Abstract
Resistance spot welding is the most economical joining method for the production of automotive steel bodies. In modern car body construction, however, its future applicability is limited due to the growing mix of materials in multi-material design. In response to increasing weight reduction requirements to protect the environment and natural resources, lightweight materials, and fibre-reinforced plastics (FRP) in particular, are more and more used in modern vehicle bodies. To facilitate the future joining of FRP/steel structures with resistance spot welding, spot-weldable force-introduction elements may be embedded in the laminate as a joining interface. When welding the so-called inserts, thermal damage to the surrounding polymer should be avoided, as this is the only way to calculate the strength of the joint correctly. For this purpose, the paper presents a numerical model that allows the prediction of the temperature propagation during spot welding of FRP/steel joints with embedded inserts. The simulative approach is subsequently validated by comparison with experimentally determined temperature curves and in doing so, an excellent model prediction can be noted.
Highlights
Continuous fibre-reinforced plastics (FRP) are predestined for real ising the lightest possible load-bearing structures with high component stiffnesses and strengths (Fleischer et al, 2018) such as those required in lightweight automotive body construction (Njuguna, 2016)
The analysis shows that the electric contact resistance as well as the elec trical conductivity of the insert significantly influence the temperature propagation in the outer area where the carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) has been placed
A closer look at the results shows that the local temperature in the CFRP with a hole diameter Øhole of 9.0 mm and a distance to the welding centre of 4.5 mm is about 300 ◦C
Summary
Continuous fibre-reinforced plastics (FRP) are predestined for real ising the lightest possible load-bearing structures with high component stiffnesses and strengths (Fleischer et al, 2018) such as those required in lightweight automotive body construction (Njuguna, 2016). An economically viable implementation in large-scale production can be achieved by a targeted combination of metal components in the so-called multi-material design (Roquette et al, 2017). In this approach, each component’s material is selected according to the prevailing component requirements. The cutting of the load-bearing fibre structure causes the strength of the joint to decrease and the lightweight potential remains unexploited (Lin and Lee, 1992)
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