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8 RSW
8 RSW
Research Paper
This experimental study is based on an investigation of the effect and optimization of welding
parameters on the tensile shear strength in the Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) process. The
experimental studies were conducted under varying electrode forces, welding currents, and
welding times. The settings of welding parameters were determined by using the Taguchi
experimental design of L18 Orthogonal array method. The combination of the optimum welding
parameters have determined by using the analysis of Signal-to-Noise (S/N) ratio. The confirmation
test performed clearly shows that it is possible to increase the tensile shear strength of the joint
by the combination of the suitable welding parameters. Hence, the experimental results confirmed
the validity of the used Taguchi method for enhancing the welding performance and optimizing
the welding parameters in resistance spot welding operations.
Keywords: Resistance Spot Welding (RSW), Tensile shear strength, Taguchi method, S/N
ratio, Optimization
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Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2014 Manoj Raut and Vishal Achwal, 2014
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Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2014 Manoj Raut and Vishal Achwal, 2014
the penetration and area of the weld will before releasing the welded parts, but it must
reduce. not be to long as this may cause the heat in
the weld spot to spread to the electrode and
Diameter of the Electrode Contact
Surface heat it. The electrode will then get more
exposed to wear. Further, if the hold time is
One general criterion of resistance spot-
too long and the carbon content of the material
welding is that the weld shall have a nugget
is high (more than 0.1%), there is a risk the
diameter of 5t1/2, t being the thickness of
weld will become brittle. When welding
the steel sheet. Thus, a spot weld made in two
galvanized carbon steel a longer hold time is
sheets, each 1 mm in thickness, would
recommended.
generate a nugget 5 mm in diameter
according to the 5 t-rules. Diameter of the Weld Current
electrode contact surface should be slightly The amount of weld current is controlled by two
larger than the nugget diameter. things:
Squeeze Time The setting of the transformer tap switch
Squeeze Time is the time interval between the determines the maximum amount of weld
initial application of the electrode force on the current available.
work and the first application of current. The percent of current control determines
Squeeze time is necessary to delay the weld the percent of the available current to be
current until the electrode force has attained used for making the weld.
the desired level.
Normally low percent current settings are not
Weld Time recommended because it may harm the quality
Weld time is the time during which welding of the weld. The weld current should be kept
current is applied to the metal sheets. The weld as low as possible. When determining the
time is measured and adjusted in cycles of line current to be used, the current is steadily
voltage as are all timing functions. One cycle increased until weld spatter occurs between
is 1/50 of a second in a 50 Hz power system. the metal sheets. This indicates that the
As the weld time is, more or less, related to correct weld current has been reached. The
what is required for the weld spot, it is difficult temperature rises rapidly at the joined portion
to give an exact value of the optimum weld of the metal where the resistance is greatest if
time. the current becomes too great internal spatter
will result.
Hold time (Cooling-Time)
Hold time is the time, after the welding, when LITERATURE REVIEW
the electrodes are still applied to the sheet to Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) is getting
chill the weld. Considered from a welding significant importance in manufacturing car,
technical point of view, the hold time is the most bus and railway bodies, etc., due to automatic
interesting welding parameter. Hold time is and fast process. As the automobile joints are
necessary to allow the weld nugget to solidify subjected to higher loading condition hence
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Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2014 Manoj Raut and Vishal Achwal, 2014
to avoid the failure higher strength of spot joint. If one of the parameter changes, it may
welded joint is required (Thakur and affect the strength of the joint so the
Nandedkar, 2010). When the spot welded joint combination of suitable parameters are very
is subjected to pure opening condition then it important to get a high strength welding joint.
fails in the direction of load applied and when The process parameters affect as an increase
it subjected to combined opening and shear in weld current, weld time and electrode force
loading conditions it fails inclined from the results in an increase in weld nugget diameter
surface of weld nugget (Lin et al., 2003). and width. An increase in weld current, weld
Therefore the spot welded joint should be time and electrode force results in an increase
strong in both in pure opening condition and in electrode indentation. So the parameters
in combined opening and shear loading used should provide the high strength (Sahota
conditions. Though the process parameters of et al., 2013).
the spot welding also affect the mechanical
In the optimization of welding parameters
behavior of welded joint in the loading
the level of importance of the welding
conditions so the parameters should also be
parameters on the tensile shear strength is
suitable for the higher strength of joint (Chetan
determined, the highly effective parameters
Patel, Dhaval Patel, 2012).
Method for the Optimization of
Types of Failure of the Welding Joint
Process Parameters
There are two fracture modes of the spot
Optimization of process parameters is the key
welding joint have analyzed, they are
step in the Taguchi method to achieving high
Interfacial mode (or nugget fracture): quality without increasing cost. This is
fracture of the weld nugget through the plane because optimization of process parameters
of the weld. The dominant failure mode for can improve quality and the optimal process
small diameter spot welds. parameters obtained from the Taguchi method
Nugget pullout mode (or sheet fracture): are insensitive to the variation of environmental
fracture of the sheet around the weld; the conditions and other noise factors (Ugur
nugget remains intact. Dominant for large Esme, 2009).
diameter spot welds. An advantage of the Taguchi method is that
Spot welds for automotive applications it emphasizes a mean performance
should have a sufficiently large diameter, so characteristic value close to the target value
that nugget pullout mode is the dominant failure rather than a value within certain specification
mode. Interfacial mode is unacceptable due limits, thus improving the product quality.
to its low load carrying and energy absorption Additionally, Taguchis method f or
capability (Stijn Donders et al., 2005).
Table 1: Dimensions of Specimen
Effect of Process Parameters on Thickness Width (w) Length Contact
Strength (t) in mm in mm (L) in mm Overlap in mm
0.8 25 150 25
The spot welding process parameters play an
important role for the strength of the welding 1 25 150 25
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Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2014 Manoj Raut and Vishal Achwal, 2014
As the thickness of material increases the The process parameters, their symbols and
welding current have to increase to produce their values at different levels are shown in the
the joint of sufficient strength. table.
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Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2014 Manoj Raut and Vishal Achwal, 2014
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Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2014 Manoj Raut and Vishal Achwal, 2014
Table 4: Experimental Results for the better, the larger-the-better, and the more-
Tensile Shear Strength nominal-the-better. The S/N ratio for each level
of Process parameters is computed based on
Tensile Shear Strength (KN)
Experiment No. the S/N analysis. Regardless of the category
0.8 mm 1 mm
of the quality characteristic, a larger S/N ratio
1 1.5 1.8
corresponds to a better quality characteristic.
2 2.4 2.7
Therefore, the optimal level of the process
3 2.7 3.1
parameters is the level with the highest S/N
4 1.9 2.3
ratio. The loss function of the larger the better
5 3.4 3.8
quality characteristics can be expressed as:
6 2.8 3.3
1 n
1
7 1.8 1.9 L j
n
y
k 1
2
i
8 2.3 2.5
9 1.9 2.3 j = 10logLj
10 1.2 1.4
where,
11 2.4 2.8
12 1.9 2.3 Lj = Overall loss function
13 1.5 1.7 n = Number of tests
14 2.8 3.1
yi = Experimental value of the ith quanlity
15 2.1 2.5
characteristic
16 1.4 1.6
17 1.8 2.2 j = S/N Ratio
18 1.5 1.6 By using the above equations j
As we have seen before that all the corresponding to overall loss function for each
specimens are welded using the taguchi experiment was calculated and given in Table 5.
method and now tensile shear testing of all the S/N Ratio Analysis
specimens has performed using a Universal In order to quantify influence of each level of
testing machine. The tensile shear results of parameters, mean of S/N ratio for A were
all the specimens are shown in the Table 4. computed by averaging S/N ratio for
A loss function is then defined to calculate experiment Number 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12 for level
the deviation between the experimental value 1, 4, 5, 6, 13, 14, 15 for level 2 and 7, 8, 9, 16,
and the desired value. Taguchi recommends 17, 18 for level 3. Mean of S/N ratio for each
the use of the loss function to measure the level of other welding parameters were
deviation of the quality characteristic from the calculated in a similar way. Parameters with
desired value. The value of the overall loss large difference indicate high influence to weld
function is further transformed into a Signal- ability as its level is changed. In this study,
to-Noise (S/N) ratio. Usually, there are three parameter B had largest difference following
categories of the quality characteristic in the its levels, whereas each level of parameter A
analysis of the S/N ratio, i.e., the lower-the- showed less effect to output.
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Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2014 Manoj Raut and Vishal Achwal, 2014
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Int. J. Mech. Eng. & Rob. Res. 2014 Manoj Raut and Vishal Achwal, 2014
Figure 8: Weld Time (C) vs S/N Ratio Figure 10: Welding Current (B) vs S/N
Ratio
Figure 9: Electrode Force (A) vs S/N Ratio Figure 11: Weld Current (C) vs S/N Ratio
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