Experimental Investigation of Resistance Spot Welding for Sheet Metals Used in Automotive Industry

Abstract

Resistance spot welding (RSW) is used for the fabrication of sheet metal assemblies. The major advantages of spot welding are high speed and adaptability for automation in high-volume and/or high-rate production. Despite these advantages, resistance spot welding suffers from a major problem of inconsistent quality from weld to weld. This problem results from both the complexity of the basic process as well as from numerous sources of variability, noise, and errors. Any or all of these complicate automation, reduce weld quality, demand over welding and drive up production costs. For this reason, ensuring weld quality has been and remains a major challenge and goal. The objective of this research is to explore the phenomenon of how changes in a controllable parameter of % heat input affect a measurable output signal indicative of strength and weld quality for various sheet steels used in the automotive industry. The approach of this research is to create a relationship between a key process input variable and the key process output of a quality weld. The input parameter chosen is % heat input, as this directly effects the size and strength of the resulting weld. The output chosen is electrode displacement, as this has been shown to accurately reflect the formation and growth of a weld nugget. A series of experiments was conducted to explore how changes of % heat input and process variations affect the electrode displacement curve for various sheet steels used in the automotive industry. Experimental results show that the electrode displacement increased when higher % heat input was applied. Weld nugget starts to grow when electrode velocity cube changes from positive to negative. Characteristic electrode displacement curves were developed for process variations. A poor part fit-up condition shifted the electrode displacement curve to the right as a result of a smaller weld nugget being formed. Worn electrode lowers the electrode displacement curve. For bare steel, electrode displacement is higher than electrogalvanized and hot-dip galvanized steel. The higher strength steels have higher electrode displacements than for plain carbon steel.