LABORATORY EXERCISE-I SPOT WELDING

Objective
To Perform Spot Welding process.

Apparatus
Welding unit, Electrodes, mild steel flats (140 x 25 x 5 mm), Wire Brush, Tongs etc.

Theory:
Resistance Welding (RW)
o A group of fusion welding processes that use a combination of heat and pressure to
accomplish coalescence
o Heat generated by electrical resistance to current flow at junction to be welded
o Principal RW process is resistance spot welding (RSW)

Advantages and Drawbacks of Resistance Welding

Advantages:
o No filler metal required
o High production rates possible
o Lends itself to mechanization and automation
o Lower operator skill level than for arc welding
o Good repeatability and reliability
Disadvantages:
o High initial equipment cost
o Limited to lap joints for most RW processes
Resistance Spot Welding (RSW)
Resistance welding process in which fusion of faying surfaces of a lap joint is achieved at one
location by opposing electrodes
o Used to join sheet metal parts
o Widely used in mass production of automobiles, metal furniture, appliances, and other
sheet metal products
o Typical car body has ~ 10,000 spot welds
 Resistance Seam Welding (RSEW)
Uses rotating wheel electrodes to produce a series of overlapping spot welds along lap joint
 Can produce air-tight joints
Applications:
o Gasoline tanks
o Automobile mufflers
o Various sheet metal containers

Resistance Projection Welding (RPW)

o A resistance welding process in which coalescence occurs at one or more small contact
points on the parts
o Contact points determined by design of parts to be joined
o May consist of projections, embossments, or localized intersections of parts
o (1) Start of operation, contact between parts is at projections; (2) when current is
applied, weld nuggets similar to spot welding are formed at the projections

Other Resistance-Welding Operations

o Flash welding (FW)
o Upset welding (UW)
o Percussion welding (PEW)
 o High-frequency resistance welding (HFRW)
o High-frequency induction welding (HFIW)
Flash welding
o In Flash welding, normally used for butt joints, the two surfaces to be joined are brought
into contact and electric current is applied to heat the surfaces to the melting point,
after which the surfaces are forced together to form the weld.
o In addition to resistance heating , some arcing occurs (called flashing) which is the
reason of its name.

Upset welding:
o It is similar to flash welding except that in UW, the faying surfaces are presses together
during heating and upsetting
o In flash welding, the heating and pressing steps are separated during the cycle whereas
Heating in UW is accomplished entirely by electrical resistance at the contacting
surfaces and no arcing occurs
Percussion welding
It is also similar to flash welding, except that the duration of the weld cycle is extremely
short, typically lasting only 1 – 10 ms
o Fast heating is accomplished by rapid discharge of electrical energy between the two
surfaces to be joined, followed immediately by percussion of one part against the other
to form the weld
High-frequency resistance welding
In this process, a high-frequency alternating current is used for heating, followed by the
rapid application of an upsetting force to cause coalescence
High-frequency induction welding
In this process, the heating current is induced in the parts by a high-frequency induction coil.
Procedure
 Clean the mild steel flat plate to be joined by wire brush.
 Arrange the flat pieces properly on one another to form the lap joint.
 Set the welding current, voltage and pressure according to the type of metal to be joined.
 Apply the pressure with the electrodes while passing current through them and join the
metal plates.
 The welded part of the plate is called nugget.
 Clean the welded zone and submit.

Welding Defects

Cracks.
Cracks are fracture-type interruptions either in the weld itself or in the base
metal adjacent to the weld. This is perhaps the most serious welding defect because it
constitutes a discontinuity in the metal that significant reduces weld strength .Welding cracks are
caused by embrittlement or low ductility of the weld and/or base metal combined with high
restraint during contraction. Generally, this defect must be repaired.

Cavities.
These include various porosity and shrinkage voids. Porosity consists of small voids in the
weld metal formed by gases entrapped during solidification. The shapes of the voids vary
between spherical (blow holes) to elongated (worm holes). Porosity usually results from
inclusion of atmospheric gases, sulfur in the weld metal, or contaminants on the surfaces.
Shrinkage voids are cavities formed by shrinkage during solidification. Both of these cavity-type
defects are similar to defects found in castings and emphasize the close kinship between casting
and welding.

Solid inclusions.
These are nonmetallic solid materials trapped inside the weld metal. The most common form
is slag inclusions generated during arc-welding processes that use flux. Instead of floating to the
top of the weld pool, globules of slag become encased during solidification of the metal. Another
form of inclusion is metallic oxides that form during the welding of metals such as aluminum,
which normally has a surface coating of Al2O3