A study on numerical analysis of the resistance spot welding process

Purpose: Over the last few years, there has been a growing interest in quantitative representation of heat transfer and fluid flow phenomena in weld pools in order to study relationships between the processing variables and the quality of the weldment produced and to use this information for the optimization and mobilization of the welding process. Design/methodology/approach: A 2D axisymmetric Finite Element Method (FEM) model has been developed to analyze the transient thermal behaviors of Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) process. In this model, the temperature dependent material properties, phase change and convectional boundary conditions were taken account for the improvement of the calculated accuracy, but the determination of the contact resistance at the surface is moderately simplified in order to reduce the calculating time through the analysis. Findings: The developed model has been employed the thermal history of the whole process (including cooling) and temperature distributions for any position in the weldment. Research limitations/implications: Future research in the field of RSW processing could focus on analysis of the stress and strain distributions as well as deformation in the weldment. Originality/value: It can be concluded that the maximum temperature was up to 1346°C, nearly the molten point of mild steel, and verified by the observation of the surface of the weldment after welding