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- s 6 t Welding Page 1 of 2

Spot welding, ,

Spot welding is one of the oldest welding processbs. It is used in a wide range of industries but
notably for the assembly of sheet steel vehicle bodies. This is a type of resistance welding where
the spot welds are made at regular intervals on overlapping sheets of metal. Spot welding is
primarily used for joining parts that are normally up to 3 mm in thickness. Thickness of the parts
to be welded should be equal or the ratio of thickness should be less than 3: 1. The strength of the
joint depends on the number and size of the welds. Spot-weld diameters range from 3 rnm to 12.5
m.

How spot welding works

Spot welding is one form of
resistance welding, which is a
method of welding two or more
metal sheets together without
using any filler material by
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applying pressure and heat to the

area to be welded. The process is
used for joining sheet materials
and uses shaped copper alloy
electro'des to apply pressure and
convey the electrical current
through the workpieces. In all
forms of resistance welding, the
parts are locally heated. The
I material between the electrodes
yields and is bqueezed together. It then melts, destroyihg the interface between the parts. The
current is switched off and the "nugget" of molten materials solidifies forming the joint.
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To create heat, copper electrodes pass electric d e n t ,
through the workpieces. The heat generated depends on FINISHED
resistance and thermal conductivity 'of \the
e time that the current is applied. Thd heat ""b
generated is expressed by the equation: I
E=I~*R*~ I

where E is the heat energy, I is the current, R 1s the

electri 1 resistance arid t is the time that the current is
T
applied
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Copp'er is used for electrodes because it has a low resistance and high thermal conductivity
compared to most metals. This ensures that the heat is generated in the workpieces instead of the
electrodes. (

Materials suitable for spot welding

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Steel has a higher electrical resistivity and lower thermal conductivity than the copper electrodes,
making welding relatively easy. LOW carbon steel is most suitable for spot welding. Higher
carbon content or alloy steel tend to form hard welds that are brittle a d could crack. Aluminium
 Page 2 of 2

has an electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity that is closer to that of copper. However,
aluminium's melting point is much lower an
that of copper, making welding possible. Higher
levels of current must be used for welding aluminium because of its low resistivity.

Galvanized steel (i.e. steel coated with zinc to prevent corrosion) requires la different welding
approach than uncoated steel. The zinc coating must first be melted off before the steel is joined.
Zinc has a low melting point, so a pulse of current before welding will accomplish this. During
the weld, the zinc can combine with the steel and ldwer its'resi~tivit~.
Therefore, higher levels of
current are required to weld galvanized steel.

How to determine welding parameters f ~ spot

r welding?
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[ Arc Wdldinq J [ Spot Wdlding ]

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Last updated: Tuesday, November 12,2001
Spot Welding Parameters Page 1 of 3
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Spot welding parameters

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Spot we ding parameters include:
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'~lectrodeforce

Diametbr of the electrode contact surface

Saueeze time

Weld time

KoJd time

The determination of appropriate welding parameters for spot welding is a very complex issue. A
small change of one parameter will effect all the other parameters. This, and the fact that the.
contact surface of the electrode is gradually increasing, makes it difficult to design a welding
parameter table, which shows the optimum welding parameters for different circumstances.
However, this table shows target values for the welding parameters.
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Electrode force,
Sheet thickness, t

Electrode force
t
Electrode tip dresser Page 1 of 2

Electrode Tip Dresser

The function of the electrodes is to conduct the current and to withstand the high pressures in
order to maintain a uniform contact area and to enshe the continued proper relationship between
selected current and pressqre.!Uniform contacting areas should therefore be maintained.

Good weld quality is essential and depends, to a considerable degree,. upon uniformity of the
electrode contact surface. This surface tends to be deformed (mushroomed) with each weld.
Primary causes for mushrooming are too soft electrode material, too high welding pressure, too
small electrode contact surface, and most importantly, too high welding current. These
conditions cause excessive heat build-up and softening of electrode tips. Welding of. today's
coated materials also tends to contaminate the face of the electrodes.

As the electrode deforms, the weld

control is called upon to "step" up the
welding current in order to compensate
for "mushroomed" weld tips. ~ventuall),
the production line will have to be shut
down in order to replace the electrodes
or to manually go in and hand dress the
electrodes. This process will improve
the weld cycle but in either case, the line
is stopped and time is lost. Furthermore
the deformed electrodes have caused
unnecessary high consumption of energy
and electrodes.
In automgc tfp dressing, a tip dresser is
mounted on the line where it can be I $

accessed by the welding robot. The robot is prograpned 40 dress the electrodes at regular time
intervals. The dressing can be done after each working cycle, after every second cycle, and so
on. It depends upon how many spot-welds +e done in each cycle. For welding in galvanized
sheet, dressing after about 25 spot-welds is recommended. Thr dressing takes approximately 1 to
2 secbnds, and is perfomed when the work pieces are Iqged, unloaded and transported.
Maintaining proper electrode geometry minimizes production downtime and,utility costs and
increases weld efficiency. .

] [ Spct welding gun ] [ $eldld)imer ] [ Electrode tip dresser ]

[ ~t~9_e&!hg~obo_f
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, [ S ~ oweldinn
t swivel ]

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Last updated: Tuesday, ~ovembe)12,2001
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q'. Spot Welding Parameters Page 2 of 3
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The purpose of the electrode force is to squeeze the metal sheets to be joined together. This
requires a large electrode force because else the weld quality will not be good enough. However,
the force must not be to large as it might cause other problems. Whe,n the electrode force is
increased the heat energy will decrease. This means that the higher electrode force requires a
higher weld current. When weld current becomes to high spatter will occur between electrodes
and sheets. This will cause the electrodes to get stuck to the sheet.

An adequate target value for the electrode force is 90 N per mm2. One problem, though, is that
the size of the contact surface will increase during welding. To keep the same conditions during
the hole%eMing process, the electrode force needs tb be gradually increased. As it is rather
difficult to change the electrode force in the same rate ,as the electrodes are "mushroomed",
usually an average value is chosen. II

Diameter of the electrode contact surface

one pneral criterion of resistance spot-welding is that the deld shall have a nugget diameter of
5*tln, "t" being the thickness of the steel sheet. Thus, a spot weld made in two sheets, each 1
mm in thickness, would generate a nugget 5 rnm in diameter according to the 5*tX-rule.
Diameter of the electrode contact surface should be slightly lpger t h h the nugget diameter. For
example, spot welding two sheets of 1 mm thickness would require an electrode with a contact
diameter of 6 mm.In practice, an electrode with a contact diameter of 6 rnrn is standard for sheet
thickness of 0.5 to 1.25 mm. This contact diameter,of 6 rnrn conforms to the IS0 standard for
new electrodes.
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Squeeze tinre

Squeeze Time is the time interval between the initial application of the electrode force on the
work and the first application of curre t. Squeeze time js necessary to delay,the weld current
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until the electrode force has attained the esired level. ,I

Weld time
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Weld time is the time during which welding current is dpplied t i the metal sheets. The weld time
is measured and adjusted in'cycles of line voltage as are all timing functions. One cycle is 1/50 of
a second in a 50 Hz power system. (When the weld tirpe is taken from American literature, the
number of cycles has to bd reduced due to the higher frequency (60Hz) that is used in the USA.)
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As the weld time is, more or less, related to what is required for the weld spot, it is difficult to
give an'exact value of the optimum weld time. For instance:

Weld time should be as short as possible.

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The weld current should give the best weld quality as possible.
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The weld parameters should be chosen to: give as little wearing of the electrodes as
possible. (Often this means a short weld time.)

The weld time shall cause the nugget diameter to be big when welding thick sheets.

The weld time might have to be adjusted to fit the welding equipment in case it does not
fulfil the requirements for the weld current and the electrode force. (This means that a
longer weld time may be needed.) ,
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 The weld time shall cause the indentation due to the electrode to be as small as possible.
(This is achieved by using a short weld time.)

a The weld time shdl be adjusted to welding with automatic tip-dressing, where the size of
the electrode contact surface can be kept at a donstant value. (This means a shorter welding
time.) , I
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When weldhi sheeq with a thickness *rester
than 2 mm it might be appropriate to divide the
weld time into'a number of impulses to avoid the heat energy to increase. This method will give
good-looking spot welds but the strength,of the weld migHt be poor.
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By multiplyi g the thickness of the sheet by ten, a m d target value for the weld time can be
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periods (50Hz).
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reached. Wh n welding two sheets with the thickness 1 mm each, an appropriate weld time is 10
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Hold time (cooling-time)

Hold time is the time, aft& the welding, when the eiecdodes are still applied to the sheet to chill
the wed. Considered fiom a welding technical point of view, the hold time is the most
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interes g velding parameter. Hold time is necessary to allow the weld nugget to solidify before
releasing the welded parts, but it must not be to long as this may cause the heat in the weld spot
to spied to the electrode and heat it. The electrode will then get more exposed to wear. Further,
if the hold time is to long and the carbon content of the material is high (more than 0. I%), there
is a risk the deld will become brittle. When welding galvanized carbon steel a longer hold time is
. recommended. , .
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Weld current ' %

The weld current is the current in the welding circuit during the making of a weld. The amount of
weld current is controlled by two things; first, the setting of the transformer tap switch
determines the maximum amount of weld current available; second the percent of current control
determines the percent of the available current to be used for making the weld. Low percent
current settings are not normally recommended as this may impair the quality of the weld. Adjust
the tap switch so that proper welding current can be obtained with the percent current set
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between seventy and ninety percent.

The weld current should be kept as low as possible. When determining the current to be used, the
current is gradually increased until weld spatter occurs between the metal sheets. This indicates
that the correct weld current gas been reached.