Spot welding (or resistance spot welding) is a type of electric resistance welding used to weld various sheet metal products, through a process in which contacting metal surface points are joined by the heat obtained from resistance to electric current. The process uses two shaped copper alloy electrodes to concentrate welding current into a small "spot" and to simultaneously clamp the sheets together. Work-pieces are held together under pressure exerted by electrodes. Typically the sheets are in the 0.5 to 3 mm (0.020 to 0.118 in) thickness range. Forcing a large current through the spot will melt the metal and form the weld. The attractive feature of spot welding is that a large amount of energy can be delivered to the spot in a very short time (approximately 10–100 milliseconds). This permits the welding to occur without excessive heating of the remainder of the sheet. The amount of heat (energy) delivered to the spot is determined by the resistance between the electrodes and the magnitude and duration of the current. The amount of energy is chosen to match the sheet's material properties, its thickness, and type of electrodes. Applying too little energy will not melt the metal or will make a poor weld. Applying too much energy will melt too much metal, eject molten material, and make a hole rather than a weld. Another feature of spot welding is that the energy delivered to the spot can be controlled to produce reliable welds.
Process and equipment
Spot welding involves three stages; the first of which involves the electrodes being brought to the surface of the metal and applying a slight amount of pressure. The current from the electrodes is then applied briefly after which the current is removed but the electrodes remain in place for the material to cool. Weld times range from 0.01 sec to 0.63 sec depending on the thickness of the metal, the electrode force and the diameter of the electrodes themselves. The equipment used in the spot welding process consists of tool holders and electrodes. The tool holders function as a mechanism to hold the electrodes firmly in place and also support optional water hoses that cool the electrodes during welding. Tool holding methods include a paddle-type, light duty, universal, and regular offset. The electrodes generally are made of a low resistance alloy, usually copper, and are designed in many different shapes and sizes depending on the application needed. The two materials being welded together are known as the workpieces and must conduct electricity. The width of the workpieces is limited by the throat length of the welding apparatus and ranges typically from 5 to 50 inches (13 to 130 cm). Workpiece thickness can range from 0.008 to 1.25 inches (0.20 to 32 mm). After the current is removed from the workpiece, it is cooled via the coolant holes in the center of the electrodes. Both water and a brine solution may be used as coolants in spot welding mechanisms. In the case of resistance spot welding, there are two main parts of the tooling system, the features of which fundamentally influence the whole process: the gun and its type, and the size and shape of the electrode. In such application, where the gun layout should be as rigid as possible due to the high applying forces (e.g. welding of thick materials), the C-type gun is widely used. As well as the high resulting rigidity, this arrangement leads to a high tooling flexibility, as the motion of the electrodes is collinear. Unlike the C-type, the so-called X-type arrangement provides less rigidity, although the reachable workspace is far larger than with the C-type, thus this layout is very common, where thin and flat objects are being processed (e.g. manufacturing of floor pan or roof panel). However, it offers less flexibility in terms of tooling, because the paths of the moving electrodes are not collinear (like the tips of a scissor), so a dome-shaped electrode tip should be used. Electrodes used in spot welding can vary greatly with different applications. Each tool style has a different purpose. Radius style electrodes are used for high heat applications, electrodes with a truncated tip for high pressure, eccentric electrodes for welding corners, offset eccentric tips for reaching into corners and small spaces, and finally offset truncated for reaching into the workpiece itself.
Characteristics
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