Quality evaluation in small-scale resistance spot welding by electrode voltage recognition

This study focuses on weld quality evaluation by electrode voltage in small-scale resistance spot welding of titanium alloy. Voltage curve could be divided into four stages based on the variation characteristic. The single voltage peak was detected as combined effects of increasing bulk material resistivity and nugget size. Variations of voltage curve shape, voltage peak and failure load were more sensitive to welding current than electrode force. A generalised regression neural network was proposed to evaluate weld quality using features extracted from voltage signal. A discrete Hopfield neural network was also applied for electrode voltage recognition. The recognised voltage patterns were found effective in identifying different quality levels. A real-time and on-line quality monitoring system could be developed.