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Sustainability, as well as high-quality outcomes, pose significant challenges within the context of current manufacturing cycles, in alignment with European strategies aimed at decarbonization. This framework encourages a systematic evaluation of manufacturing processes in terms of their performance and carbon footprint. One sector where this is particularly relevant is the production of batteries for electric mobility, thanks to its exponential growth. Out of all the processes involved, laser welding stands out as being a critical step since it offers potential energy savings through optimization. With the dual goals of achieving mechanical strength and environmental sustainability, this study investigates alternative solutions for laser welding of aluminum sheets. Different laser welding configurations are tested to evaluate the effect of process setups on weld quality and carbon emissions across different productivity scenarios. The key findings can be summarized as follows: (1) the selection of welding setup significantly influences both quality and sustainability requirements; (2) the optimal conditions for meeting strength requirements may diverge from those aimed at minimizing environmental impact; (3) the choice of the final solution is influenced by the specific industrial scenario. The study specifically demonstrated that aluminum alloys can be welded with higher quality (porosity below 1% and equivalent ultimate strength up to 204 MPa) when filler wire is introduced alongside an active wobbling scanning strategy. Conversely, filler wire can be omitted in scenarios prioritizing high-productivity and low-carbon emissions, such as when employing a linear scanning strategy, resulting in a reduction of equivalent carbon emissions by up to 140%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grinding is an indispensable phase in the gear production chain as it allows very stringent requirements characteristic of the automotive sector to be satisfied. The main goal of this finishing process is to ensure compliance with the surface integrity and dimensional tolerance specifications of the product. A single-grain grinding FEM model has been implemented to predict grinding load values based on real grain geometry using a set of Johnson & Cook coefficients able to represent the flow stress curve of a typical gear case-hardened steel 27MnCr5. Grain geometry acquired through computed tomography was imported into three-dimensional process simulation software DEFORM-3D. As the use of real grain geometry leads to time-consuming simulations, an equivalent defined geometry grain was implemented to compare the cutting behavior and calculate maximum force values through real contact area analysis under the same process parameters. Calculated loads were subsequently compared with experimental results, showing good agreement with a maximum percentage difference less than 13% for two different grain geometries. Grinding force measurements were performed in a single-grain configuration on a CNC surface grinding machine adopting a wheel speed of 384 rad/s, a feed rate of 8.6 mm/s and a depth of cut of 0.1 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]