IMPORTANT NOTICE: In any intended vehicle application, if the products covered by this specification are, or may be, subjected to conditions beyond those described in this document, they must pass special tests simulating the actual conditions to be encountered before they can be considered acceptable for actual vehicle application. Products certified by their supplier as having passed specific applicable portions of this specification are not to be used in applications where conditions may exceed those for which the product has been satisfactorily tested.

The Authorized Person is the final authority as to what tests are to be performed on his or her parts and for what purpose these tests are required. He or she is also the final authority for resolving any questions related to testing to this specification and to authorizing any deviations to the equipment or procedures contained in this specification. Any such deviation must be documented and included in the final test report.

1. This specification defines basic test methods and requirements for ultrasonically welded cable termination type connections. These procedures are applicable to the ultrasonically welded cable attachment method to buss, terminal, or device connections including welded eyelet or battery terminations.

2. The wiring supplier has the primary responsibility for testing and selection of weld tooling and equipment.

Specific terminal designs may require specialized ultrasonic weld tooling and equipment. The component supplier is responsible to provide the component processor or wire harness supplier information based on the weld tooling and equipment used in the terminal DV and PV testing process.

Traceability to the tooling and equipment used to prepare the samples under test must be documented in the test report. Obtaining approval from the customer with appropriate test data showing that the welded termination will function as defined by this specification lies with the wiring harness supplier.

3. New or revised ultrasonically welded terminations shall be tested to the requirements of this specification.

4. Deviations from the requirements of this specification must be approved by the customer engineering department.

5. Procedures included within this specification are intended to cover performance testing and development of welded cable terminations that are part of the electrical connection systems used in road vehicle applications at ambient temperatures of 125°C maximum. The OEM customer must approve use of these test procedures for use at temperatures beyond this limit.

6. Welded terminations using crimped insulation wings for strain relief shall meet the insulation crimped grip requirements of SAE/USCAR 21.

NOTE: This specification was developed with clean, bare, uncoated, stranded automotive copper wire. Welded terminations using compressed, compacted, or solid core construction or other core materials (clad, steel core, etc) need to be reviewed to determine that this specification is applicable to evaluate those terminations. Coating, lubricants, or contamination in the bond area of wires or components can affect the mechanical and electrical performance of ultrasonically welded cable terminations. For the purpose this specification the words: cable and wire shall be used interchangeably.

Ultrasonic Weld Characteristics

Ultrasonically welded termination bond performance is characterized by:

A. Mechanical bond, measured by cable to component adhesive pull.

B. Electrical connection, measured by cable/wire to component resistance and or voltage drop.

The geometry of a cable to component welded joint is characterized by:

A. Weld bond height (WBH)

B. Weld bond width (WBW)

C. Weld bond length (WBL)

D. Insulation crimp height (ICH)

E. Insulation crimp width (ICW)

F. End of conductor limit

G. End of insulation limit

H. Strand length difference (multiple cable terminations)

J. Strip length

K. Weld position

NOTE: To claim conformance to this specification, the weld characteristics used to ultrasonically terminate a cable to a component must be traceable to a SAE/USCAR 38 test report. The specific cable and component configuration including stranding, actual cable cross sectional area, component base material and thickness as well as the tooling detail the tooling must be detailed in the report.

NOTE: Due to the wide range of possible component configurations and applications for ultrasonic wire terminations, the graphics, illustrations, and figures in this document are intended to show general examples of characteristics and are not intended to represent actual component combinations.