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Effect of post weld impact treatment (PWIT) on mechanical properties of spot-

welded joint

Conference Paper  in  AIP Conference Proceedings · December 2017

DOI: 10.1063/1.5010500

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Effect of post weld impact treatment (PWIT) on mechanical properties of spot-welded
joint
F. A. Ghazali, Z. Salleh, K. M. Hyie, N. M. Nik Rozlin, S. H. Ahmad Hamidi, and M. M. Padzi

Citation: AIP Conference Proceedings 1901, 050004 (2017);

View online: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5010500
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/apc/1901/1
Published by the American Institute of Physics
 Effect of Post Weld Impact Treatment (PWIT) on
Mechanical Properties of Spot-Welded Joint
F.A. Ghazali1, a), Z. Salleh2, b), K.M. Hyie3, c), N.M. Nik Rozlin2, d),
S.H. Ahmad Hamidi1, e) and M.M. Padzi4, f)
1
Fabrication and Joining Department, Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysia France Institute (UniKL MFI), 43650
Bandar Baru Bangi Selangor.
2
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor.
3
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Pulau Pinang, 13500 Permatang Pauh,
Pulau Pinang
4
Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Kuala Lumpur International College (UniKL ICOLE), 43650 Bandar Baru
Bangi Selangor.
a)
Corresponding author: farizahadliza@unikl.edu.my
b)
a_kzue@yahoo.com
c)
hyie1105@yahoo.com
d)
nikrozlin@yahoo.com
e)
shahfuanh@unikl.edu.my
f)
mahfodzah@unikl.edu.my

Abstract. This paper focuses on the study of improvement for spot welding on the tensile shear and hardness by applying
post weld impact treatment (PWIT) on the welded joint. The main objective of the research is to characterize and improve
the mechanical properties of the joint. The method of PWIT used on the welded joint was Pneumatic Impact Treatment
(PIT). The concept of PIT on spot welding is that it improves the mechanical properties of the welded zone. The working
sample was undergoing a resistance spot welding of joining two similar in dimension and material of a steel plate before
treated. The dimension of both plate are 110 mm × 45 mm × 1.2 mm and the material used were low carbon steel (LCS).
All the welded samples were tested for its mechanical properties by performing the tensile-shear and hardness test. Tensile-
shear test was conducted on the spot welded, both treated and as-welded samples using crosshead speed of 2 mm/min,
while hardness test was performed using 1kgf load via Vickers hardness indenter. The effects of PIT on tensile-shear
properties and hardness were evaluated and found that the implementation of PIT has increased tensile shear and hardness
significantly.

INTRODUCTION
One of the electric welding processes used for a long time by the automotive industry nowadays is resistance spot
welding (RSW). By the combination of pressure, heat and time the weld region are formed. The resistance to a current
flow of the materials to be welded causes a localized heating in the materials to achieve complete coalescence [1]. The
quality and strength of weld are defined by the quality of the weld joints. In RSW, the stress distribution occurs inside
of the material affects the mechanical properties of the metals joined together. The mechanical properties are the
tensile strength, fatigue strength, ductility, hardness, impact resistance, metallurgical and fracture toughness. For spot
welding, the mechanical properties that were usually observed after a load being applied to the spot welded joint are
the tensile strength, and hardness. The mechanical properties of the resistance spot welding are difficult to obtain
because of the small size of the weld region.
During the welding process, the steel is heated and segregated into several zones consist of base metal, heat affected
zone (HAZ) and fusion zone. In HAZ, the cooling rate is different and comprises different regions of microstructure

Advanced Materials for Sustainability and Growth

AIP Conf. Proc. 1901, 050004-1–050004-6; https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5010500
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1589-8/$30.00

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and often considered as a source of failure in welded joint [2,3]. In this case, post-weld is implemented to alter the
properties obtained in welding joint. There is a few technique used in applying this method such as Post-Weld Heat
Treatment (PWHT) and Post Weld Impact Treatment (PWIT). PWHT or also known as artificial aging and solution
treatment are done on the welding specimen after welding process to improve the mechanical properties and modify
the microstructure of the joint [4]. PWIT consists of several process such as shot-peening, hammer-peening, and
impact.
Several researchers studied this area with a different field of welding. Hong Ma et al., (2016) [5] studies on the
different heat treatment effect on the mechanical properties and microstructure of dissimilar sheet steels (1045 carbon
steel and 304 stainless steel) friction spot welded samples. The welded joint was treated by different heat treatment
temperature. Tensile properties of the weld joint were improved significantly after treatment at 400 ◦C. The properties
reach up to the corresponding strength of stainless steel and elongation of carbon steel was due to the increasing
number of chromium carbides thus changed the microstructure. Duan et al., (2015) [6] examined the influences of
heat treatment on the nugget shape, microstructure and mechanical properties of spot weld joint steel. It was found
that the heat applied increases the mechanical performance of weld nugget. The development of quasi-equiaxed grains
of martensite respective to the heat applied during the treatment expressively escalate the hardness of weld region and
the tensile properties of weld joint.
The effects of second pulse current in RSW on the microstructure changes and mechanical behavior of
transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) steel were studied by Baltazar et al., (2012) [7]. The second pulse current
could determine the local post weld heat treatments. The employed of second pulse current on RSW TRIP had altered
the fusion zone microstructure and the mechanical performance of the joint. Findings concluded that, the mechanical
properties was improved with the desirable pullout failure mode when the weld zone microstructure contains of
recrystallized martensite phase. This study focuses on examining the influences of the application of post weld impact
treatment (PWIT) using Pneumatic Impact Treatment (PIT) for spot welded joint through the tensile shear and
hardness test. All the welded samples were later subjected to PIT for the strength of the welded joint in terms of its
load and the properties through the failure modes to the energy-absorbing capacity of a weldment. Microhardness
distribution from base metal (BM) to fusion zone (FZ) will be measured.

EXPERIMENTAL

Material and Samples

The material investigated in this study was low carbon steel grade JIS G3141 sheet. Lap shear samples were
prepared according to AWS (American Welding Standard) standard which is D8.9M. The sheet metals were prepared
in rectangular shape with size of the length (110 mm), width (45 mm) and thickness (1.2 mm) [8]. The chemical
compositions of the steel are listed in Table 1.

TABLE 1. Chemical composition and mechanical properties [9].

C Si Mn P S Fe
0.05 0.01 0.21 0.011 0.005 Bal.

Treatment was performed using pneumatic impact treatment (PIT) on the welded structures. The HFMI hammer
operates with a hardened pin with a ball resting on the work piece with a diameter of 3 mm. This pin was hammered
with an adjustable intensity at 90 Hz at the welded zones and the air pressure was applied from the compressor of 4.5
bar. Local mechanical deformations occur in the form of a treatment track. The welded joint was deformed plastically
and bonded. The illustration area of treated samples was shown in Figure 1.
The mechanical tests of tensile were conducted at a cross head of 2 mm/min with an Instron Universal Testing
Machine [9]. The ultimate tensile stress (UTS) was taken in which the breaking of weld occurred. Peak load (maximum
load) and the failure energy were extracted from the load–extension curve. Data points for peak load were the average
of the measured values for the five treated and five untreated samples.
Samples were analyzed for their hardness with the load of 1 kgf acting on the specimen surface using Hardness
Vickers Tester with diamond indentation. Time taken for each indentation was about 15 seconds. Readings of hardness
(HV) and distance (mm) were taken for micro hardness measurement profile along the weldment.

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 FIGURE 1. Illustration of PIT treated samples

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Since this was the inaugural attempt to apply PIT on spot welded joint, the initial parameter was chosen based on
a trial mode to use a moderate hammer frequency combined with small indenter diameter to obtain the required shear
load enhancement. The frequency was set to be constant at 80 Hz and indenter diameter used was 1.5 mm. The air
pressure plays a major role in determining reasonable surface hardening, higher mechanical properties and superior
fatigue life. Thus, the effects of various air pressures were presented in Figure 2.

FIGURE 2. The tensile-shear load of RSW PIT at different air pressure level (bar)

The shear load of these RSW PIT increased almost linearly with the increase of air pressure level from 4 bar to 4.5
bar and dropped. The quality of the post weld impact treatment was visually inspected via 3-dimensional light
microscope (Alicona) on the basis of the treatment contour track to ensure the nonexistence of any remaining notch
and deterioration. The PIT treatment at a high air pressure of 4.5 bar showed that the quality of the treatment geometry
was more uniform as compared to the 4 bar and 5 bar air pressure, as depicted in Figure 3.

(a) (b) (c)

FIGURE 3. Visual effect showing air pressure on impacted faces of RSW samples; (a) 4 bar; (b) 4.5 bar and (c)
5 bar

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 Pneumatic impact treatment with air pressure of 4.5 bar seems to have a significant impact in increasing the
properties of spot-weld joint. The tensile-shear of RSW PIT is shown in Figure 4. The tensile-shear of RSW samples
is improved as the samples were conducted with the pneumatic impact treatment.

FIGURE 4. Comparison of shear-load of RSW PIT and as-welded samples

The RSW PIT samples show a significant increment of 8 % in tensile-shear load from the as-welded sample. The
strong bond of base metal and the introduction of hardening precipitates, as well as the increment in pre-existing
dislocations mainly, cause the increment in the tensile-shear load of the RSW PIT condition [10]. This was a result of
the mechanical pulses produced by the impact to the surface of the spot-welded joint through hardened pins causing
plastic deformation and strain hardening. This strain hardening increases the ability of the joining materials to
withstand plastic deformation due to imparted dislocations under the effect of the plastic deformation from PIT.
The tensile-shear failure of RSW PIT was shown in Figure 5(a). This failure namely pullout mode with tearing at
base metal is generally the preferred fracture mode in weld quality testing. The pullout failure of RSW PIT occurs
around HAZ and then the failure continued by base metal tearing with evidence of plastic deformation. While, the as-
weld sample having the complete button pullout without any tearing on the base plate as depicted in Figure 5(b). This
difference of mode of failure is respectively due to the strain hardening which was the effects of pneumatic impact
towards the welded samples.

(a) (b)

FIGURE 5. Pullout failure mode; (a) RSW PIT samples and (b) RSW as-weld

There were some changes in hardness of spot-welded joint due to the pneumatic impact treatment. FIGURE6
shows the hardness profile of spot-welded joint with acting loading of 1 kgf. The points of the indentation were mostly
taken in the FZ in order to analyze the treated region of the samples.

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 FIGURE 6. Micro hardness profile for RSW PIT and RSW as-weld samples using Hardness Vickers

It is found that the hardness of base metal material for both RSW samples are about the same between 149 and
155 HV. It could be seen that the hardness of HAZ was higher than the fusion zone and base metal. The HAZ
experienced solid state phase transformation but no melting was induced during the welding process. The hardness of
HAZ moved towards the fusion zone experiences a perceptible drop. This drop phenomenon was identified as HAZ
softening which was mainly caused by the martensite tempering development [11-13]. Compared to the HAZ region,
the effect of melting and the microstructure in fusion zone were resolidified in RSW joints and play a major role in
the elimination of strain hardening which significantly softens the weld zone [14]. This, in turn, causes a decrement
of the hardness values in the vicinity of the fusion zone. The mean hardness value of the fusion zone in the as-welded
condition is recorded at 211 HV compared to the average value of 268 HV obtained for the PIT treated.
The hardness value for PIT samples experienced a vast increase rather than as-welded samples. The hardness of
base metal seemed to be lower than HAZ and FZ region due to the unaffected region during solidification process for
both samples and also during the pneumatic treatment [15]. For PIT samples, it shows a huge difference in the range
of FZ and HAZ. No phase transformation occurred because BM of carbon steel was not affected during the pneumatic
treatment. The hardness at fusion zone and HAZ has a considerably higher values than that at base steel. Due to
melting conditions during the welding process, re-solidify displayed relatively large volume fraction of ferrite
morphologies which induced to softening of the zone. For the hardness properties, it can be stated that PIT samples
were harder than as-weld samples.

CONCLUSIONS
PIT treatment is a post weld impact treatment that can be used to significantly enhance the tensile shear load, and
hardness of RSW joint. PIT strengthens metals through cold work which can increase the surface hardness and
provides increased resistance to failure. The treatment of PIT had increased the strength for the low carbon steel spot
weld joining which can be resulted in high potential of material cost saving for loading structures in industries.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (UiTM), Advance
Manufacturing Technology Excellence Centre (AMTEX) and Universiti Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia France Institute

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 (UniKL-MFI) for the facilities and technical support. The authors acknowledged the financial support from UniKL
Short Term Research Grant (STRG) [UnIKL/CoRI/str15148].

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