Microstructure characterization and quasi-static failure behavior of resistance spot welds of AA6111-T4 aluminum alloy

The microstructure, microhardness and quasi-static failure behavior of resistance spot welds of AA6111-T4 aluminum alloy were experimentally investigated. Optical metallography and high-resolution hardness traverses were utilized to characterize the weld nugget, heat affected zone and base metal. The AA6111 spot welds displayed a softer nugget and hardened heat affected zone, compared with the base metal. The through-thickness hardness of the base metal sheet was not constant and had to be carefully considered to determine the effect of welding on material properties. Quasi-static lap-shear tensile tests were used to determine the failure load and failure mode. All tensile specimens failed through the interfacial fracture. This failure mode is consistent with the observed reduced hardness in the weld nugget.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Resistance Spot Welds for Fe-based Metallic Glass

The lap joints of Fe-based metallic glass ribbons were carried by resistance spot welding, and the microstructures of spot welds were investigated by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The results indicated that the perfect formations of joints without typical defects such as spatter were achieved with optimized parameters. Except for little nano-particle Fe2B, no other crystalline particle was detected by TEM, revealing that the most microstructure in spot weld remains amorphous. The maximum tensile-shearing force was 45.0 N with the optimized parameters of 1 kA weld current, 30 N electrode force and 0.02 ms weld time. The spot weld failed as pullout failure mode propagating along the interface of nugget zone. The study demonstrates that resistance spot welding is an effective and practical welding process for Fe-based metallic glass.

Effect of upsetting force on microstructure of welds in resistance spot welding of 400 MPa ultra-fine grain steel

The ultra-fine grain （UFG） steel is welded by using resistance spot welding technique with or without requirement of upsetting force. Metallographic inspection shows that the grain size of weld nugget is larger than that of the base metal and the microstructure is altered significantly. In addition, contracting defects such as air holes can be found in the nugget center. The experiments show that the defects can be effectively avoided by the technique of adding upsetting force during the nugget cooling and crystallizing processes. In tensile shear tests, the welding joint starts to crack from the inner edge of the corona bond. The results of micro-hardness tests show that the newly born martensite structure dramatically improves the hardness of the joint. Under the interactions between residual stresses and regenerated fine grains, the micro-hardness of the heat-affected zone （ HAZ ） is lower than that of the nugget, but evidently higher than that of the base metal.

Multi-field dynamic modeling and numerical simulation of aluminum alloy resistance spot welding

In order to explore the influence of welding parameters and to investigate the Al alloy (AA) nugget formation process, a comprehensive model involving electrical-thermal-mechanical and metallurgical analysis was established to numerically display the resistance spot welding (RSW) process within multiple fields and understand the AA-RSW physics. A multi-disciplinary finite element method (FEM) framework and a empirical sub-model were built to analyze the affecting factors on weld nugget and the underlying nature of welding physics with dynamic simulation procedure. Specifically, a counter-intuitive phenomenon of the resistance time-variation caused by the transient inverse virtual variation (TIVV) effect was highlighted and analyzed on the basis of welding current and temperature distribution simulation. The empirical model describing the TIVV phenomenon was used for modifying the dynamic resistance simulation during the AA spot welding process. The numerical and experimental results show that the proposed multi-field FEM model agrees with the measured AA welding feature, and the modified dynamic resistance model captures the physics of nugget growth and the electrical-thermal behavior under varying welding current and fluctuating heat input.

Numerical simulation on temperature field for resistance spot welding of non-equal thickness stainless steel

An axisymmetric finite element model is developed to simulate the temperature field of resistant spot welding according to the process characters of nugget formation of non equal stainless steel sheets. A simulation method of the interaction of electrical and thermal factors is presented. The spot welding process of nugget formation is simulated using hard and soft welding technique norms. The heating characters of soft and hard norms determine the differences in the process of nugget formation and determine the finally shape and offset of nugget. Experimental verification shows that the model prediction agrees well with the practical.

Study of joining mechanism of ABS polymer and steel/aluminum by resistance spot welding

The joining of metal and polymer is an increasingly important method to get lightweight components in the development of manufacturing industry- nowadays. In this artiele, metal and polymer lap joint was achieved by means of resistance spot welding （RSW） and ultrasonic assistance welding （UAW）. The joining mechanism of lap joint was analyzed by OM, TEM on microstructure at the interface of lap joints and XPS and IR spectra was discussed based on the following different ones： mechanical-interlocking, diffusion bond and coordination bond. The results showed that it was the combined action that played an important role in the effective joining work. Besides, ultrasonic assistance was used in the study to aid welding process based on its high-frequency ultrasonic vibration, which made joints shaping better and improved tensile strength visibly contrast to joints with the same lower heat input parameters.

A MULTI-COUPLED FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF RESISTANCE SPOT WELDING PROCESS

A two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element model is developed to analyze the transient thermal and mechanical behaviors of the Resistance Spot Welding （RSW） process using commercial software ANSYS. Firstly a direct-coupled electrical-thermal Finite Element Analysis （FEA） is performed to analyze the transient thermal characteristics of the RSW process. Then based on the thermal results a sequential coupled thermo-elastic-plastic analysis is conducted to determine the mechanical features of the RSW process. The thermal history of the whole process and the temperature distribution of the weldment are obtained through the analysis. The mechanical features, including the distributions of the contact pressure at both the faying surface and the electrode-workpiece interface, the stress and strain distributions in the weldment and their changes during the RSW process, the deformation of the weldment and the electrode displacement are also calculated.

Comparative study of resistance spot welding performance between cold-rolled DP980 and Q&P980 steels

Advanced high strength steel (AHSS) has been widely used in the automobile industry.The resistance spot welding performance of DP980 and Q&P980 steels was studied through comparing the two steels’welding current range,tensile shear strength (TSS),cross tension strength (CTS),weld spots’microhardness,etc.The following conclusions were achieved:It is easy for both DP980 and Q&P980 steels to get a nugget size bigger than 4 mm,they all have welding current ranges exceeding 2 kA and high weld strength.

Interfacial characterization of resistance spot welded joint of steel and aluminum alloy

The dissimilar material resistance spot welding of galvanized high strength steel and aluminum alloy had been conducted. The welded joint exhibited a thin reaction layer composed of Fe2Al5 and Fe4Al13 phases at steel/aluminum interface. The welded joint presented a tensile shear load of 3.3 kN with an aluminum alloy nugget diameter of 5.7 mm. The interfacial failure mode was observed for the tensile shear specimen and fracture occurred at reaction layer and aluminum alloy fusion zone beside the interface. The reaction layer with compounds was the main reason for reduction of the welded joint mechanical property.

Filling technique for keyhole of friction stir spot welding based on the principles of resistance spot welding

Keyhole at the end of a weld prepared by friction stir welding(FSW)is one of the major issues that impede the application of FSW.To address this issue,a keyhole filling technique was proposed in this paper,which is based on the principles of resistance spot welding(RSW).A three-phase secondary rectifier resistance spot welder was applied as the experimental instrument for filling the keyhole in the center of friction stir spot weld(FSSW).The test sheet is a 2024-T4 aluminium alloy with a thickness of 6.0mm.The experiments results show that the filled joint strength is improved by 26.12%since the area is increased for the plug in the keyhole.And there are two kinds of dimples in the tensile fracture-equiaxial dimples and long dimples.The filled joint involves the fusion welding zone(FWZ),pressure welding zone(PWZ),melted plug zone(MPZ),and plastic deformation zone(PDZ).The FWZ and the PWZ is the melting bond and diffusion bond between the plug and keyhole,respectively.The MPZ is the center part and the PDZ is upper or lower part of the plug.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of dissimilar resistance spot welded DP1000–QP1180 steel sheets

In this study,the effect of welding parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the dissimilar resistance spot welded DP1000–QP1180 joints was investigated.Heat affected zone(HAZ)width of QP1180 side was smaller than that of DP1000 side.HAZ width and indentation depth increased with increasing welding current and welding time.The nugget size increased with increasing welding current whereas it increased at lower currents and decreased at higher currents with increasing welding time.The lowest hardness was on the DP1000 side.On the QP1180 side,the center of HAZ had the peak hardness.With increasing welding current,hardness values throughout the weld zone decreased and the tensile shear load increased.At lower welding currents,the welding time did not affect the tensile shear load.Tensile elongation decreased with the increase of welding time,whereas there is no relationship between the welding current and elongation.The spot-welded joints having higher strength exhibited a more ductile fracture characteristic.

Interfacial microstructure and property of resistance spot welding joints of titanium to stainless steel

Commercially pure titanium and stainless steel sheets were welded using the technique of resistance spot welding with an aluminum alloy insert. The interfacial microstructure of the joint was observed and analyzed using electron microscopy; the tensile shear strength was investigated. An approximate 160 nm thick layer of Al solid solution supersaturated with Ti was observed at the interface between titanium and aluminum alloy. The solid solution layer contained the precipitates TiAla. And an approximate 1. 5 μm thick serrate reaction layer was observed at the interface between stainless steel and aluminum alloy. The maximum tensile shear load of 5.38 kN was obtained from the joint welded at the welding current of 10 kA. The results reveal that the property of the joint between titanium and stainless steel can be improved by using an aluminum alloy insert.

Microstructure and mechanical property of resistance spot welded joint of aluminum alloy to high strength steel with especial electrodes

Dissimilar material joining of 6008 aluminum alloy to H220 YD galvanized high strength steel was performed by resistance spot welding with especial electrodes that were a flat tip electrode against the steel surface and a domed tip electrode upon the aluminum alloy surface. An intermetallic compound layer composed of Fe2Al5 and FeAl3 was formed at the steel/ aluminum interface in the welded joint. The thickness of the intermetallic compound layer increased with increasing welding current and welding time, and the maximum thickness being 7. 0 μm was obtained at 25 kA and 300 ms. The weld nugget diameter and tensile shear load of the welded joint had increased tendencies first with increasing welding current （ 18 -22 kA） and welding time （ 50 - 300 ms）, then changed little with further increasing welding current （ 22 - 25 kA） and welding time （300 -400 ms）. The maximum tensile shear load reached 5.4 kN at 22 kA and 300 ms. The welded joint fractured through brittle intermetallic compound layer and aluminum alloy nugget.

Dynamic simulation of resistance spot welding of zinc-coated steels

A model was developed to simulate the temperature distribution and nugget formation during resistance spot welding （ RS1V） of zinc-coated steels. It employs a coupled thermal-electrical-mechanical analysis simulating the dynamic RSW process. Temperature-dependent thermal-electrical-mechanical material properties were considered including contact-resistance. The contact area was determined from a coupled thermal-mechanical analysis. A layer of transition elements was used to represent the change of contact area by killing or activating elements. The heat generation and temperature field were computed in a coupled thermal-electrical model. All these analyses were solved using the commercial finite element method （FEM） based on ANSYS code, and some advanced functions were used by writing a paragraph of codes by the authors. Compared with the results from only coupled thermal-electrical model in which contact area was uniform during the whole process, the result matches better to the experimental results.

A cooperative control strategy of resistance spot welding process by combining the constant current control with the DRC method

The modeling control method based on the dynamic resistance characteristics of good nuggets, that is the DRC method, is an improvement on the dynamic resistance threshold method for the quality control of resistance spot welding. But there is still a control blind area in the initial four cycles. For this reason, the quality of every weld nugget could not be fully ensured. Thus a new fuzzy cooperative control method is put forward. It uses a multi-information time-control mechanism by combining the constant current control technology with the DRC method in a relay way. This whole-process control strategy has led to a good control effect and produced the dual-identical results in the weld nugget quality and the welding time.

Effects of nugget alloying on microstructures and properties of resistance spot welded joints of aluminum and steel

The resistance spot welding of 6063-T6 aluminum alloy and 16Mn steel was studied by nugget alloying. The results indicated that the Al-steel joint had characteristics of welding-brazing. The nugget zone consisted mainly of α-Al solid solution with dislocations and fine Mg2Si particles. The interface zone had a double-layer structure： Fe2Al5 layer at steel side and Fe4Al13 layer at Al nugget side. The nugget alloying has a significant effect on the joint properties by changing phase composition and refinement of grains. When alloy elements Cu, Zn, Ti and Ni were added, the tensile shear load of Al-steel joints reached 2 780 N, 2 910 N, 2 915 N and 2 929 N respectively, which increased by 24. 1%, 29.9%, 30. 1% and 30. 7% respectively compared with that （2 241 N） of joint without nugget alloying. Therefore, it is an effective way for improving mechanical properties of resistance spot welded Al-steel joints.

Quality estimation of resistance spot welding of stainless steel based on BP neural network

The end value of the dynamic resistance curve of stainless steel was proved to have strong correlation with nugget size by experiments, so it was an important factor for estimation of weld quality. BP neural network was employed to estimate the weld quality, The end value of the dynamic resistance curve, welding current and welding time were selected as the input variables while the nugget diameter, which is closely related to weld quality, was selected as the output variable. Testing results shows that such network has fine fault tolerance and real-time quality estimation is possible.

Deformation at Room and Low Temperatures and Martensite Transformation in Resistance Spot Welding Duplexγ&α(δ) Materials of 301L Stainless Steel

Transformation induced plasticity （TRIP） and twinning induced plasticity （TWlP） effects had been widely studied in single austenite steel. But in duplex γ ＆ α（δ） phase, such as welding materials of stainless steel, they had been less studied. Tensile shear loading experiment of resistance spot welding specimens prepared with 2 mm 301L sheets, was carried out at 15℃ and -50℃. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy （SEM） as well as X-ray diffraction （XRD） were used to investigate the microstructure of weld nugget, and specimens fracture surface. The results showed that the initial weld nugget was composed of 8.4% α（δ） ferrite and 91.6% austenite. Tensile shear load bearing capacity of spot welding specimen at -50℃ was 24.8 kN, 17.7% higher than that at 15℃. About 78.5 vol. pct. martensite transformation was induced by plastic deformation at -50℃, while about 67.9 vol. pct transformation induced at 15℃. The plasticity of spot welding joint decreased with the decline of experimental temperature.

Effects of Cover Sheets on the Nugget Growth and Fracture Behavior of Resistance Spot Welded Q&P980 Steel Joints

The resistance spot weldability of galvanized ultra-high-strength steels is not satisfed,the joints are prone to interfacial fracture and the weldable current range is narrow.To solve the problems,a novel method called resistance spot welding with double-sided cover sheets was introduced to weld a galvanized Q&P980 steel with the thickness of 1.2 mm.Two thin SPCC mild steel sheets were chosen as cover sheets and were placed symmetrically at both sides between the Q&P980 steels and the electrodes,then the RSW process was carried out.Compared with the traditional RSW method,the joints obtained by using the novel method achieved larger tensile shear strength and energy absorption,which increased by 26.9%and 52.6%,respectively.With increasing the welding current,the failure mode transferred from interfacial fracture to nugget pull-out fracture or base metal tearing fracture.By contrast,the joints always showed interfacial fracture without cover sheets.The improvement of the joint performance was mainly attributed to the enlargement of the nugget.With the help of fnite element simulation,it was found that the cover sheets helped increase the contact area and reduced the current density during welding,which postponed the expulsion,and a larger area could be evenly heated.The application of the novel method can be easily extended to the resistance spot welding of other ultra-high-strength steels with various thicknesses.

Study on the resistance spot welding technology of 22MnMoB hot stamping quenched steel

In this paper, the spot welding technology of a new kind of 22MnMoB hot stamping quenched steel sheet was systematically studied by power frequency spot welder. Through a series of technology and test experiments, we have obtained the optimal spot welding technological parameter condition. According to the results, the relations among spot welding technological parameter, welding nugget, mechanical property and fracture mode were discussed. The effects of all the welding parameters such as welding current, welding time and electrode force on the quality of joint can be boiled down to one thing--the diameter of welding nugget. The experimental results showed that welding nugget diameter determines the mechanical property of spot welding joint and the relation between welding nugget diameter and the mechanical property of joint presents a kind of linear mathematic representation. There are two typical fracture models of 22MnMoB hot stamping quenched steel sheet, i.e., interracial fracture and nugget pullout. Other than mild steel or normal high strength steel, in the shearing tensile test, hot stamping quenched steel has a great tendency to fail in interfacial mode due to the effects of high strength matrix structure, welding soft zone and the porosity level of fusion zone.