Modelling the effect of welding current on resistance spot welding of DP600 steel

Experiments were made for welding current variation between 6 kA and 12 kA. Microstructure and mechanical performance under tensile-shear tests were recorded and compared. Welding current effect on micro-properties was very slight while nugget size was highly dependent on welding current. Expulsion phenomenon existed at 12 kA welding current and the unsatisfactory partial interfacial failure was detected. Nugget formation and temperature distribution were analysed numerically. Comparisons with experimental results showed that the nugget size deviation was within 10% and the nugget shape was well predicted.     

Resistance spot welding control based on the temperature measurement

Abstract

In this paper a novel approach for temperature measurement during resistance spot welding is presented. The temperature is measured by two thermocouples mounted at the ends of both the electrode tips. The authors chose to mount them there because it was expected that it would be possible to measure the temperature at this point using a digital camera in the near future. The research was, therefore, motivated to obtain various pieces of information about the welding process from the measured temperature profiles. The measured temperature profiles showed a good correlation with the weld strength. Other phenomena, such as expulsion and electrode wear, can also be related to a temperature profile.     

Novel postweld heat treatment method for improving mechanical properties of resistance spot weld

Abstract

A novel postweld heat treatment method by applying cross-direction welding current (cross-current) was applied on the resistance spot weld. The effect of cross-current on the nugget shape, microstructure and mechanical properties was investigated. The results show that the cross-current postweld heat treatment enhances the efficiency of postweld heat treatment and improves the mechanical performance of nugget. The cross-current promotes the recrystallisation of nugget microstructure, which induced the transformation of microstructure from column crystal to quasi equiaxed grain. The quasiequiaxed grains of martensite in the weld nugget significantly increase the microhardness of weld nugget and the tensile shear force of weld joint.     

Quantifying residual stresses in resistance spot welding of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy sheets via neutron diffraction measurements

Residual strains of resistance spot welded joints of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy sheets were measured in three different directions denoted as in-plane longitudinal (σ₁₁), in-plane transversal (σ₂₂), and normal (σ₃₃). The welding process parameters were established to meet or exceed MIL-W-6858D specifications (i.e., approximately 5.7 mm weld nugget and minimum shearing force of 3.8 kN per weld confirmed via quasi-static tensile testing). Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and optical microscopy (OM) were performed to determine grain size and orientation. The residual stress measurements were taken at a series of points along the weld centerline at depths corresponding to the weld mid-plane and at both 1 mm below the top surface of the plate and 1 mm above bottom surface. The residual stresses were captured on the fusion zone (FZ), heat affected zone (HAZ) and base metal (BM) of the resistance spot welded joint. Neutron diffraction results show residual stresses in the weld are approximately 40% lower than yield strength of the parent material. The maximum variation in residual stresses occurs, as expected, in the vertical position of the specimen because of the orientation of electrode clamping forces that produce a non-uniform solidification pattern. Despite the high anisotropy of the welding nugget and surrounding area, a significant result is that σ₃₃ measured stress values are negligible in both the horizontal and vertical directions of the specimen. Consequently, microstructure–property relationships characterized here can indeed inform continuum material models for application in multiscale models.     

不锈钢点焊电流信号的倒频谱分析

飞溅将引起电流信号的异常变化。采用倒频谱法对不锈钢点焊过程中有、无飞溅的电流信号进行变换,分析比较两种情况下电流信号的倒频谱图,发现它们的倒频谱图在对称性、尖峰个数和大小方面具有明显差异。该方法可以提取出;最焊过程飞溅的特征量,为检测焊接过程是否发生飞溅提供了一种方法。     

焊接残余应力求解的边界元数学模型

焊接残余应力和变形之间存在着确定关系,二者可通过焊接过程中产生的非协调应变联系起来,文中以焊接初应变为基础,利用边界元的直接法,推导出了通过焊接变形求解二维焊接残余应力的数学模型.给定焊缝中初应变的初值,根据焊接构件边界上已知的位移信息,可由边界积分方程求出边界上所有未知的位移分量和表面力分量.在边界位移已知的条件下,应用该模型可对焊接构件内部残余应力进行求解.构件边界上的应力可由弹性体的边界应力和边界面力的关系,通过物理方程和几何方程求出.通过计算实例,验证了模型的可行性.     

Characterising thermoacoustic emission in alternating current spot welding process

The acoustic emission of spot welding with thermoacoustic theory was studied in this paper, which provides new basis to analyze the quality of nugget with acoustic signal. The result shows that the thermoacoustic emission exists in both 5052 Al alloy and cold-rolled steel AC spot welding process and this process takes place later than the load of welding current, and the frequency of thermoacoustic is twice as that of the welding current. The amplitudes of thermoacoustic signals detected from different angles are different, which undergo an up-down-up process. The thermoacoustic emission shows different trends with the thickness increase in AC resistance spot welding experiment for 5052 Al alloy and cold-rolled steel.     

电阻点焊电流和压力信号的在线测量

阐述基于霍尔效应测量电阻点焊大电流的原理,设计采用霍尔器件的二次电流传感器;采用电阻应变式传感器测量电极压力,该装置安装于气缸内;用线性回归法标定传感器;实验结果表明,提出的电流测量方法和内置式的应变式压力传感器可以提高电阻点焊焊接电流和电极压力的测量精度.     

Modelling the effects of tool-edge radius on residual stresses when orthogonal cutting AISI 316L

Tool-edge geometry has significant effects on the cutting process, as it affects cutting forces, stresses, temperatures, deformation zone, and surface integrity. An Arbitrary-Lagrangian–Eulerian (A.L.E.) finite element model is presented here to simulate the effects of cutting-edge radius on residual stresses (R.S.) when orthogonal dry cutting austenitic stainless steel AISI 316L with continuous chip formation. Four radii were simulated starting with a sharp edge, with a finite radius, and up to a value equal to the uncut chip thickness. Residual stress profiles started with surface tensile stresses then turned to be compressive at about 140 μm from the surface; the same trend was found experimentally. Larger edge radius induced higher R.S. in both the tensile and compressive regions, while it had almost no effect on the thickness of tensile layer and pushed the maximum compressive stresses deeper into the workpiece. A stagnation zone was clearly observed when using non-sharp tools and its size increased with edge radius. The distance between the stagnation-zone tip and the machined surface increased with edge radius, which explained the increase in material plastic deformation, and compressive R.S. when using larger edge radius. Workpiece temperatures increased with edge radius; this is attributed to the increase in friction heat generation as the contact area between the tool edge and workpiece increases. Consequently, higher tensile R.S. were induced in the near-surface layer. The low thermal conductivity of AISI 316L restricted the effect of friction heat to the near-surface layer; therefore, the thickness of tensile layer was not affected.     

应用Visual Basic实现点焊电流和压力的实时监测

动态多参数实时监测是电阻点焊质量在线评估的一种有效方法。采用Visual Basic6.0语言编程．通过80C196KB和PC机之间的串行通信，实现了对焊接电流和电极压力的实时检测，联机试验所生成的波形图实时反映了三相次级整流点焊的动态焊接过程以及曲线变化趋势与影响因素之间的对应关系，为点焊质量多参数监控奠定了基础。     

Non-parametric effects on pore formation during resistance spot welding of magnesium alloy

The effects of faying surface condition, pre-existing pores in base material and cover plate on the pore formation during resistance spot welding of magnesium alloy were investigated. The results reveal that the hydrogen rejection and the pre-existing pores in base material have little effect on the pore formation, and that the larger pore formation is mainly caused by shrinkage strain during resistance spot welding of magnesium alloy.     

轿车车门铰链的焊接变形 II.凸焊焊后残余应力及变形分析

针对轿车车门凸焊后会产生焊接变形的具体情况,建立了一个铰链和加强板的二维有限元凸焊模型。利用凸焊工艺过程分析得到的凸焊焊接温度场分布结果,在自由状态下对模型进行了热应力分析,获得了凸焊焊接热变形和焊后残余应力的分布情况。并结合轿车车门焊接的实际,分析了焊后车门铰链的变形趋势,取得了与试验结果相一致的结论。     

Neural network prediction of the shunt current in resistance spot welding

An error back propagation （BP） neural network prediction model was established for the shunt current compensation in series resistance spot welding. The input variables for the neural network consist of the resistivity of the material, the thickness of workpiece and the spot spacing, and the shunt rate is outputted. A simplified calculation for the shunt rate was presented based on the feature of the constant-current resistance spot welding and the variation of the resistance in resistance spot welding process, and then the data generated by simplified calculation were used to train and adjust the neural network model. The neural network model proposed was used to predict the shunt rate in the spot welding of 20# mlid steel （in Chinese classification） （in 2. 0 mm thickness） and 10# mild steel （in 1.5 mm and 1.0 mm thickness）. The maximum relative prediction errors are, respectively, 2. 83%, 1.77% and 3.67%. Shunt current compensation experiments were peoCormed based on the neural network prediction model proposed to check the diameter difference of nuggets. Experimental results show that maximum nugget diameter deviation is less than 4% for both 10# and 20# mlid steels with spot spacing of 30 mm and 50 mm.     

Effect of trailing heat sink on residual stresses and welding distortion in friction stir welding Al sheets

Abstract

This paper investigates a trailing heat sink, which was designed and applied to friction stir welding (FSW) in order to control the residual stresses and welding distortion. Residual stresses, residual plastic strains and welding distortion of 2024-T3 and 5083-H321 Al sheets welded by FSW with and without the trailing heat sink were compared. The optimal placement of the heat sink was discussed. The results revealed that the reductions in peak tensile stresses were 66% for 2024-T3 and 58% for 5083-H321 by application of the trailing heat sink in FSW. In addition, the welding distortion could be reduced drastically by this method. The 5083-H321 sheet with a size of 1000×100×3·5 mm welded by this method was very flat and had almost no distortion. This method achieved in-process control of stresses and welding distortion, without additional complicated work before or after welding operation.     

轿车车门铰链的焊接变形II.凸焊焊后残余应力及变形分析

针对轿车车门凸焊后会产生焊接变形的具体情况，建立了一个铰链和加强板的二维有限元凸焊模型。利用凸焊工艺过程分析得到的凸焊焊接温度场分布结果，在自由状态下对模型进行了热应力分析，获得了凸焊焊接热变形和焊后残余应力的分布情况。并结合轿车车门焊接的实际，分析了焊后车门铰链的变形趋势，取得了与试验结果相一致的结论。     

Numerical simulation and experimental investigation of temperature and residual stresses in GTAW with a heat sink process of Monel 400 plates

A 3D thermo-mechanical simulation model was developed to predict distributions of temperature and residual stresses during the gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process with a heat sink for Monel 400 plates using finite element method. The model was validated against the experimental measurements of both temperature and released strain in the welded plates. Effects of heat input, pipe diameter and water flow rate in the heat sink welding process were investigated. The results showed that in the GTAW process with a heat sink, the high temperature region was only limited to the vicinity of heat source and the maximum temperature of the sample was much lower than that of conventional GTAW process. This resulted in a lower residual stresses and even compressive stresses near the weld zone.     

Numerical and experimental study of nugget size growth in resistance spot welding of austenitic stainless steels

A 2D axisymmetric electro-thermo-mechanical finite element (FE) model is developed to study the effect of welding time and current intensity on nugget size in resistance spot welding process of AISI type 304L austenitic stainless steel sheets using ANSYS commercial software package. In order to improve the accuracy, temperature-dependent properties of materials are taken into account during the simulation. The diameter and thickness of computed weld nuggets are compared with experimental results. The FE predicted weld nugget growth and nugget size agree well with experimental results. The effects of welding time and current intensity on nugget growth are also studied. Generally, increasing welding time and current is accompanied by an increase in the fusion zone size with a decreasing slope. However if expulsion occurs, nugget size reduces due to melt spattering. Except for an initial nugget formation stage, welding time has minor effect on nugget size in comparison with welding current.     

Analysis of workpiece magnetisation on liquid nugget during resistance spot welding

This paper investigates the effect of workpiece magnetisation on the magnetic flux density and nugget shape during resistance spot welding (RSW) process. To this end, this paper analyses the magnetisation process of ferromagnetic workpieces. The magnetisation was calculated by the equivalent surface current. The effect of magnetisation on the nugget shape was studied for RSW of steel and a specially designed aluminium workpiece. The results show that the magnetisation of ferromagnetic workpieces will increase the dimensions of the weld nugget in the thickness direction. The magnetic flux density induced by workpiece magnetisation and that induced by welding current have the same order of magnitude (10^?1 T). This indicates that the magnetisation of ferromagnetic workpiece is an important source of magnetic force acting on liquid nugget. Therefore, it should not be ignored in studying the physics of RSW process, especially for the fluid flow in RSW of ferromagnetic materials.     

耐热钢厚壁管环焊残余应力的有限元分析

以热-弹塑性理论为基础，建立了厚壁管环焊残余应力的二维轴对称有限元模型，利用ANSYS有限元分析软件，模拟了耐热钢厚壁管环焊对接的应力分布。结果表明，焊缝内表面及其附近处的轴向应力和环向应力均是拉应力，而外表面是压应力，接头处内表面应力水平高于外表面；径向应力数值远低于环向应力和轴向应力；各方向残余应力的最大值均位于距管道外表层一定距离处，其数值大小接近于材料的屈服点应力。     

Numerical study of electrode geometry effects on resistance spot welding

Abstract

This work numerically investigates the geometrical effects of the electrode containing a coolant hole on transport variables during resistance spot welding. The model accounts for transient magneto-fluid mechanics, heat and species transport, bulk resistance in workpiece, and film and constriction resistances at contact interfaces. The computed results show that electrode cooling due to the coolant hole influences transport processes during not only freezing and cooling periods but also heating and melting periods. Electrode cooling can be interpreted by thermal resistance, depending on the shapes of the electrode and coolant hole within the growing thermal diffusion layer. Major factors affecting electrode cooling are different in distinct time stages. In most cases, enhanced electrode cooling due to the coolant hole decreases the electrode temperature and nugget growth rate. A decrease in the electrode face radius strongly increases nugget growth rate and workpiece temperature and decreases electrode temperature, whereas its effect on cooling rate is insignificant. The optimum design and sensitivity analysis of the electrode shapes subject to required cooling rate, nugget growth rate and welding time are revealed.