A team led by researchers at Penn State has combined observation and analytical modeling to identify the conditions that produce humping at high laser welding speeds and to adjust the process parameters to increase weld speed without causing surface irregularities.