MIME 1650—Lab 2 and 3

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Experiment 2

Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) Test

Experiment 3

Microscopy and Sample Preparation

Student: Brian Chai Yung Bing

Time/Date of experiment: 11:00AM – 12:30PM, 2 FEBRUARY

2022
Objective

The objective of this lab is to prepare and sample a welding spot and to observe the material
of the structure by microscopy.

Abstract

The purpose to this experiment is to create a weld between two metal to analyse and find out
the innermost details of the structure. Throughout the experiment, the sample was created,
and we started to view the sample at a microscopic level. we learnt to use instrument such as
resistance spot welding machine, consumable-wheel abrasive cutting machine, protective
screen, grinder, mounting machine and microscopy. The material we used in this experiment
are low carbon steel sheets, and welded both of the steel sheets together by resistance welding
machine. Then, we used the circular saw to cut through the middle part of the welded area
and use mounting machine to make a mold base for the steel sheet along with polishing the
mold before the microscopic analysis.

Introduction

Amongst significant joining techniques belongs Resistance spot welding (RSW). It caters
largely to the automotive industry given that the process is both economical and fast.

RSW is primarily dependent on the application of pressure and electric current to the
designated surface points. Heat that is produced from the material’s internal resistance to the
current and therefore both heat and pressure are utilized to impact coalescence.

During the weld cycle, pressure is altered where, firstly, a determined amount of pressure
holds the workpiece in contact. This enables the control of electric resistance at the interface.
Subsequently, the pressure is further increased to advance into coalescence only once the
appropriate temperature is reached. This process of reaching the desired temperature along
with the coalescence is usually achieved in seconds.
As mentioned above, the heat generated by the passing current. It is generated with large
electrical current that is passed through the workspace for a prompt period. The relationship
that expresses the amount of heat is given by:

H=I2Rt

in the relationship above, H signifies the total heat input, R the resistance of the circuit, I
being the current and t being the time that current flows. It should be understood that the
electrical circuit formed is inclusive of the work pieces. Hence, three components are
involved in the total resistance between electrodes first being the resistance formed by
contact between workpiece and electrodes, the workpieces’ resistance and lastly the
resistance amidst the faying surface (Park, 2022).

RSW aims to increase the temperature of both faying surfaces concurrently to its desired
temperature. The process achieves this while also maintaining cool electrodes and remaining
material relatively. These electrodes are commonly kept cool through utilizing water which
aids in stabilizing the desired conditions.

Methodology

In this lab there are 5 major operations in the preparation of metallographic specimens:
Sectioning, Mounting, Grinding, polishing and etching. The equipment we used in this
experiment are (resistance spot welding) RSW machine, consumable-wheel abrasive cutting
machine, Pneumatic mounting press, Grinders (coarse and find surface), Rotating Wheels,
Nital, Methyl Alcohol and Microscopy. The purpose of RSW machine is to weld two low
carbon steel sheets together but passing current through the sheets to heated it up and weld
them in to a single piece which is the sample. The use of consumable-wheel abrasive cutting
machine is to perform the sectioning part of this operation by cutting the middle of the
sample and make it into a specimen for microscopic analysis. Then for the Pneumatic
mounting press is to create mold base which is part of the major operation for metallographic
specimens, mounting allow the experiment much easier especially when we dealt with small
specimens. Moving on to the Grinding operation, in here we used different roughness of
surface on grinding, this process is to remove any polymer residue to make a clean surface.
The use of rotating wheel is to polish the surface of the specimen then put Nital and Methyl
Alcohol for Etching operation to create a clean surface for clearer observation.
Procedure

1. Prepare 2 low carbon steel sheets align with each other, then clipped it with wolf’s
tong.
2. Insert the sheets into RSW machine and adjust the position of the sheets to make sure
it is aligned.
3. Press the power button to welded the sheets together.
4. Let the welded steel sheets cold down
5. Put the specimen into consumable-wheel abrasive cutting machine make sure to line
up the middle of the welded spot with the blade.
6. Used the handles to adjust and lock the specimen’s position and make sure it is rigid.
7. Cover the lid of the consumable-wheel abrasive cutting machine.
8. Push cutting and bump button.
9. Pulled down the handle slowly with good amount of pressure to prevent damage done
on the specimen.
10. Collect the specimen and wash it with water.
11. Use a plastic clip to clipped the specimen to prevent it to fall when insert into the
Pneumatic mounting press.
12. Rotate the ram control into up position
13. Spray lubricant and position the specimen onto the mold base.
14. Rotate the ram control into down position.
15. The scoop a spoonful of Bakelite powder and poured it into mold cylinder and closed
it.
16. Rotate ram control to up position and set 4200 psi of pressure on the machine.
17. Turn on the Pneumatic mounting press and let it run for 10 minutes.
18. After 10 minutes turn off the machine and use the cooling cylinder to cooled down
mold cylinder.
19. Remove closure and obtain the specimen.
20. Use grinder to grind the face with steel to remove all the polymer on top of the steel.
21. Grind from coarse surface to fine surface (rotate the mold when grinding)
22. Then turn the rotating wheels on slow speed and apply Al2O3 on the wheel and start to
polish the surface of the specimen. (Start with 0.3 grit and end with 0.05 grit)
23. Use alcohol and cotton to clean and dry the specimen.
24. Then apply Nital on the cotton swap and let it stay on the surface of the specimen for
35 seconds.
25. Rince the specimen with water then applu alcohol and dried it with heat gun.
26. Specimen are ready for microscopy
27. put the specimen onto the mechanical stage and adjust it position
28. look for the welded spot and where two metal joint into one.
29. Obtain result and record it down.

Result

Based on the picture we are able to see the line is between two low carbon steel sheers
disappear in and joint together as nuggets, we also able the see the heated affected zone
(HAZ) at the surrounding of the nugget. This shows that RSW is an useful tool when it
comes to joining metals together.

Result 1
 Discussion and Conclusion

In my opinion, the application of RSW is not only an important tool in automotive

industry. The potential of RSW can be use in different kind of product when there are
require to join metals into one piece because if joining with screw it will loosen in some
period of time and with RSW the material is already into one piece of metal.

In conclusion this lab went successfully, based on what on the result we are able to
observe two metals welded into on and we learn how to use microscopy to look for the
nuggets and heated affected zone.

Reference

Park, G. (2022). What is Spot Welding? (A Complete Welding Process Guide). Twi-

Global.com. https://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/faqs/what-is-spot-

welding
 Appendix

Resul
t2

Specimen
Resistance Spot Welding machine

Consumable-wheel abrasive cutting machine

 Pneumatic mounting press

Bakelite powder
Coarse Grinder

Fine Grinder

Rotating wheel with a napless wet cloth

Nital

Microscopy