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Welding metallurgy of dissimilar AISI 430/DQSK steels resistance spot welds

Article  in  Welding Journal · June 2015

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Pouranvari et al Supp June 2015_Layout 1 5/13/15 1:00 PM Page 203

WELDING RESEARCH

Welding Metallurgy of Dissimilar AISI 430/DQSK

Steels Resistance Spot Welds
The metallurgical behavior of dissimilar resistance spot welds in
AISI 430 ferritic stainless steel and DQSK low-carbon steels is investigated

BY M. POURANVARI, S. P. H. MARASHI, AND M. ALIZADEH-SH

an interesting issue for some recent

ABSTRACT studies. The transition from IF to PF
mode is generally related to the in-
This paper addresses the microstructure and mechanical performance of dissimi- crease in the size of FZ above a mini-
lar resistance spot welds between AISI 430 ferritic stainless steel and drawing quality mum value. It has been shown that the
special killed (DQSK) low-carbon steel. The mechanical properties of the welds are minimum FZ size is a function of
described by peak load, failure energy, and failure mode during the tensile-shear test. sheet thickness and BM/HAZ/FZ ma-
Phase transformations in the fusion zone (FZ) and heat-affected zone (HAZ) are ana- terials properties as well as loading
lyzed. The main metallurgical features of the weldment are the formation of a dual-
phase, ferrite-martensite microstructure in the FZ, grain growth and martensite for-
conditions (Refs. 10–17). It is shown
mation in the HAZ of the ferritic stainless steel side, and martensitic and eutectoid that the hardness characteristics are
transformations in the HAZ of the DQSK steel side. It was observed that increasing the key controlling factor in failure
welding current leads to transition of failure mode from interfacial to double pullout mode transition of resistance spot
mode. It is shown that the FZ size at sheet/sheet interface in the DQSK side is the key welds, which in turn is governed by
macrostructural feature controlling the load bearing capacity and energy absorption phase transformation in the FZ and
capability of the AISI 430/DQSK dissimilar weld. HAZ. The nonequilibrium heating and
cooling condition of RSW processes
changes the phase stability of the
KEYWORDS weldment. Therefore, studying the
phase transformations in the FZ and
• Resistance Spot Welding • Dissimilar Welding • Failure Mode HAZ is critical for understanding the
• Ferritic Stainless Steel • Welding Metallurgy failure mode behavior and mechanical
properties of the joints.
An unavoidable practical require-
Introduction through the fusion zone (FZ). It is be-
ment in modern vehicle construction
lieved that this failure mode has a
detrimental effect on the crashwor- technology is dissimilar welding. Un-
Resistance spot welding (RSW) is a derstanding the failure mode and fail-
critical joining process in vehicle pro- thiness of the vehicles.
2) Pullout failure (PF) mode in ure behavior of similar spot welds is
duction. Vehicle crashworthiness, straightforward. However, the failure
which is defined as the capability of a which the failure occurs via withdraw-
al of the weld nugget from one sheet. behavior of dissimilar resistance spot
car structure to provide adequate pro- welds can be problematic due to the
tection to its passengers against in- In this mode, fracture may initiate in
the base metal (BM), heat-affected following reasons (Refs. 16, 18–20):
juries in the event of a crash, largely 1) The difference in the physical
depends on the integrity and mechani- zone (HAZ), or HAZ/FZ depending on
the metallurgical and geometrical properties of the base metals.
cal performance of the spot welds. The 2) The difference in the materials
failure mode of resistance spot welds characteristics of the weld zone and
loading conditions. Generally, the pull- properties (strength, ductility, and
is a qualitative measure of mechanical work hardening) of the base metals.
properties (Refs. 1–3). Basically, spot out mode is the preferred failure mode
due to its associated higher plastic de- 3) The more complicated mi-
welds can fail in two distinct modes, crostructural gradient across the weld.
described as follows (Refs. 4–9): formation and energy absorption.
Due to its significant impact on 4) The mixing of the steels in the
1) Interfacial failure (IF) mode in FZ, which affects the phase transfor-
which the fracture propagates joint reliability, failure mode has been
mation in the weld nugget.

M. POURANVARI ([email protected]) is with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
S. P. H. MARASHI and M. ALIZADEH-SH are with the Mining and Metallurgical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.

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B Fig. 2 — Typical macrostructure of dissimilar AISI 430 ferritic

stainless steel (DQSK) and drawing quality special killed (DQSK)
low-carbon steel.

and HAZs are de- 40, 12, and 20 cycles, respectively.

tailed, and the ef- To evaluate the mechanical per-
fects of microstruc- formance and failure mode of the
tural characteristics spot welds, the tensile-shear test was
on failure mode and performed. The tensile-shear test
mechanical proper- samples were prepared according to
ties of the welds are ANSI/AWS/SAE/D8.9-97 standard
discussed. (Ref. 21).
Figure 1A shows the tensile-shear
Experimental sample dimensions. The tensile-shear
Procedure tests were performed at a cross head
of 10 mm/min with a 20-ton Instron®
Fig. 1 — A — The tensile-shear specimen dimensions; B — a universal testing machine. Failure
typical load-displacement curve along with the extracted pa-
AISI 430 ferritic modes were determined from the
rameters. Pmax: Peak load, Wmax: Energy absorption. stainless steels and failed samples. Peak load (measured
DQSK AISI 1004 as the peak point in the load-displace-
low-carbon steel ment curve) and failure energy (mea-
Nowadays, ferritic stainless steels were used as base metals in this re- sured as the area under the load-dis-
(FSSs) are widely used in structural search. The thickness of both sheets placement curve up to the peak load)
frameworks and body paneling of was 1.5 mm. The chemical composi- were extracted from the load displace-
buses and coaches. Since traditional tions of the base metals were deter- ment curve — Fig. 1B. The amount of
steel grades are also widely used for mined using a standard spark emis- failure energy was calculated by meas-
automotive production, dissimilar sion spectrometer (quantometer). uring the area under the load-dis-
RSW of both steels is an unavoidable Table 1 shows the chemical composi- placement curve up to the peak load.
practical requirement in modern ve- tion of the base metals. Microstructure characterization of
hicle design. Although physical attrib- Resistance spot welding was per- the weldment was conducted by per-
utes of spot welds, particularly FZ formed using a PLC-controlled, 120- forming standard metallography pro-
size, have significant influence on kVA, AC pedestal-type RSW machine. cedure, and the specimens were
mechanical properties and failure Welding was conducted using a 45- etched by Kalling’s No. 1 (33 mL H2O,
mode behavior, phase transforma- deg truncated cone RWMA Class 2 1.5 g CuCl2, 33 mL HCl, 33 mL
tions in weldment should also be con- electrode with an 8-mm face diame- ethanol) and 2% Nital (2 mL HNO3,
sidered to better understand the per- ter. The welding process was per- 98 mL ethanol). The FZ size was
formance of the RSW joints. formed with a constant electrode tip measured on the metallographic cross
Therefore, the present paper aims force of 3.3 kN. The welding current sections at the low-carbon steel side.
at investigating the welding metallur- was increased from 6 to 11 kA with A Vickers microhardness test was per-
gy of dissimilar RSW of ferritic stain- an increment of 0.5 kA. Throughout formed to obtain a diagonal hardness
less steel and DQSK low-carbon steel. the process, squeeze, welding, and profile using an indenter load of 10 g.
The phase transformations in the FZ holding times were kept constant at

Table 1 — Chemical Composition of Inves gated Steels (wt-%)

Steel C Mn Si Cr Ni Mo
AISI430 FSS 0.024 0.513 0.383 17.002 0.066 0.026
DQSK Low-Carbon Steel 0.044 0.202 0.001 0.010 0.031 0.003

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Results and Discussion A B

Metallurgical Characteristics
Figure 2 illustrates a typical macro-
graph of the dissimilar FSS/DQSK re-
sistance spot weld showing three dis-
tinct structural zones, including FZ or
weld nugget, HAZ, and BM. Owing to
the lower thermal conductivity and
higher electrical resistivity of the FSS
sheet compared to the DQSK sheet, the
FZ has asymmetrical shape such that
the volume fraction of weld metal in the
FSS sheet is slightly larger than that of
the DQSK sheet.

HAZ of AISI 430 Steel C

Figure 3A shows the microstructure

of the AISI 430 base metal indicating a
fully ferritic microstructure along with
carbides, which are evenly distributed
throughout the matrix. In the HAZ,
the base metal microstructure is influ-
enced by phase transformations in-
duced by the welding thermal cycle.
A pseudo-binary diagram of Fe-C-
17Cr (Ref. 22) (Fig. 3B) is useful to de-
scribe the physical metallurgy and an-
alyze the phase transformations in the
HAZ of AISI 430 steel. Figure 3C
shows the microstructure gradient in
the HAZ of the FSS side. The phase D E
transformations in the HAZ of AISI
430 steel welds have been discussed
elsewhere (Ref. 23). According to the
temperature distribution, the HAZ can
be divided into two distinct metallur-
gical transformation zones, namely,
high-temperature HAZ (HTHAZ) and
low-temperature HAZ (LTHAZ).
The phase transformations in these
zones are detailed as follows:
1) HTHAZ. Based on the pseudo-bi-
nary diagram (Fig. 3B), in this region,
BM microstructure transforms to fully Fig. 3 — A — Base metal microstructure of AISI 430 steel; B — Fe-17% Cr-C phase diagram
-ferrite microstructure at the elevat- and HAZ of AISI 430 steel; C — microstructure gradient in the HAZ of ferritic stainless steel;
ed temperature. The carbide precipi- D — grain growth and dispersion of carbide precipitates in HTHAZ; E — martensite forma-
tates in the BM are completely dis- tion, indicated by arrows, in LTHAZ.
solved. Upon cooling, a ferritic mi-
crostructure is retained and some re- ferrite grain growth at this region can austenite, an almost martensite-free
precipitation of the carbides occurred be quite dramatic, as is evident from microstructure is formed in HTHAZ
— Fig. 3D. Fig. 3C. As can be seen, the grain during cooling — Fig. 3C.
The absence of a high-temperature growth is inversely proportional to the 2) LTHAZ. Based on the pseudo-bina-
austenite phase in the HTHAZ has two distance from the fusion line. ry diagram (Fig. 3B), in this region, the
consequences: • Any austenite that may have BM microstructure transforms to -fer-
• The austenite at the grain bound- formed at the elevated temperature rite plus austenite at the elevated tem-
aries at elevated temperature can act will transform to martensite during perature. The amount of austenite at
to inhibit ferrite grain growth by pin- the cooling cycle. Therefore, due to the the grain boundaries of -ferrite
ning the grain boundaries. Therefore, absence of the high-temperature strongly depends on the carbon con-

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A A B

Fig. 5 — A and B — Fusion zone microstructure of FSS/DQSK dissimilar resist-

ance spot weld.

C D

E F

Fig. 6 — Fe-Cr phase diagram (Ref. 25). The chemical composition of the FZ
is superimposed to the diagram.

Fig. 4 — Microstructure gradient in the HAZ of low-car-

toid transformations. As can be seen, the microstructure
bon steels. A — Upper-critical HAZ, including CGHAZ According to the tem- CGHAZ consists of martensite, grain
and FGHAZ; B — inter-critical HAZ; C — detailed mi- perature distribution, the boundary ferrite, and Widmanstätten
crostructure of CGHAZ; D–F — detailed microstructure HAZ of the DQSK steel ferrite — Fig. 4C. Despite the very low
of ICHAZ. The distance from fusion zone boundary is in- side can be divided into carbon content DQSK steel (i.e., 0.04),
creased by moving from D to F. (M, F, WF, GF, and FP two distinct metallurgical the CGHAZ contains martensite.
are martensite, ferrite, Widmanstätten ferrite, grain transformation zones, in- Martensite formation in the FZ is at-
boundary ferrite, and fuzzy pearlite.) cluding upper-critical HAZ tributed to the high cooling rate of the
and inter-critical HAZ. The RSW process due to the presence of
tent of the alloys. Due to the low car- phase transformations in water-cooled copper electrodes and
bon content of the investigated AISI these zones are detailed as follows: their quenching effect as well as short
430 steel (i.e., 0.024 wt-%), a very lim- 1) Upper-Critical HAZ (UCHAZ). This welding cycle.
ited amount of austenite is formed in region experiences peak temperatures Gould et al. (Ref. 24) developed a
the LTHAZ. The high-temperature above Ac3, transforming BM microstruc- simple analytical model predicting
austenite is transformed to martensite ture into austenite. Depending on the cooling rates of resistance spot welds.
during cooling. According to Fig. 3E, peak temperature, the upper-critical According to this model, the cooling
there is a small amount of martensite HAZ can be divided into the following rate for sheets having 1.5-mm thick-
at the grain boundaries in the LTHAZ. zones: coarse-grained HAZ (CGHAZ) ness is about 4000 Ks–1. For steels, the
Moreover, some reprecipitation of the and fine-grained HAZ (FGHAZ). The required critical cooling rate (Kh–1) to
carbides occurred. amount of grain growth in the HAZ is achieve martensite phase in the mi-
determined by the maximum tempera- crostructure can be estimated using
HAZ of DQSK Steel ture reached and the time it has been the following equation (Ref. 25):
heated above the austenization temper-
Figure 4A and B shows the mi- ature. In CGHAZ, which is adjacent to LogV = 7.42 – 3.13 C – 0.71 Mn
crostructure gradient across the HAZ the FZ, both the high cooling rate and – 0.37 Ni – 0.34 Cr – 0.45 Mo (1)
of the DQSK steel. The HAZ mi- large austenite grain size coupled with
crostructure of the DQSK steel side is the formation of the carbon-rich The calculated critical cooling rate
more heterogeneous than that of the austenite promote the formation of the for DQSK is 3684 Ks–1. The experi-
FSS side due to martensitic and eutec- martensite (Ref. 1). enced cooling rate in the FZ is higher

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A Under the nonequilibrium cooling

condition, the formed austenite will be
transformed to martensite.

Nonequilibrium Phase Transformation

Sequence :
I II
L→ L + δ Ferrite →δ Ferrite
B III IV
→γ Austenite →α ' Martensite (3)
Fig. 8 — Typical hardness profile of dis-
similar AISI 430/DQSK resistance spot Regarding the transformation of
welds. austenite to martensite in the FZ,
three points should be considered.
1) Austenite Stability. Self et al.
(Ref. 27) in their work on the austen-
ite stability and martensite formation
in stainless steels, using a statistical
regression analysis of the experimen-
Fig. 7 — Prediction of FZ microstructure of tal data, obtained an expression for
dissimilar FSS/DQSK welds using the fol-
lowing: A — Schaeffler diagram; B —
the martensite start temperature (Ms)
Balmforth and Lippold diagram. as a function of alloy composition.
Their equation is given as follows:
than the critical cooling rate, so it is Ms = 526 – 12.5 Cr – 17.4 Ni
not surprising to find a martensite – 29.7 Mn – 31.7 Si – 354 C
structure in the CGHAZ. Fig. 9 — Effect of welding current on the FZ – 20.8 Mo – 1.34 (CrNi) + 22.41
2) Inter-Critical HAZ (ICHAZ). In this size and failure mode of dissimilar AISI (Cr + Mo)C (4)
region, the peak temperature is ranging 430/DQSK resistance spot welds.
between Ac1 and Ac3, and the BM mi- where the chemical symbols indicate
crostructure transforms into ferrite site and ferrite phases. The volume the weight percentage of the elements
plus austenite during heating. Due to fraction of ferrite and martensite is present.
the fast welding cooling rates, austenite calculated as 28 and 72%, respectively. According to Lippold and Kotecki
can transform subsequently into the Phase transformations in the FZ are (Ref. 28), this equation can be accu-
martensite, bainite, or ferrite/pearlit affected by the chemical composition rately used to examine austenite sta-
depending on the cooling rate and and weld cooling rate. The FZ chemical bility and estimate martensite start
hardenability of the steels. In the case composition of dissimilar combination temperature for stainless steels. For
of DQSK steel, due to low carbon con- can be estimated by considering the FSS/DQSK welds, the Ms was calculat-
tent of the steel and hence its low hard- melting ratio of base metals. For ed as 390°C, which is well higher than
enability, the microstructure consists of FSS/DQSK welds, the melting ratio is the room temperature. This indicates
fine ferrite grains and pearlite, which considered as 60/40. Therefore, the FZ that the austenite is not stable at
pearlite amount decreases as it gets chemical composition of FSS/DQSK room temperature, and it transforms
closer to BM — Fig. 4D, E. The volume welds is Fe-10.2Cr-0.03C-0.038Mn- to martensite, as was observed.
fraction of pearlite in the ICHAZ is 0.23Si-0.04Ni-0.01Mo. 2) Volume Fraction of Martensite.
higher than that of in the BM due to Considering the low carbon content According to the binary Fe-Cr phase dia-
reaustenization in the ICHAZ. Decreas- of the FZ, the Fe-Cr binary phase dia- gram (Fig. 6), a fully martensitic mi-
ing peak temperature in the intercriti- gram (Ref. 26) can be used as a refer- crostructure is predicted. However, ac-
cal region (i.e., by moving away the FZ ence to track phase transformations in cording to metallographic examination,
line) results in lower pearlite volume the FZ of the FSS/DQSK weld — Fig. 28% ferrite is retained in the mi-
fraction. As can be seen in Fig. 4, the 6. According to Fig. 6, the equilibrium crostructure. The volume fraction of
ICHAZ is evidenced by fuzzy pearlite. phase transformation sequence is as martensite in the FZ depends on the
The morphology of pearlite suggests follows: volume fraction of austenite present in
that partial spheroidization of pearlite the weld nugget at high temperatures,
occurred in this region. Equilibrium Phase Transformation which is controlled by Ferrite  Austenite
phase transformation. This is a diffu-
Fusion Zone Sequence :
sion-controlled reaction. Upon a rapid
I II cooling process (e. g., welding), the Ferrite
L → L + δ Ferrite →δ Ferrite
Figure 5A and B shows the mi-  Austenite transformation has less time
crostructure of the FZ, indicating a III IV to occur. Therefore, some amount of
dual-phase microstructure of marten- →γ Austenite →α Ferrite (2) untransformed ferrite is retained in the

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microstructure after stage III. There- A

fore, the phase transformation se-
quence in the FZ of dissimilar
FSS/DQSK welds under rapid cooling of
RSW can be considered as follows:

Phase transformation sequences

under rapid cooling condition
I II
L → L + δ Ferrite →δ Ferrite
III A
→γ Austenite + δ Ferrite B
IV
→α ' Martensite + δ Ferrite (5)

3) FZ Microstructure Prediction Us-

ing Conventional Constitution Dia- B
grams. It has been proved that the
conventional constitution diagrams
(e. g., Schaeffler diagram and Balm-
forth and Lippold) can be used to pre-
dict the FZ microstructure of arc welds
of joints involving stainless steels (Ref.
28). In this section, the ability of con- C
ventional constitution diagrams to
predict weld FZ microstructure of dis-
similar FSS/DQSK resistance spot
welds is examined. C
According to Fig. 7A, the predicted
microstructure of a weld nugget using Fig. 10 — A — A typical DPF mode; B —
the Schaeffler diagram is the mixture macrographic of failure cross section;
of martensite and ferrite phases, as is C — typical load-displacement curve
observed in the FZ — Fig. 5A, B. showing a three-stage failure process.
Measurement using imageJ software Stage I: work hardening and through
showed that the volume fraction of thickness straining of both sheets. Stage Fig. 11 — A — Effect of FZ size D on the
ferrite phase in the FZ is about 28%. II: severe necking and occurring the first load-displacement characteristics during
crack in the DQSK steel. Stage III: sec- the tensile-shear testing; B — welding
The Schaeffler diagram provides infor- ond crack in the FSS side. current vs. peak load and energy ab-
mation about the present phases but sorption; C — fusion zone size vs. peak
not their quantities (Ref. 28). The load and energy absorption of dissimilar
Balmforth and Lippold diagram (Ref. much higher than the arc welding, a AISI 430/DQSK resistance spot welds.
29) can be used for quantitative pre- higher volume fraction retained -
diction of the relative amount of fer- ferrite is formed in the FZ of the weld
rite and martensite in the FZ. made using RSW. Therefore, the pres- Figure 8 shows a typical hardness
In the case of the FSS/DQSK welds, ence of a high-volume fraction of - profile of FSS/DQSK welds. Hardness
the Balmforth diagram (Fig. 7B) pre- ferrite can be attributed to the rapid variation across the joint can be ana-
dicts a martensitic microstructure with cooling rate of RSW, which suppresses lyzed in terms of the microstructure
a small amount of ferrite (less than 5%), the completion of post-solidification evolution in the FZ and HAZs.
which is not in accordance with metallo- transformation of ferrite to austenite. 1) The hardness of the HAZ in the
graphic observations — Fig. 5B. As Therefore, some corrections should be DQSK is higher than that of the base
mentioned above, the amount of elevat- incorporated to the conventional con- metal. The BM microstructure is es-
ed austenite, which controls martensite stitution diagrams to accurately pre- sentially ferritic. The higher hardness
volume fraction, depends on the Ferrite dict the microstructure of the FZ in re- of CGHAZ and ICHAZ compared to
 Austenite transformation. The higher sistance spot welded joints involving BM is due to the formation of marten-
cooling rate, the more -ferrite is re- stainless steels. site and pearlite in these regions,
tained in the microstructure. It has respectively.
been shown that the cooling rate ranged Hardness Characteristics 2) The hardness of the HAZ in FSS
from 2000 to more than 10,000 Ks–1 for is higher than that of the AISI 430
sheet thickness ranging from 2 to 0.8 Hardness distribution across the re- base metal. The higher hardness of the
mm (Ref. 24). sistance spot welds plays an important HTHAZ compared to the BM is due to
Since the cooling rate in RSW is role in determining weld failure mode. the precipitation of carbides. The

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higher hardness of the LTHAZ com- In this work, the model was used to vere necking leading to the initiation
pared to the HTHAZ is due to marten- evaluate the failure mode transition of of the failure at this point.
site formation in ferrite grain bound- the FSS/DQSK dissimilar joint. Stage III. After the welds experi-
aries and its finer grain size. • The hardness ratio of the FZ to PF enced the first crack in the DQSK, the
3) The hardness of the FZ is higher location (i.e., DQSK’s base metal) is nugget is still connected to the other
than both that of the base metals and about HFZ/HPFL = 350/140 = 2.5. sheet. The final stage of the fracture
HAZs, which can be attributed to the • There are no reported experimen- occurs by partial separation of the
martensite formation in the FZ. The tal data for the ratio of shear strength nugget from the FSS sheet.
peak hardness in the HAZ of the to tensile strength of the FZ, which is
DQSK is lower than the FZ hardness. comprised of martensite and ferrite. Mechanical Properties
The ferrite and martensite formed in Therefore, a theoretical value for the
the FZ are harder than those in the ratio of shear strength to tensile To explore the quasistatic mechani-
HAZ of DQSK. This can be related to strength for the FZ is used. According cal properties of the spot welds, peak
the fact that ferrite and martensite to the von Mises criterion, the ratio of load and energy absorption were
phases in the FZ are enriched in shear strength to tensile strength of measured. Figure 11A shows the effect
chromium (Cr), an element that can metals is 0.58 (Ref. 30). of welding current on the peak load
strengthen both ferrite and marten- • Substituting the hardness ratio of and energy absorption. The experi-
site via a substitutional solid solution 2.5 and the sheet thickness of 1.5 mm mental results indicate that the weld-
strengthening mechanism. into Equation 4, a critical FZ size (DC) ing current has a significant effect on
of 4.1 mm is calculated. the load carrying capacity and energy
Failure Mode • As can be seen in Fig. 8, in welding absorption capability of the spot welds
currents lower than 7 kA, the FZ size under the tensile-shear static test.
Both interfacial failure (IF) and is lower than the DC; consequently, the Load carrying capacity and energy ab-
double pullout failure (DPF) modes welds failed in IF mode. On the other sorption capability of spot welds de-
were observed during the tensile-shear hand, welds made at welding currents pend on their physical attributes, es-
testing of the FSS/DQSK welds. It is equal or higher than 7 kA exhibited pecially weld nugget size, failure
well documented that the size of the higher FZ size than the DC and hence mode, and failure location strength.
FZ is the key physical weld attribute failed in pullout mode. According to Fig. 11B, the weld
controlling the failure mode transition As mentioned above, all spot welds nugget size significantly affects the
of spot welds (Refs. 10–17). made at a welding current higher than load-displacement characteristics of
The effect of welding current on 6.5 kA failed at double pullout mode. dissimilar FSS/DQSK welds. To exam-
the FZ size is shown in Fig. 9, indicat- No single pullout mode was observed. ine the relationship between the peak
ing the enlargement of the weld Figure 10A shows the fracture sur- load and failure energy and weld
nugget by increasing welding current face of welds failed in pullout mode, nugget size, a scatter plot of peak load
due to higher heat generation at indicating that the nugget is with- (and failure energy) vs. weld size was
sheet/sheet interface. According to drawn from both sheets (i.e., double constructed. Since the weld nugget has
Fig. 9, by increasing the welding cur- pullout mode). Figure 10B shows the a asymmetrical shape, the FZ size at
rent and FZ size, the failure mode was metallographic cross section of a typi- sheet/sheet interface in the DQSK
changed from IF to DPF. To avoid IF cal weld failed in DPF mode. Figure steel, which is smaller than that of the
mode, a minimum welding current of 10C is a representative load-displace- FSS side, was measured.
7 kA should be used for welding of the ment curve of the FSS/DQSK dissimi- As can be seen in Fig. 11C, there is
FSS/DQSK joint. The minimum FZ lar weld. The pullout failure mecha- a general linear relationship between
size required to avoid IF mode was nism of spot welds in the tensile-shear the peak load (and also failure energy)
4.18 mm. loading is dominated by necking of the and FZ size. Generally, increasing the
To analyze the failure mode transi- base metals. In the DPF, the nugget is FZ size increases the overall bond area
completely torn off from the sheet, and therefore increases the required
tion of spot welds during the tensile-
which experiences severe necking. force and energy for failure to occur.
shear loading, Pouranvari and Marashi According to Fig. 10B and C, the PF
(Ref. 10) proposed a simple analytical
model to predict the minimum FZ size
of FSS/DQSK welds can be divided
into the following stages: Conclusions
(DC) to ensure the pull-out failure Stage I. Both base metals are work
mode as follows: hardened under loading and experi- Metallurgical and mechanical charac-
enced through thickness straining. teristics of dissimilar resistance spot
4t ⎛ H PFL ⎞ Stage II. The failure is started by se- welds between an AISI 430 ferritic
DC = (6)
f ⎜⎝ HFZ ⎟⎠ vere necking of one sheet. In this case, stainless steel and DQSK low-carbon
the PF location is determined by the steel are investigated. The following
where t is the sheet thickness (mm), f competition between the necking of conclusions can be drawn from this
is the ratio of shear strength to tensile DQSK and FSS steel sheets. Since ten- study:
strength of the FZ, and HFZ along with sile strength and hardness of the 1) Fusion zone is featured by dual-
HPFL are hardness values (HV) of the DQSK is lower than that of the FSS phase microstructure of ferrite and
FZ and PF location, respectively. sheet, DQSK sheet experiences a se- martensite. The transformation of

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Pouranvari et al Supp June 2015_Layout 1 5/13/15 1:00 PM Page 210

WELDING RESEARCH

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