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Introduction
Resistance spot welding is widely used to join sheet
metals in the automotive industry. The quality and
performance of the spot welds significantly affect the
durability and safety design of the vehicles. Spot weld
performance refers to both overload and fatigue
performance. Although most of the spot welds fail
through a fatigue mechanism,1,2 accidents, rough roads
or driving conditions which apply excessive loads on the
vehicle, are some of the cases which can cause overload
failure.3
The tensile shear test is the most widely used test for
evaluating the spot weld mechanical behaviour in static
conditions because of its simplicity and for the fact that
many of welded structures are designed to carry the
tensile shear loads. Peak load, obtained from the tensile
shear load displacement curve, is often used to describe
spot welds mechanical behaviour. In addition to the
peak load, failure energy can be used to better
characterise the spot weld mechanical behaviour.
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Relationship between failure behaviour and weld fusion zone attributes of RSWs
Experimental
An austenitic stainless steel sheet with 12 mm thickness
was used as the base metal (BM), in this research. The
chemical composition of the BM was Fe18?47Cr9NiMn
0?462Cu0?016Nb0?388Si0?035C0?038P0?004S corresponding to AISI 304 stainless steel. Spot welding was
performed using a PLC controlled 120 kVA AC
pedestal type resistance spot welding machine. Welding
was conducted using a 45 deg truncated cone RWMA
class 2 electrode with 7 mm face diameter. Welding
current was varied from 2 to 14 kA and welding time,
electrode pressure and holding time were fixed at 12
cycles, 4 bar and 30 cycles respectively.
The static tensile shear test samples were prepared
according to ANSI/AWS/SAE/D8?9-97 standard.10 The
tensile shear tests were performed at a crosshead of
2 mm min21 with an Instron universal testing machine.
Peak load and failure energy (measured as the area
under the load displacement curve up to the peak load)
were extracted from the load displacement curve. The
failure mode was determined from the failed samples.
Samples for metallographic examination were prepared
using standard metallography procedures. Optical
microscopy was used to examine the microstructures
and to measure physical weld attributes. After complete
separation in the tensile shear test, failure location of
samples was examined using an optical microscope.
Microhardness test was used to determine the hardness
profile in horizontal direction (20 mm away from weld
centreline), using a 100 g load on a Shimadzu microhardness tester.
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3 Physical weld attributes variation by increasing welding current from a to d: small weld fusion zone size (a)
for small welding currents leads to interfacial failure
mode; excessive welding current in (d) increases electrode indentation depth, reduces weld fusion penetration depth and signicantly reduces failure energy
Marashi et al.
Relationship between failure behaviour and weld fusion zone attributes of RSWs
a interfacial; b pull-out
5 Observed spot weld failure modes
(3)
(sUTS )FL
tWN
(4)
HFL
fHWN
(5)
Table 1 Effect of welding current on weld nugget size, expulsion and failure mode*
Welding current, kA
10
11
12
13
14
Failure mode
Nugget size, mm
Expulsion
IF
3
No
IF
3.6
No
IF
4.5
No
PF
5.7
No
PFzST
5.8
No
PFzST
6
Weak
PF
6.8
Medium
PFzST
6.5
Medium
PFzST
6.7
Heavy
PFzST
6.6
Heavy
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Relationship between failure behaviour and weld fusion zone attributes of RSWs
7 Failure cross-section of overall macrograph (left) and failure initiation location where necking occurred due to tensile
stress and failure started (right): nal separation occurs at location where it is subjected to compressive stresses
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Mechanical behaviour
Load carrying capacity and energy absorption capability
of spot welds depend on their physical attributes,
especially fusion zone size, failure mode and failure
location mechanical properties. The experimental results
indicate that welding current has a significant effect on
the load carrying capacity and energy absorption
capability of the spot welds under the tensile shear
static test. As can be seen from Fig. 8, upon increasing
the welding current, the peak load increases. However,
for higher welding currents, the peak load is almost
constant. The peak point in load displacement plot of
the tensile shear test corresponds to the point of crack
propagation through the weld nugget for interfacial
mode and to the necking point at failure location for the
pull-out mode. In the interfacial failure mode, increasing
fusion zone size results in increase in joint area which in
turn increases the resistance of the weld nugget to the
interfacial failure mode. In the pull-out failure mode, the
bigger the weld nugget size, the higher its resistance
against rotating is during the tensile shear test, which
itself affects stress distribution at the weld interface and
its circumference. Therefore, both these factors contribute to higher required force for the failure. Figure 9
Marashi et al.
Conclusions
Based on the experimental results in combination with
the findings from the analytical model, the following
conclusions can be drawn:
Relationship between failure behaviour and weld fusion zone attributes of RSWs
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Novinsazan Setareh
Sanat Co. for providing a spot welding machine for this
investigation. The authors would also like to acknowledge AmirKabir University of Technology for providing
foundations for this research.
References
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15. X. Deng, W. Chen and G. Shi: Finite Elem. Anal. Des., 2000, 35,
17239.
16. M. Marya, K. Wang, L. G. Hector and X. Gayden: J. Manufact.
Sci. Eng., 2006, 128, 2872298.
17. S. Zuniga and S. D. Sheppard: in Fatigue and fracture mechanics,
Vol. 27, ASTM STP 1296, (ed. R. S. Piascik et al.), 4692489; 1997,
Philadelphia, PA, ASTM.
18. Available at: http://www.accuratescrew.com/info/material.htm