Prediction and Verification of Resistance Spot Welding Results of Ultra-High Strength Steels through FE Simulations
Open Access
- 1 January 2015
- journal article
- Published by Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. in Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Material Science
- Vol. 05 (01), 26-37
- https://doi.org/10.4236/mnsms.2015.51003
Abstract
Resistance spot welding (RSW) is the most common welding method in automotive engineering due to its low cost and high ability of automation. However, physical weldability testing is costly, time consuming and dependent of supplies of material and equipment. Finite Element (FE) simulations have been utilized to understand, verify and optimize manufacturing processes more efficiently. The present work aims to verify the capability of FE models for the RSW process by comparing simulation results to physical experiments for materials used in automotive production, with yield strengths from approximately 280 MPa to more than 1500 MPa. Previous research has mainly focused on lower strength materials. The physical weld results were assessed using destructive testing and an analysis of expulsion limits was also carried out. Extensive new determination of material data was carried out. The material data analysis was based on physical testing of material specimens, material simulation and comparison to data from literature. The study showed good agreement between simulations and physical testing. The mean absolute error of weld nugget size was 0.68 mm and the mean absolute error of expulsion limit was 1.10 kA.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Influence of initial gap on weld expulsion in resistance spot welding of dual phase steelScience and Technology of Welding and Joining, 2010