Abstract
Many lightweight materials, including aluminum alloy, magnesium alloy, and plastic, have been used for automotives. Aluminum alloy—the most commonly utilized lightweight metal—has poor resistance spot weldability owing to its inherent properties, which demand the development of welding solutions. Various welding techniques are utilized to improve the resistance spot weldability of aluminum alloy, including DeltaSpot welding. However, the technological development for welding dissimilar metals (aluminum alloy and steel) required for vehicle body assembly is still in its nascent stages. This study proposes DeltaSpot welding (a resistance spot welding process with spooling process tapes) using the alloy combination of 6000 series aluminum alloy (Al 6K32) and 440 MPa grade steel (SGARC 440). The welding characteristics of the main process parameters in DeltaSpot welding were analyzed and the weldability of the combination of the aluminum alloy, Al 6K32, and 440 MPa grade steel was evaluated. In addition, the characteristics of the intermetallic compound layer between the 440 MPa grade steel and Al 6K32 sheets were identified via scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS).
Highlights
The automotive industry has recently invested intensive and extensive research and development efforts to apply lightweight materials, such as high-strength steel, plastic, aluminum alloy, and magnesium alloy, to vehicle body structures for various purposes; for example, to reduce greenhouse gas and exhaust emissions to satisfy increasingly rigorous environmental regulations, to improve fuel efficiency in the face of rising oil prices due to energy resource depletion, to provide electronic equipment for user convenience, and to ensure durability and safety [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
These results indicate that the resistance spot welding (RSW) of aluminum alloy to carbon steel is possible at a current ≥7 kA
DeltaSpot which could notand be the solved conventional processes, was combinations achieved by using a DeltaSpot welding system, RSWusing characteristics for RSW
Summary
The automotive industry has recently invested intensive and extensive research and development efforts to apply lightweight materials, such as high-strength steel, plastic, aluminum alloy, and magnesium alloy, to vehicle body structures for various purposes; for example, to reduce greenhouse gas and exhaust emissions to satisfy increasingly rigorous environmental regulations, to improve fuel efficiency in the face of rising oil prices due to energy resource depletion, to provide electronic equipment for user convenience, and to ensure durability and safety [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Browne et al determined the process parameters influencing nugget formation during welding by performing a simulation considering electrical, thermal, and mechanical processes [30], and they presented the contact resistance values that facilitate RSW by analyzing the effect of the contact resistance on the base metal and estimating the contact resistance based on shunt resistance [31]. In their studies on RSW joining of two dissimilar metals, Qiu et al examined the relationship between the thickness of the intermetallic compound (IMC). Scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between the weld strength and the IMC layer properties of coated vs. uncoated steel
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