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Vol.:(0123456789)Trans Indian Inst Met (2026) 79:193 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12666-026-03919-5ORIGINAL ARTICLEMetallurgyMaterials EngineeringManufacturing of CLAD?Based Battery Interconnects for Electric Vehicle ApplicationsToushif Asundi 1  · Prashant P. Date 2  · V. Ramalingeswara Rao 1  Received: 5 February 2026 / Accepted: 4 May 2026 / Published online: 1 July 2026 © The Author(s) 2026Abstract CLAD ® materials were explored in this work as an alternative to conventional nickel tabs for battery inter-connects in electric vehicle (EV) packs. Roll-bonded cop-per–stainless steel multi-layer sheets were cut and formed into interconnect geometries, then joined to cylindrical 21700 lithium-ion cells through resistance and laser weld-ing. Trial builds showed no layer delamination, satisfactory bond quality, and stable weld formation across repeated cycles. Comparative thermal modelling indicates a sub-stantial peak-temperature reduction relative to nickel. These fi ndings collectively support adopting CLAD ® interconnects as a drop-in replacement for nickel tabs, with benef i ts in electrical ef f i ciency, thermal management, and cost.Keywords Clad materials · Battery interconnects · Electric vehicles · Roll bonding · Resistance/laser welding1 IntroductionGrowth in EV adoption has intensif i ed requirements placed on lithium-ion battery packs in terms of energy density, ther-mal stability, and cycle life [1]. Among the components that govern pack performance, the cell interconnect—the con-ductor that bridges adjacent cells in series or parallel—has a disproportionate inf l uence on current distribution, resis-tive heat generation, and long-term reliability [2]. High interconnect resistance concentrates Joule heating locally, accelerates degradation of nearby cells, and introduces unde-sirable temperature gradients across the module [3].Nickel strip has historically been the dominant intercon-nect material because it resists surface oxidation and bonds readily to cell terminals by resistance spot welding [4]. Its electrical conductivity, however, is roughly six times lower than that of copper, which translates directly into higher resistive losses at the elevated currents demanded by modern traction packs. As cell formats move towards larger cylindri-cal geometries (e.g. 21700 and 4680) and pack-level currents climb, the thermal penalty of nickel becomes increasingly dif f i cult to absorb without active cooling.Clad metals—laminates of dissimilar metals co-reduced by roll bonding—address this gap by combining properties that no single alloy provides [5, 6]. A stainless steel/copper/stainless steel (SS/Cu/SS) architecture, for instance, places a high-conductivity copper core between two stainless steel skins. The copper core carries current ef f i ciently; the steel skins of f er the yield strength, spring-back control, and sur-face hardness needed for stamping, tab forming, and weld nugget formation [5]. Roll-bonded clad sheets can be pro-duced to tight thickness tolerances over wide coil widths, making them compatible with existing progressive-die and laser-cutting lines used in battery manufacturing.Translating these material advantages into a working interconnect still requires resolving several process ques-tions. Dissimilar thermal and electrical properties across layers complicate resistance and laser welding: insuf f i cient energy fails to fuse the steel skin to the cell cap, while excess energy risks penetrating the copper core and expelling molten material onto the cell [7]. Formability also deserves attention because the SS/Cu/SS stack behaves dif f erently from a monolithic sheet during bending and blanking. This study addresses these questions through a combined * Toushif Asundi tousifasundi435@gmail.com1 TVS Motor Company Ltd., Hosur, India2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India