Keywords

Abstract

Resistance spot welding;

Sheet thickness;

Material properties;

Nugget size;

Fatigue;

Crack propagation

Resistance spot welding (RSW) is a solid-state joining process in which sheet metal parts are joined by applying pressure and heat to the faying surfaces. Spot weld failure can cause severe mishap of any mechanical assemblies and can lead to severe damage. Therefore, robust design of spot welds for proper operation is essential. The cyclic stresses occurring on the spot welds in most of the applications result in fatigue failure of welds and decrease their performance efficiency and fatigue strength. This leads to failure of components at very low loads. Thus, it is essential to design the spot welds for fatigue loading conditions for all structures. This study presents the effects of critical factors affecting the fatigue performance of spot welds. The focus is on parameters, namely, sheet thickness, residual stresses, material properties and nugget size of spot welds.

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