TITLE:
Prediction and Verification of Resistance Spot Welding Results of Ultra-High Strength Steels through FE Simulations
AUTHORS:
Oscar Andersson, Arne Melander
KEYWORDS:
Resistance Spot Welding, FE Simulations, High Strength Steel, Material Modeling, Weld Size
JOURNAL NAME:
Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Material Science,
Vol.5 No.1,
January
12,
2015
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.