Materials and Design 54 (2014) 598–609

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Materials and Design

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Effect of boron content and welding current on the mechanical

properties of electrical resistance spot welds in complex-phase steels
Jong Pan Kong a, Tae Kyo Han b, Kwang Geun Chin b, Bong Gyu Park c, Chung Yun Kang a,⇑
a
Dept. of Material Sci. and Eng, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea
b
POSCO Ltd., Gumho-dong, Gwangyang-si, Jeonnam 545-090, Republic of Korea
c
Dept. of Advanced Materials Sci. and Eng., Pukyong National Univ., Busan 608-739, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: When complex phase steel where tensile strength is more than 1 GPa grade is joined by resistance spot
Received 31 May 2013 welding (RSW) optimum boron (B) content should be chosen to satisfy weldability and mechanical prop-
Accepted 28 August 2013 erties. Therefore, in this study, the effect of the B content (0–40 ppm) on the tensile-shear strength of the
Available online 4 September 2013
RSW were investigated. As the resistivity of the base metal was independent on the B content it did not
affect to nugget diameter. Regardless of the B content the specimens under 5t1/2 (t = sheet thickness)
Keywords: were fractured at interfacial failure mode. In the low welding current condition (lower than 6.4 kA), mea-
Complex phase steel
sured nugget diameters were smaller than calculated critical nugget diameter regardless of the amount of
Resistance spot welding
Boron content
B addition so that fracture mode was interfacial failure. Pull out failure occurred at the softened zone
Nugget diameter which was boundary between the base metal and the heat affected zone. Tensile-shear load of the spec-
Tensile-shear load imen failure at the pull-out mode was increased as the fractured diameter and hardness of the softened
zone were increased. Shear load was only dependent on the fractured diameter. The equations to calcu-
late the shear and tensile-shear load were suggested for the specimens fractured at interfacial and pull-
out failure modes respectively. Correlation coefficients between measured and calculated values of shear
and tensile-shear load were 0.98 and 0.97, respectively. Therefore, shear and tensile-shear load of
advanced high strength steel joined by RSW could be predicted successfully using the suggested
equation.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In order to improve fuel economy of an automobile, the weight
of an auto body should be reduced. Lightweight and maintaining
strength had trade-off relationship, so there should be much re-
searches to find the optimum combination of them. Recently, due
to the strengthened safety regulation for car passengers and pedes-
trians, installation of the safety device became compulsory. How-
ever, this resulted in the increase of weight of the auto body.
Therefore, the development of advanced materials with high
strength more than 1 GPa and high ductility is essential to over-
come this problem.
Transformation induced plasticity (TRIP), complex phase (CP),
and twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steels, etc. which had
mixed microstructure with high strength and ductility were pro-
duced and make a great contribution to the weigh saving of auto-
motive [1–3]. The CP steel consisted of the mixed microstructure of
martensite, retained austenite, bainite and ferrite, and had high
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 1083298429; fax: +82 515144457.
E-mail address: kangcy@pusan.ac.kr (C.Y. Kang).
yield strength and good formability so that it was in the spotlight
as the material for the auto body. However, the development and
application of the CP steel was not sufficient yet [1,2].
On the other hand, in the normal steels boron (B) was known to
suppress nucleation of ferrite by segregation in austenite grain
boundaries and increase hardenability with the addition of ppm
scale [4,5]. This element attracted interest again to secure high
strength more than 1 GPa in advanced high strength steel (AHSS).
The boron steel for hot-stamping (25 ppm addition of B) which
showed the tensile strength of 1.5 GPa after hot stamping was re-
ported in the literature [6].
To produce auto body parts as final product welding process is
necessary, and resistance spot welding (RSW) and laser beam
welding (LBW) were most widely used. Previous research for this
was as follows. Since year 2000, many researches about micro-
structures and mechanical properties of the weld by RSW and
LBW got accomplished in the DP and TRIP steels for automotive
which were AHSS with 590–1180 MPa grade [7–14]. Especially,
when DP780 and DP980 steels which had high volume fraction
of martensite within base metal were joined by RSW softened zone
occurred at the boundary of the base metal and HAZ [15–17], and

0261-3069/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2013.08.098
 J.P. Kong et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 598–609 599

Nomenclature

TSL tensile shear load (kN) sN shear strength of the weld nugget (kN/mm2)
ND measured nugget diameter (mm) rN tensile strength of the weld nugget (kN/mm2)
TSLPF tensile shear load in pull out failure (PF) mode (kN) SLPF shear load in interfacial failure (IF) mode (kN)
a constant related to the stress distribution FDN diameter of the fractured region in IF mode (mm)
FDSZ diameter of the fractured region in PF mode (mm) b constant with the notch effect
t thickness of base metal (mm) HvN hardness of the weld nugget (Hv)
rSZ tensile strength of the softened zone (kN/mm2) rBM/W.Q tensile strength of the base metal water quenching (kN/
rBM tensile strength of the base metal (kN/mm2) mm2)
HvBM hardness of the base metal (Hv) HvBM/W.Q hardness of base metal water quenching (Hv)
HvSZ minimum hardness of the softened zone (Hv) NDCri. critical nugget diameter to transit from IF to PF (mm)

fracture started at this zone so that the strength of the joint was
decreased [18–20]. In addition, many researcher reported the cor-
relation between microstructure/mechanical properties and soft-
ening phenomenon on the RSW of these AHSS [14,15,21,22].
Recently, Choi et al. [23] reported that solidification crack and void
were formed within nugget in the weld of GA-DP780 and hot-
stamped Al–Si coated B steels joined by RSW. These defects re-
sulted in the interfacial failure and decreased the strength of the
joint. Kim et al. [24] and Hu et al. [25] said that the softening phe-
nomenon occurred at the boundary of base metal/HAZ in the laser
weld of CP1180 and CP1000 steels respectively. However, discus-
sions about that phenomenon were not provided sufficiently. Up
to now, most of the researches focused on the effect of the process
parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties in the
laser and spot welds of DP, TRIP and boron steels. However, in case
of the CP steel, the effects of alloying element as well as those ef-
fects were hardly found in the literature.
On the other hand, Park et al. [26] investigated the effect of the
B content on hardness of disk-laser weld in the CP steel and re-
ported that the hardness of base metal and softened zone was in-
creased due to the increase of the martensite volume fraction. This
study meant that the B content had an influence on the microstruc-
ture and mechanical properties of the resistance spot welds as well
as the base metal in the CP steel. However, there was no systematic
research about the topic.
In this study, in order to obtain optimum B content to satisfy the
requirement for weldability and mechanical properties of the resis-
tance spot welds in the CP steel where the tensile strength of base
metal was more than 1 GPa, the effects of the B content (0–
40 ppm) and welding current on the tensile-shear load of the resis-
tance spot welds were examined. Correlations between the load,
and failure mode and microstructure were also investigated.
the given composition range (0–40 ppm B) the interval of the com-
position change was 10 ppm from 0B to 10B steels and 15 ppm
from 10B to 40B steels. And then, the effect of B content on the
mechanical properties was investigated.
Spot welding was performed using a PLC-controlled, 120-kVA
AC pedestal-type resistance spot welding machine. Welding was
conducted using a 45-deg truncated cone RWMA Class 2 electrode
with a 6-mm face diameter. The welding currents were varied from
5 to 9 kA, and the welding time, electrode pressure and holding
time were fixed to 17 cycles, 4 kN and 40 cycles, respectively. In
the present study, the welding parameters were adjusted to avoid
expulsion. Tensile-shear tests were performed to evaluate the
mechanical performance and failure mode of the spot welds. The
samples were prepared due to ANSI/AWS/SAE D8.9M:97 [27].
Fig. 1 shows the test sample dimensions for the tensile-shear
tests [28]. The mechanical tests were performed at a cross-head
of 5 mm/min with an InstronÒ universal testing machine. The ten-
sile-shear load (measured as the peak point in the load–displace-
ment curve) was extracted from the load–displacement curve.
The data points for the tensile-shear load are the average of three
measurements.
The failure modes of the spot welds specimens were deter-
mined by an examination of the fractured samples. Specimens
for optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were prepared
using standard metallographic practices. Polished specimens were
etched with 2% Nital solution and then used to observe the micro-
structures using optical microscope and SEM. EBSD analysis was
carried out using the specimens which were taken from the joint,
ground using general SiC paper and polished by 0.04–0.05 lm col-
loidal silica for 20 min. Vickers mirco-hardness test was performed
across the spot welds. A load of 0.2 kgf and a dwell time of 10 s
were used during testing.

2. Experimental procedure 3. Results and discussion

The materials used in this study were 1.2 mm thick cold rolled
complex steel (CP) sheets containing different amounts of boron
(B). Materials used in this study were not fabricated in the lab
but supplied by domestic steel manufacturer. Table 1 lists the
chemical composition and tensile properties of the base metal. In
3.1. Effect of B content and welding current on tensile strength
Generally, the most important factor for the tensile-shear load
(TSL) and failure mode is the nugget diameter [11,18,29]. The

Table 1
Chemical compositions and tensile properties of investigated base metals.

No. wt.% ppm Tensile properties

C Si Mn Cr P S B TS YS EL
(MPa) (MPa) (%)
0B 0.07 0.1 2.1 1.0 200 30 0 840 390 21
10B 10 930 470 15
25B 25 1020 530 11
40B 40 1110 537 9
Fig. 1. Tensile-shear test sample dimension (JIS Z 3136 [28]).
600 J.P. Kong et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 598–609
Fig. 2. Nugget diameter (ND) as a function of B content and welding current.
nugget diameter was defined as the distance between the fusion
lines in the cross-section microstructure of the nugget.
Fig. 2 shows the change in nugget diameter as functions of the B
content and welding current. The marked data (w) are those of the
specimens that showed expulsion. The nugget diameter increased
with increasing welding current but was less affected by the B
content.
The addition of B was believed to change the resistivity of the
base metal so that the nugget diameter could be increased due to
the increased heat input. When the resistivity of the base metals
with B content was measured using a 4-point probe [30], the
change in resistivity was approximately 0.0011 lO cm/ppm over
the composition range of 0–40 ppm. This difference could not have
an influence on heat input. Therefore, the nugget diameter was
thought to be independent on the B content.
Fig. 3 shows the (a) changes of tensile-shear load (TSL) as a
function of B contents and welding currents and (b) effect of nug-
get diameter on the tensile-shear load and failure modes.
Fig. 4 shows the representative failure modes of the spot weld
during the tensile-shear test. Failure mode of the specimens tested
in tensile-shear test was divided into two groups. Fig. 4a presents
the typical interfacial failure (IF) mode in fracture surface and
Fig. 4b shows the microstructure of the cross-section. Fig. 4c and
d presents the fracture surface and microstructure of the cross-sec-
tion in the specimen that showed typical pull-out failure (PF)
mode.
In Fig. 3, the open marks showed the values of the IF specimens
and the solid marks were PF ones. The specimen welds with a low
Fig. 3. (a) Tensile-shear load as a function of B contents and welding currents and (b) effect of nugget diameter on the tensile-shear load and failure modes.
current (under 6.4 kA) showed IF mode regardless of the B content
and the variation range of the TSL was narrow. On the other hand,
the specimen welds with a higher current (over 7.4 kA) showed PF
mode, and the TSL increased with increasing welding current and B
content. When the welding current was in the range of 7.4–8.4 kA,
the increasing gradient of the TSL was smaller than when the weld-
ing current was more than 8.4 kA.
As shown in Fig. 3b which showed the change of the TSL due to
the B content and nugget diameter, the change of the TSL due to
the B content could be negligible in the range of the nugget diam-
eter which showed the IF. However, in the range of the nugget
diameter which showed PF, the TSL was increased with the nugget
diameter. On the other hand, in the same nugget diameter, the TSL
was increased with the B content.
Generally, the specification for the tensile-shear tests of RSW
mild steel and high strength steel for automobiles, ANSI/AWS/
SAE/D8.9-97, defined the minimum nugget diameter where PF
was revealed as 4t1/2(where t is the thickness of base metal) [27].
This value is displayed as a broken line () in Fig. 3b. As JIS
3140 specify that it is 5t1/2 in A-class HSS and AHSS [28], vertical
dotted line (——) where the minimum nugget diameter was 5t1/2
was drawn to compare with values obtained in this study. Also,
horizontal solid line (–) was drawn where the minimum tensile-
shear load specified in the JIS 3140 A-class was 8.78 kN [28].
From the result in Fig. 3b, regardless of B content the IF occurred
under the 5t1/2 (5.48 mm) and PF was over 6.2 mm of the nugget
diameter. This means that the IF/PF transition critical nugget diam-
eter should be 5t1/2 rather than 4t1/2 in the specimen used in this
study. In addition, the TSL of all welds satisfied minimum TSL val-
ues (8.78 kN) specified in the JIS 3140 A-class [28], even though the
specimen was fractured in IF mode.
To ensure the collision safety of motor vehicles, the impact ab-
sorbed energy is very important and was reported to have a corre-
lation with the failure mode [18,19].
Fig. 5 shows the relationship between the nugget diameter and
tensile absorbed energy with the B content. The amount of ab-
sorbed energy was calculated by measuring the area under the
load–displacement curve up to peak loads. From the results in
Fig. 5, the specimens that exhibited IF mode showed little change
in the tensile absorbed energy due to the increase in nugget diam-
eter and B content; the value was low (5–10 kN mm). On the other
hand, in the specimens showing PF mode, the absorbed energy in-
creased with increasing nugget diameter, and was 3–5 times high-
er than those with IF mode. Moreover, in the nugget diameter
range that resulted in PF mode, the tensile absorbed energy de-
creased with increasing B content at the same nugget diameter.
In order to secure the collision safety, the joint of AHSS welded
 J.P. Kong et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 598–609
Fig. 4. Typical failure mode observed in this study. (a and b) interfacial failure and (c and d) pull-out failure.
Fig. 5. Absorption energy as a function of B contents and welding current.
by RSW must be fractured in the PF. Therefore, the regulation for
the minimum nugget diameter should be revised.
3.2. Softening phenomenon in the fracture surface with PF mode
Generally, the position where the specimen welds failed in PF
mode affects the TSL. Therefore, this needs to be clarified. However,
in Fig. 4d which showed the cross-section microstructure of the
specimen welds failed in PF mode, the location was not clearly
Fig. 6. Enlarged optical micrographs of the area denoted by X in Fig. 4d. (10 B steel
welds, welding current: 7.4 kA).
601
defined. Accordingly, the area marked X, which was the lower part
of Fig. 4d, was observed carefully.
Fig. 6 is enlarged optical micrograph of the X-marked area of
Fig. 4d. As shown in Fig. 6, failure (arrow) was initiated in the
boundary between the base metal and HAZ.
Fig. 7 shows typical hardness profile near the base metal and fu-
sion line (FL) of the 10B steel weld. The hardness profile in Fig. 7
showed that softened zone was existed near the boundary be-
tween the base metal and HAZ (sub-critical HAZ; heated area un-
der Ac1 temperature). Some researches reported that the softened
zone occurred on the base metal/HAZ boundary in the specimen
welded by RSW where the tensile strength was over 780 MPa
grade AHSSs (DP and CP steels) and the failure was initiated in this
zone [18–20]. From the observation of the microstructure near the
failure (Fig. 6), hardness profile (Fig. 7) and former researches, the
PF was thought to be initiated in the region where the hardness
was the lowest in the softened zone. The right side of the lower
plate also fractured at the same mode. All specimens that showed
PF mode exhibited a similar behavior, i.e. failure was started at the
location where the hardness was the lowest in the softened area.
Therefore, the hardness of the softened area is an important
parameter affecting the TSL of the welds.
The hardness of the base metal is believed to be related to the B
content, and the softening phenomenon is associated with the
welding current. Therefore, the effect of the B content on the base
metal hardness and microstructure was examined first.
Fig. 8 shows that change in hardness of the base metal
increased with increasing B content. The microstructures of the
Fig. 7. Typical hardness profiles of 10B steel welds. (welding current : 7.4 kA).
602 J.P. Kong et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 598–609

Fig. 8. Hardness of base metal as a function of B contents.

specimens where 0 and 40 ppm B was added were compared to
examine the correlation between the B content and the hardness
and microstructure.
Fig. 9a and b shows the optical microstructure of 0B steel (a)
and 40B steel (b), which were color-etched using Lepers’s solution.
Fig. 9c and d presents SEM images of the X- and Y-marked areas in
Fig. 9a and b, respectively. Ferrite (F) was distinguished as blue-
violet, Bainite (B) was brown, and Martensite/Retained Austenite
(MA) was white. The microstructure of the base metal was com-
posed of ferrite, bainite and MA regardless of the B content. In
addition, the size of martensite and its fraction increased with
increasing B content. To examine the effect of the B content on
the volume fraction of each phase, 10 SEM images were taken in
each specimen and the area fraction was measured using Image
Pro Plus software.
Fig. 10 shows the change in the volume fraction of each phase
with the B content. In this result, the volume fractions of martens-
ite and bainite increased linearly with increasing B content,
whereas the ferrite faction decreased linearly. The increase in the
hardness of the base metal increased with increasing B content
Fig. 10. Change of the volume fraction of each phase as a function of B content. F,
ferrite; M-A, martensite/retained austenite; B, bainite.
was attributed to the decreasing volume fraction of the soft phase
(ferrite), and increasing hard phase (martensite and bainite).
In order to clarify the reason why the microstructure was signif-
icantly changed by the addition of trace amount of B(40 ppm),
CCT curve due to B content was drawn using JMatPro software
(version 5). The resulting curves (sold line) where the parameters
of heat treatment cycles used to fabricate the steels were assigned
to the software are shown in Fig. 11. In the curves, open symbols
were for 0B steel and closed ones were for 40B steel. As shown
in the curves, Ms temperature was not affected by the B addition
(40 ppm) while initiation time for ferrite and bainite was shifted
to the longer side. In the heat treatment cycle used to fabricated
the steels, cooling curve for the 0B steel passed through ferrite nose
white that for 40B steel did not.
On the other hand, Melloy et al. [4] and Seol et al. [5] reported
that the formation of segregated ferrite along the austenite grain
boundary was suppressed by the addition of B. In addition,

Fig. 9. (a and b) Optical micrographs of base metal with different B content and (c and d) SEM micrographs of the X-and Y-marked areas in Fig. 9a and b, respectively. Etchant,
LePera’s tint; F, ferrite (blue–violet), B, Bainite (Brown); and M–A, martensite/retained austenite (white). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the
reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
 J.P. Kong et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 598–609
Fig. 11. CCT curve of 0B steel and 40B steel calculated using JmatPro v-5 software.
Dotted line: 0 B steel, solid line: 40B steel, Bs: bainte (0.1%), Fs: ferrite (0.1%), Ps:
pearlite, and Ms: martensite start temp.
Nobuyuki et al. [31] also reported that the cooling curve for ultra
high strength steel did not ferrite nose in spite of the increase of
B addition so that the strength was increased due to the increase
of bainite volume fraction. From the above results (Figs. 9–11)
and previous researches [4,5,31] and martensite volume fractions
were increased and that of ferrite was decreased as the B content
increased even though the steel followed the same heat treatment
cycle. It resulted in the increase of the hardness of the base metal.
Fig. 12 shows the change in the minimum hardness in the soft-
ened zone with the welding current and the hardness of the base
metal with the B content. The minimum hardness of the softened
zone was reduced much more drastically than that of the base me-
tal, and the rate of hardness reduction with increasing welding cur-
rent was similar, regardless the B content .
This study examined why the softening phenomenon occurred
in the sub-critical HAZ near the base metal during welding and
the effect of the welding current on the softening phenomenon.
Fig. 13 shows typical SEM images of the base metal (a) and
softened zone (b) in welded 10B steel. In the softened zone
(Fig. 13b), the microstructure was composed of a mixture of tem-
pered martensite (T.M) and untransformed martensite (M), where
it existed in the base metal. Based on this observation, the soften-
ing phenomenon was attributed to a transformation of martensite
in the sub-critical HAZ near the base metal to tempered martensite
due to the heating of Ac1 (eutectoid temperature) by heat input.
This softening phenomenon was reported to appear in the spot
welds in DP780 and DP980 steels [15–22].
Fig. 12. Hardness of base metal and minimum hardness of softened zone (HvSZ) as a
function of B content and welding current.
603
Generally speaking, the degree of softening in the sub-critical
HAZ was dependent on the retention time near the Ac1 tempera-
ture (eutectic temperature) during welding where the martensite
could be decomposed [11]. And, the retention time might be ex-
tended since the heat input was increased with welding current.
The higher the welding current was the longer the retention time
at the temperature (Ac1 temperature) where tempering was in pro-
gress was. As martensite was decomposed during this period, the
hardness of the softened zone seemed to be decreased as shown
in Fig. 12. This result was well consistent with that of Pouranvari
et al. [11].
3.3. Effect of the B content and welding current on the tensile-shear
load in PF mode
When resistance spot weld was fractured in the PF mode out-
side the nugget, several empirical equations to predict the ten-
sile-shear load (TSL) were suggested. That is, Eq. (1) was
suggested by Heuschkel et al. [32], Eqs. (2) and (3) was by Kabas-
awa et al. [33] and Eq. (4) was by Pouranvari et al. [11]. Eqs. (1) and
(2) explained that the TSL was proportional to the plate thickness
(t), strength of the base metal (rBM) and nugget diameter (ND). Eq.
(3) is an empirical formula of the model where the stress distribu-
tion acting on the circular section was considered, and Eq. (4) de-
notes the circular section without considering the stress
distribution. Eqs. (3) and (4) used the fractured diameter (FD) as
the parameter affecting the TSL, particularly the strength of the
fractured part (rFL) used in Eq. (4):
TSLPF ¼ A  ND  t  rBM ð1Þ
0:72 0:81
TSLPF ¼ 17:52  ND tr BM ð2Þ
TSLPF ¼ 1:95  t  rBM ð1 þ 0:0059  ELBM Þ
FD ¼ 2:05  t  rBM ð1 þ 0:0059  ELBM Þ  ðND þ 2:09Þ ð3Þ
TSLPF ¼ p  ND  t  rFL or TSLPF ¼ p  FD  t  rFL ð4Þ
where TSLPF is tensile-shear load in PF mode, A is a materials depen-
dent coefficient (A = 2.5–3.0), t is thickness, rBM is tensile strength
of base metal, ND is nugget diameter, FD is fractured diameter (But-
ton diameter), ELBM is elongation of base metal, rFL is tensile
strength of the pull out fracture location.
In this study, when the constant thickness of the steel plate and
fracture mode of the welds were considered, the parameters affect-
ing to the TLS were the strength of the fractured part (rFL) and frac-
tured diameter (FD). In particular, as the strength of the fractured
part is unknown, the correlation with TSL was examined using the
hardness of the fractured part, i.e. minimum hardness of the soft-
ened zone.
Fig. 14 shows the change in tensile-shear load (TSL) due to the B
content and welding current, and variation of the TSL due to the
fractured diameter (a) and minimum hardness of the fractured part
(softened area hardness) (b). The fractured diameter was defined
as the distance between the locations which showed the lowest
hardness values (twice the distance from the nugget center to
the location which showed the lowest hardness values) in the weld
section microstructure because PF was initiated at the location in
the softened zone where the hardness was the lowest which was
observed in the failure section microstructure (Fig. 6). It was mea-
sured using Image Pro Plus software.
As shown in Fig. 14a, the fractured diameter was increased with
the welding current regardless of the B content in all specimens,
and then, the TSL was also increased. At the same welding current,
the TSL was increased with the B content. In case of the change of
TSL due to the minimum hardness of the softened zone (Fig. 14b),
the hardness of the softened zone was decreased as the welding
current increased regardless of the B addition in all specimens
604 J.P. Kong et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 598–609

Fig. 13. Typical SEM micrographs of (a) base metal, (b) softened zone in 10B steel welds. Etchant: nital 4%; M: martensite, and T.M: tempered martensite [welding current:
7.4 kA].

Fig. 14. (a) Tensile-shear load with fractured diameter and (b) minimum hardness of softened zone as a function of B content and welding current in pull-out fractured
specimen.

but the TSL was high. This could be rationalized by the following
explanation. In the range of the welding current where the pull
out failure occurred, the increasing rate of the fractured diameter
(about + 8.8%/kA) was higher than the decreasing rate of the soft-
ened zone hardness (about 2.5%/kA) as the welding current was
increased so that tensile-shear strength was high. Therefore, the
fractured diameter was more dominant parameter than the hard-
ness of the softened zone on the TSL in the given range of the weld-
ing current.
On the other hand, Fig. 14a showed that TSL was increased as
the B content was increased even though the fractured diameter
was hardly changed at the same welding current. This seemed to
be because the hardness of the softened zone was increased as
the B addition was increased.
Based on the results inferred from Fig. 14, the TSL of the spot
welds in CP steels with different B content was examined when
the specimen was fractured in PF mode during the tensile-shear
test. As mentioned above, the TSLPF was expressed as Eq. (5) when
the diameter of the fractured part was proportional to the strength
of the fractured part and the constant related to the stress distribu-
tion is given as a:
TSLPF ¼ a  FDSZ  t  rSZ
where TSLPF is tensile-shear load in PF mode, a is a constant,
FDSZ is the fractured diameter (actually, twice the distance from
the center of the nugget to the part that showed the minimum
hardness) in PF mode, t is the base metal thickness, and rSZ is
the tensile strength of the softened zone.
Generally, the tensile strength is proportional to the hardness,
and the tensile strength of the softened zone can be predicted with
the ratio between the hardness of the base metal and softened
zone. Therefore, TSLPF could be expressed by the following
equation:
TSLPF ¼ a  FDSZ  t  rBM  ðHvSZ =HvBM Þ ð6Þ
where rBM is the tensile strength of the base metal (kN/mm2), HvBM
is the hardness of the base metal (Hv), and HvSZ is the minimum
hardness of the softened area (Hv). On the other hand, for all spec-
imens, the correlation between the nugget diameter (ND) and frac-
tured diameter (FDSZ) was analyzed by regression analysis and is
expressed as:
FDSZ ¼ ND þ 1:5 ð7Þ
If Eq. (7) is assigned to Eq. (6), the equation to calculate the
TSLPF can be expressed as:
TSLPF ¼ a  t  rBM  ðHvSZ =HvBM Þ  ðND þ 1:5Þ ð8Þ
The constant a related to the stress distribution was calculated
by transformation of Eqs. (8) and (9). That is, each property (the
thickness of the base metal, tensile strength, hardness, nugget
diameter and TSL) of the weld and the base metal due to the B
ð5Þ content and welding current were assigned to Eq. (9), and then,
a was calculated by least square method. In the given range of
the B content and the welding current, its average was about
2.29.
a ¼ TSL=ðt  rBM  ðHvSZ =HvBM Þ  ðND þ 1:5ÞÞ ð9Þ
where a was constant related to the stress distribution, rBM tensile
strength of the base metal (kN/mm2), Hv.BM hardness of the base
 J.P. Kong et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 598–609
Fig. 15. Correlation between measured tensile-shear load (TSLPF) and calculated
TSLPF.
metal (Hv.), Hv.SZ minimum hardness of the softened zone (Hv.), ND
nugget diameter (mm), and TSL measured TSL (=peak load) (kN).
Fig. 15 shows correlations between measured and calculated
tensile-shear loads. The calculated values were obtained from Eq.
(8) where properties of the weld and base metal due to the B con-
tent and welding current were assigned. The measured values
were expressed as closed mark. Open mark data was taken from
the previous researches of Pouranvari et al. (DP780, DP980,
1.5mmt) [11], Sun et al. (DP800, 1.6mmt) [18] and Khan et al.
(DP780, 1.15mmt) [34]. These data including that measured in this
study were used to analyze the correlation between the calculated
and measured TSL. The correlation coefficient was 0.97. Therefore,
in the tensile-shear test of the DP steel and CP steels, which con-
tained 0–40 ppm B welded by RSW, the TSLPF of the part failed with
PF mode could be predicted by Eq. (8).
3.4. Effect of the B content and welding current on the shear load in IF
mode
The shear load (SLIF) of an IF mode was expected to be affected
by the shear strength and nugget diameter because IF occurs along
the joint interfaces of nuggets in a tensile-shear test. Although the
shear strength of a nugget is not known, the shear strength is ex-
pected to be proportional to the hardness of the nugget. Therefore,
the relationship between the hardness and nugget diameter, which
may have an effect on the SLIF, was reviewed.
Fig. 16 shows the correlations among the SLIF, nugget diameter,
and hardness of a welded nugget in which an IF occurred. Although
the nugget diameter increased with increasing welding current,
the B content has almost no effect. Moreover, the SLIF increases
with increasing nugget diameter.
On the other hand, while the hardness of the nugget was almost
constant, irrespective of the B content and welding current, the SLIF
varies substantially with the welding current. This shows that the
SLIF is dependent only on the nugget diameter in the case of IF
mode. As mentioned above, there was almost no difference in
the specific resistance in the B composition range of 0–40 ppm,
and the heat input was dependent only on the current such that
the nugget diameter increases with increasing current increases.
Hence, SLIF increases.
The reasons for the relatively constant hardness of the nugget
with B content and welding current are reviewed.
Fig. 17 shows SEM images of the nugget at different B content
((a and b) 0B steel, (c and d) 40B steel) and welding current ((a
605
Fig. 16. Relationship between shear load and nugget diameter (ND), and that
between average hardness of nugget (Hv) with B content and welding current in
interfacially fractured specimen.
and c) 5.4 kA, (b and d) 6.4 kA). The microstructure of the nugget
was determined to be full martensite regardless of the B content
and welding current.
The reason why the nugget microstructure was full martensite
regardless of the B content and the welding current could be ex-
plained using the CCT curves in Fig. 11. Generally, in the resistance
spot weld of the steel plate whose thickness was 1.2 mm, cooling
rate in the nugget was reported to be 6000 °C/s when calculated
using FEM [35]. The base metal was heated rapidly up to 850 °C
using high frequency induction furnace and water cooled, and
then, the cooling rate was measured using thermocouple. It was
about 600 °C/s. In Fig. 11 cooling rate of the resistance spot weld
was drawn as dashed line (— —) and that of the water cooled spec-
imen was dotted line (——). As shown in Fig. 11, only a martensitic
transformation occurred without passing through a bainite trans-
formation curve (Bs) regardless of the B content because the cool-
ing rates of RSW and water cooling are quite high. Accordingly, it
was estimated that the hardness of the nugget is constant because
all nuggets have a full martensite microstructures because of the
rapid cooling characteristics of the RSW within a given composi-
tion range of B.
3.5. Prediction of the shear load in IF mode
Generally, SLIF in IF mode can be expressed as a product of the
shear strength of the nugget and the area of the failed cross section.
In the uniaxial tension test of a thin plate, the tensile strength (r)
and shear strength (s) had the following relation, i.e. s = 0.5r due
to the Tresca criterion [36]. Therefore, the SLIF can be expressed as:
SLIF ¼ sN  p  ðFDN =2Þ2 ¼ 0:5  rN  p  ðFDN =2Þ2 ð10Þ
where SLIF is the shear load in IF mode, sN is the shear strength of
the welds nugget, FDN is fractured diameter in IF mode, and rN is
tensile strength of nugget.
The nugget near the interface was observed carefully to esti-
mate the area of the failure location. Fig. 18a shows the bonding
state of a nugget of 10B steel welds with a current of 6.4 kA, and
(b) is the inverse pole figure color map obtained by EBSD measure-
ments for the X-marked area of Fig. 18a. As shown in Fig. 18b, the
base metal outside the nugget in both sides could be divided into
the bonded (corona bond) and unbonded regions. Because IF
proceeded along the interface of the joint, the fractured diameter
606 J.P. Kong et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 598–609

Fig. 17. SEM micrographs of welds nugget as a function of B content and welding current. (a) 0B steel-5.4 kA, (b) 0B steel-6.4 kA,(c) 40B steel-5.4 kA, and (d) 40B steel-6.4 kA.

Fig. 18. (a) Optical micrograph near corona bond in 10 B steel spot welds and (b) inverse pole figure color map by EBSD for X-marked area of Fig. 18a. [welding current:
6.4 kA]. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

(FDN) could be expressed by the sum of the nugget diameter (ND)
and corona bond length (CBL) of both sides, i.e. FDN = ND + CBL.
In addition, the shape of the cross section in Fig. 18 indicates
that when the specimen fractured by SLIF, the formation of cracks
is accelerated at the triple point, P, of the HAZ, and both sides of
the base metal act as a sharp notch so that the shear stress is
thought to have decreased. Considering the notch effect, Eq. (10)
could be rewritten as:
SLIF ¼ b  0:5  rN  p  ðFDN =2Þ2
where b is the proportional constant of the notch effect.
FDN can be measured from the nugget cross section, but the real
tensile strength (rN) of the nugget cannot be measured. This was
obtained by conversion using the following method. As shown in
Fig. 18, the microstructure of the nugget was full martensite
regardless of the B content and welding current. When each base
metal was heated to temperatures over AC3 (801 °C) and water
quenched, it was assumed that the tensile strength of the specimen
would have a correlation with the tensile strength of the nugget.
Fig. 19 shows SEM images of the base metal water quenched di-
rectly from 850 °C after rapid heating to that temperature. All sam-
ples were full martensite.
From the results in Figs. 17 and 19, the microstructures of the
nugget and water cooled specimen were known to be full martens-
ite. However, prior austenite grain size (G.SP.A) would be not the
same because transformation mechanism was different. The nug-
get microstructure was formed by phase transformation of the
base metal which was melt by resistant heat and solidified rapidly
so that G.SP.A could be relatively big. But, water cooled specimen
was austenitized at 850 °C which was near AC3 temperature
(801 °C) so that G.SP.A was thought to be small. Therefore, G.SP.A
microstructures of the nugget and water cooled specimen were re-
vealed by etching with NaOH solution (NaOH 27 g + picral
2.7 g + H2O 125 mL) in the 10B steel welded with the welding cur-
ð11Þ rent of 6.4 kA, and their size was measured by line method (ASTM
E112-96) [37] and compared each other. The G.SP.A of the water
cooled specimen was about 12.1 lm and lower than that of the
nugget (about 84.6 lm). 40B steel showed similar trend. This dif-
ference of the G.SP.A might result in the difference in the tensile
strength of the nugget and water cooled base metal. Therefore,
the tensile strength of the nugget (rN) was obtained by multiplica-
tion of hardness ratio of the nugget/water cooled base metal to the
tensile strength of the water cooled base metal. The shear load of
the specimen failed in the interfacial failure mode could be ex-
pressed as:
SLIF ¼ b  0:5  rBM=W:Q  ðHvN =HvBM=W:Q Þ  p  ðFDN =2Þ2 ð12Þ
where SLIF is the shear load in IF mode (kN), b is a constant, rBM/W.Q
is the tensile strength of the water-quenched base metal (kN/mm2),
HvN is the hardness of the nugget (Hv), HvBM/W.Q is the hardness of
 J.P. Kong et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 598–609 607

Fig. 19. Typical SEM micrographs of water quenched base metal as a function of B content. (a) 0B steel and (b) 40 steel.

Table 2 welded CP steel with the given range of the B content (0–40 ppm)
Comparison of experimental shear load and predicted shear load by Eq. (12). was subjected to the tensile-shear test.
No. Current (kN) Experimental SL (kN) Predicted SL (kN)
0B 5.4 8.74 8.37 3.6. IF to PF transition nugget diameter
6.4 13.55 13.80
10B 5.4 8.81 8.64 The standard for the spot welds of the steel sheet of automotive
6.4 13.65 13.90 (ANSI/AWS/SAE/D8.9-97) defined the minimum nugget diameter
25B 5.4 8.91 8.56 as 4t1/2 or 5t1/2(t = the thickness of the base metal) for PF to occur
6.4 13.88 14.10 [27,28]. The minimum nugget diameter has the same meaning as
40B 5.4 8.99 8.68 the critical nugget diameter (NDCri.), where the transition from IF
6.4 13.96 14.05 mode to PF mode. NDCri. can be calculated from the correlation be-
tween Eq. (8) for TSLPF in PF mode and Eq. (12) for the SLIF in IF
mode. Therefore, the equation for TSLPF is the first degree function
the water-quenched base metal (Hv) and FDN is the fractured diam- of the nugget diameter (ND) and SLIF was second degree function of
eter in IF mode. the ND so that NDCri. is the point of intersection of two plots, i.e. ND
Proportional constant (b) with notch effect was obtained from vs. SLIF and ND vs. TSLPF.
the transformed Eqs. (12) and (13). That is, properties of the base In order to plot the changes of the SLIF and TSLPF due to the ND,
metal and weld (tensile strength, hardness, fractured diameter mechanical properties of the base metal and weld with B contents
and shear load) due to the B content and welding current were as- and welding current are listed in Table 3. In particular, an increase
signed to Eq. (13) and least square method was used to analyze in the amount of B added resulted in an increase in the martensite
them. In the given ranges of the B content and welding current volume fraction in the base metal, the tensile strength (óBM) and
the average b was about 0.89. The fact that the b was lower than hardness of the base metal (HvBM), and hardness of the softened
1 meant that the notch stress had an influence on it. Besides, the zone (HvSZ). On the other hand, the tensile strength (rBM/W.Q)
b seemed to be changed slightly due to the steel composition and hardness of the water-quenched base metal (HvBM/W.Q), and
and mechanical properties. the hardness of the nugget (HvN) were relatively unchanged be-
cause the microstructures were full martensite regardless of the
B contents. Therefore, the average was assigned to Eq. (12).
b ¼ SL=ð0:5  rBM=W:Q  ðHvN =HvBM=W:Q Þ  p  ðFDN =2Þ2 Þ ð13Þ Fig. 20 shows a plot of the SLIF and TSLPF vs. ND that was pro-
duced at welding currents of 6.4 kA (a) and 7.4 kA (b) after the data
where SL was measured shear load (kN) in the specimen fractured in Table 3 was assigned to Eqs. (8) and (12). The point of intersec-
at IF mode. tion, (s), of the SLIF curve and each TSLPF line was NDCri., and the
Table 2 lists the calculated and measured shear load. The calcu- point, (j), was the ND measured in this study.
lated values were obtained by calculation where the properties of Table 4 lists the values of the NDCri. due to the B content and
the base metal and weld due to the B content and welding current welding current, which were calculated and measured. For the
were assigned to Eq. (12). And measured values were taken in this specimen welded at a welding current of 6.4 kA, b was assigned
study. The calculated and measured values were well consistent to 0.89, whereas for the specimen welds at 7.4 kA, b = 1 because
(R2 = 0.98). Therefore, Eq. (12) could be used to predict the shear the notch was on the side of the base metal not on the interface,
load of the specimen fractured at IF mode when the resistance spot as shown in Fig. 6.

Table 3
Mechanical properties of steels as a function of B content and welding current.

No. rBM (MPa) HvBM (Hv) rBM/W.Q (MPa) HvBM/W.Q (Hv) 6.4 kA 7.4 kA
HvSZ (Hv) HvN (Hv) HvSZ (Hv) HvN (Hv)
0B 850.2 247.8 1325.6 384.0 236.1 378.1 231.2 378.0
10B 930.3 273.7 253.1 245.1
25B 1020.4 321.0 281.6 275.3
40B 1110.6 347.0 298.2 290.5

where rBM , tensile strength of base metal; HvBM , hardness of base metal; rBM=W:Q , tensile strength of water quenched base metal; HvBM=W:Q , hardness of water quenched base
metal; HvSZ , hardness of softening zone; and HvND , hardness of nugget.
608 J.P. Kong et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 598–609

Fig. 20. Tensile-shear load vs. critical nugget diameter and measured nugget diameter as a function of B content and welding current in IF and PF modes. (a) 6.4 kA and (b)
7.4 kA.

(3) The tensile-shear load (TSLPF) of the specimen fractured at PF

mode was increased with the fractured diameter and the
Table 4
Critical nugget diameter (NDCri.) to ensure the PF mode and measured nugget
hardness of the softened zone. The correlation between the
diameter (ND) as a function of B content and welding current. calculated TSLPF values taken from the equation to predict
TSLPF taken in this research and measured one was analyzed
No. 6.4 kA 7.4 kA
and the correlation coefficient (R2) was 0.97. This meant
NDCri. (mm) ND (mm) NDCri. (mm) ND (mm) both of them are well correlated.
0 6.16 5.38 5.40 6.21 (4) The nugget microstructure was full martensite and little
10 6.40 5.38 5.80 6.20 changes due to the B content and welding current. The shear
25 6.60 5.42 5.90 6.21
40 7.22 5.40 6.20 6.22
load (SLIF) was dependent only on the fractured diameter.
Mode IF PF The correlation between the calculated SL values taken from
the equation to predict SLIF taken in this research and mea-
sured one was analyzed and the correlation coefficient (R2)
was 0.98. This meant both of them are well correlated.
From Fig. 20a, TSLPF (sold line) increased linearly with increas-
(5) The IF occurred during welding with low current (under
ing ND, and the absolute value of TSLPF increased with increasing
6.4 kA) where the nugget diameter (ND) was smaller than
B contents. On the other hand, SLIF (dotted line) increased in a par-
5t1/2 (5.48 mm) regardless of the B content. In the CP steel
abolic manner with increasing nugget diameter regardless of the B
with given range of the B content the critical nugget diame-
content. NDCri. increased with increasing amount of B. The speci-
ter (NDCri.) for transition from the IF to the PF was known to
men welds at 7.4 kA showed a similar trend (Fig. 20b). The speci-
be 5t1/2 rather than 4t1/2 (t = the thickness of the base metal).
men welds at 6.4 kA fractured with IF mode because the ND was
In the low current welding (under 6.4 kA) the predicted ND
smaller than NDCri. (ND was located at the left side of the NDCr
was smaller than the NDCri. so that the IF occurred regardless
on the SLIF line.) regardless of the amount of B added. On the other
the B addition.
hand, for the specimen welds at 7.4 kA, the joint was fractured in
PF mode because all the values of the ND were larger than those
of the NDCri. (ND was located at the right side of the NDCri. in the
TSLIF line.). Acknowledgment

4. Conclusions This work was supported by the National Research Foundation

of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea Government (MSIP) (No.
The effects of the boron (B) content and welding current on the 2012R1A5A1048294).
mechanical properties of the resistance spot welded in CP steel
were examined and the following conclusions were made: References

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that the hardness of the base metal and softened zone was
increased. The fractured diameter was increased with the
welding current, but the B content had little influence on it.
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