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Research and Development > Â鶹ÊÓƵ TECHNICAL REPORT >Â鶹ÊÓƵ TECHNICAL REPORT No.20 March 2015 - Special Issue on “Steel Plates” and “Welding and Joining” > Development of In-Process Welding Current and Electrode Force Control Process for Single-Side Resistance Spot Welding

No.20 March 2015 - Special Issue on “Steel Plates” and “Welding and Joining”

Development of In-Process Welding Current and Electrode Force Control Process for Single-Side Resistance Spot Welding

MATSUSHITA Muneo      IKEDA Rinsei      OI Kenji

Abstract

Indirect resistance spot welding process with single-side electrode access was developed for the automotive applications. The variable welding current and electrode force control process during welding were studied in order to achieve the promotion of molten nugget formation and suppression of expulsion without sacrificing the productivity and design flexibility of automobiles. Numerical simulations were conducted to compare the difference in the welding phenomena between the constant pattern of current and force during welding, as the conventional process, and variable control pattern, as the developed processes. It was predicted that the variable control pattern has effects on accelerating nugget formation and suppressing expulsion. The welding experiments were subsequently performed on lapped test coupons of 0.7 mm thick cold-rolled steel sheet with tensile strength of 270 N/mm² and 1.6 mm thick cold-rolled steel sheet with tensile strength of 980 N/mm². When welding was performed with the constant current and force pattern, the appropriate current range was less than 1 kA. On the other hand, it extended to 2.6 kA during welding with the variable control pattern, confirming the fact that the variable control pattern successfully suppressed the expulsion and acceleration of the nugget formation.

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