Influence of Welding Parameters on Nugget Formation in RSW Process

In order to study the effect of spot welding parameters such as welding force, welding time and welding current intensity on nugget formation and its size in resistance spot welding process of CR3 low carbon steel sheets using ANSYS commercial software package. A 2D axisymmetric electro-thermo-mechanical finite element (FE) model is developed to simulate the nugget forming process and to predict accurately the weld geometry development in both two and three lap sheets. To improve the accuracy, temperature dependent properties of material are taken into account during the simulation. The FE predicted weld nugget growth and nugget size agree well with the experimental results at the same welding conditions. It was obvious from the results the welding time has minor effect on nugget size in comparison with welding current whereas the electrode force is kept constant.. Overall, the present work indicated that finite element analysis can be very useful as an off-line observation tool to estimate the influence of welding parameters on the welding quality and to predict/improve the welding quality.