Effect of expulsion on peak load and energy

absorption of low carbon steel resistance spot

welds
M. Pouranvari1, A. Abedi2, P. Marashi*3 and M. Goodarzi4
The effects of weld nugget size and expulsion on the performance of low carbon steel resistance
spot weld have been investigated in the present paper. Failure mode, peak load and failure
energy obtained in tensile–shear test have been used to describe the performance of spot weld.
The influence of voids and porosity as well as electrode indentation associated with expulsion on
peak load and failure energy is discussed. The results showed that although expulsion does not
reduce the load carrying capacity of spot welds, it decreases their energy absorption capability
which was attributed to the change of failure location due to excessive electrode indentation
associated with expulsion.
Keywords: Resistance spot weld, Weld nugget size, Expulsion, Failure

Introduction monitoring and controlling of expulsion during resis-

Vehicle crashworthiness, which is defined as the
capability of a car structure to provide adequate
protection to its passengers against injuries in the event
of a crash, largely depends on the structural mechanical
behaviour of spot weld. One of the most important
parameters determining the mechanical properties and
performance of spot weld is the fusion zone (weld
nugget) size, which is governed by welding process
parameters.1,2
Expulsion (molten metal ejection) during welding is a
common phenomenon in resistance spot welding pro-
cess. To ensure a large weld nugget, it is a common
practice in industry to use a high welding current up to
and beyond the expulsion limit. Indeed, many spot welds
are made under the expulsion condition. Expulsion is
often used as a visual indicator of a correct welding
process in steel spot welding.3 The effect of expulsion on
the overload performance of steel resistance spot welds
has been investigated by some researchers. Kimichi4 and
Karagoulis5 have reported that expulsion does not
significantly affect the performance of spot weld which
makes it acceptable to some extent. On the other hand,
Zhang6 reported that the quality of spot weld can be
significantly affected by expulsion. However, it seems
that an elaborated explanation was not given in these
studies. Regarding the importance of expulsion, studies
of some researchers7–10 focused on the detection,
1 of 2 mm min21 with an Instron universal testing
Mateials Science and Engineering Department, Sharif University of
Technology, Tehran, Iran
2
3
Metallurgy Department, Shahid Rajaee University, Tehran, Iran
Mining and Metallurgical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of
Technology, Tehran, Iran
4
Materials Science and Engineering Department, Iran University of
Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
*Corresponding author, email pirmarashi@yahoo.co.uk;
tance spot welding.
The aim of the research is to investigate and analyse
the effect of expulsion on the overload performance of
resistance spot welds of a typical thin low carbon steel
sheet used in car body production.
Experimental
A 0?8 mm thick uncoated low carbon steel of the type
used in automotive industry was used in the investiga-
tion. The yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of
this sheet steel were 180 and 330 MPa respectively. The
chemical composition of the steel is Fe–0?045C–
0?189Mn–0?032Si–0?009P. Spot welding was performed
using a 120 kVA AC pedestal type resistance spot
welding machine, controlled by a PLC. Welding was
conducted using a 45u truncated cone RWMA Class 2
electrode with a face diameter of 5 mm.
To study the effects of both nugget size and expulsion
on the weld quality, several welding schedules were used.
The electrode force was in the range of 2?8 to 4?5 kN,
the weld current was in the range of 7 to 11 kA and the
weld time was between 5 and 9 cycle (1 cycle550 Hz).
Critical welding conditions leading to expulsion were
recorded.
Static tensile–shear test samples were prepared
according to ANSI/AWS/SAE/D8?9-97 standard.11
Figure 1 shows the tensile–shear sample dimensions.
Static tensile–shear tests were performed at a crosshead
machine.
The peak load and failure energy were extracted from
the load displacement curve.
The failure energy was calculated as the area under
the load displacement curve up to the peak load. It
should be noted that when the specimen finally fails, the

ß 2008 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute
Received 26 July 2007; accepted 14 September 2007
DOI 10.1179/174329307X249342 Science and Technology of Welding and Joining 2008 VOL 13 NO 1 39
 Pouranvari et al.
1 Dimensions of tensile–shear test specimens
2 Effect of weld nugget size on peak load
total energy is not quite relevant to the performance of a
weld; it reflects more on the influence of the specimen
than the spot weld.3 The nugget diameter was measured
for each sample and failure modes were determined from
the failed samples. The optical micrographs of the welds
after failure were examined to determine the failure
location. The Vickers microhardness test was performed
along the interfacial line and 100 mm above the weld
centreline using a 100 g load.
Results and discussion
Effect of weld nugget size on overload
performance of weld
The load carrying capacity and energy absorption
capability of spot welds depend on their physical
4 Fracture surface of spot welds in a interfacial and b pullout failure mode
Science and Technology of Welding and Joining
Effect of expulsion on peak load and energy absorption of spot welds
3 Effect of weld nugget size on failure energy
attributes particularly the weld nugget size, failure mode
and failure location strength. To examine the relation-
ships between the peak load (and the failure energy) and
the weld nugget size, a scatter plot of peak load (and
failure energy) versus weld size was constructed, and a
trend curve was added to the scatter plot to show the
general relationship (Figs. 2 and 3). In this section, first
the failure behaviour of the resistance spot weld is
discussed for expulsion free samples and then those
which experience expulsion are considered.
Before expulsion, there is a positive relationship
between the peak load (and failure energy) and the weld
nugget size. The peak point in the load displacement
plot of tensile–shear test corresponds to the point of
crack propagation through the weld nugget for inter-
facial mode and to the necking point at the failure
location for the pullout mode. The failure mode is a
qualitative criterion for weld reliability which is widely
used in the manufacturing environment. Typical spot
weld fracture surfaces for interfacial and pullout failure
modes are shown in Fig. 4. As can be seen in Fig. 2 for
small weld nuggets, the dominant failure mode is
interfacial. However, when the weld nugget diameter is
increased beyond a critical value, the failure mode
changes to the pullout one. In the present investigation
the critical nugget diameter is y3?1 mm (see Fig. 2). As
can be seen in Figs. 2 and 3, the failure energy and the
2008 VOL 13 NO 1 40
 Pouranvari et al.
5 Failure location of spot welds a without expulsion (electrode indentation is y8%) and b with expulsion (electrode
indentation is y22%)
peak load have smaller values in the interfacial failure
mode compared to the pullout mode. As can be seen
from Fig. 4, almost no plastic deformation is observed
for the interfacial failure mode, while the pullout mode
is accompanied by considerable plastic deformation.
For the interfacial mode, the bigger the nugget size the
higher is the interfacial resistance to shearing. For the
pullout mode, the increase in the nugget diameter
increases the nugget resistance against rotating and
therefore increases the required force for necking at
failure location. In both cases, the increase in the weld
nugget diameter increases the required force and energy
for failure to occur. Therefore, it is concluded that
before expulsion the weld nugget diameter is the main
controlling factor of the load carrying capacity and
energy absorption capability.
However, after expulsion a different behaviour was
observed: the peak load remains constant and despite
constant weld nugget size, a significant reduction in the
failure energy was observed. As can be seen in Fig. 3,
those spot welds experiencing expulsion have a lower
failure energy even compared to expulsion free spot
welds of smaller nugget size. The observed different
behaviour can be attributed to expulsion related
phenomena such as excessive electrode indentation and
volume defects such as void and porosity. The effects of
these two parameters on the peak load and failure
energy of spot welds are discussed blow.
Effect of porosity on performance of spot weld
The porosity formed by expulsion is mainly located at
the weld nugget centre. As confirmed by the finite
element modelling of the mechanical behaviour of spot
welds,12 in the pullout failure mode, the load is mainly
carried by HAZ while the centre region of the nugget is
mostly stress free. Therefore, the strength of spot welds
which failed via the pullout failure is not considerably
affected by porosity at the centre of the weld nugget.
However, in the interfacial failure mode, porosity
decreases the load bearing surface area and, thus
decreases the failure strength of spot welds. For low
carbon steels such as the investigated material in the
present study, the expulsion occurs when the weld
nugget grows more than a critical size. Because large
weld nuggets are failed in the pullout mode, the effect of
porosity induced by expulsion on their strength is not
significant. It is interesting to note that the aluminium
resistance spot weld is highly prone to expulsion so that
Science and Technology of Welding and Joining
Effect of expulsion on peak load and energy absorption of spot welds
the expulsion can even occur for small spot weld
nuggets, which fail in the interfacial mode. Therefore,
under this condition the resulted porosity can reduce the
load carrying capacity of the spot weld. The decrease in
peak load due to the expulsion is reported by some
researchers for aluminium resistance spot welds.13,14
Effect of electrode indentation on performance
of spot weld
In the present study it was found that the indentation
depth has a significant effect on the failure behaviour.
The failure location examination of expulsion free
samples which failed in the pullout mode showed that
the failure occurs at the base metal far from the weld
nugget (Fig. 5a). However, failure occurs near the edge
of the weld nugget for samples experiencing expulsion
(Fig. 5b). As mentioned in previous studies,1,15 localised
necking through sheet thickness is the failure mechanism
in the pullout mode. Necking usually starts at locations
where it is easier to occur, i.e. at lower hardness
locations.
However, the increase in the electrode indentation
increases the stress concentration at the edge of the weld;
therefore, the failure location gets closer to the WN/
HAZ boundary. Changing the failure location has two
contradicting effects on the peak load:
(i) the increase in the electrode indentation leads to a
reduction in the thickness of the failure location
(necking location), which reduces the resistance
to the necking and therefore reduces the peak
load.
(ii) on the other hand, the peak load also depends on
the failure location strength and its microstruc-
ture. The hardness profile of the spot welds as
shown in Fig. 6 indicates that the hardness of the
fusion zone is much higher than that of the base
metal due to the martensite formation in the
fusion zone. The microstructure of the weld
nugget is shown in Fig. 7, indicating an almost
martensitic structure. The martensite formation
in the weld nugget during resistance spot welding
for low carbon steels has also been reported by
other researchers. The cooling rate is higher for
resistance spot welding process, compared to
other conventional fusion welding. It has been
shown through modelling that even at 500uC the
cooling rates in spot welding were in excess of
1000uC s21.16
2008 VOL 13 NO 1 41
 Pouranvari et al.
6 Typical hardness profile of spot welds
Considering the higher hardness of weld nugget edge
compared to that of the base metal, failure at the WN/
HAZ boundary accompanies with a higher resistance to
necking which could lead to a higher load bearing
capacity.
Indeed, the interaction of these two factors (the
reduction in sheet thickness due to the indentation and
changing of the hardness of the failure location) deter-
mines the effect of increasing indentation on the peak
load. For the investigated range, it seems that the com-
promise of these two factors has undermined the effect
of expulsion and electrode indentation on the peak load.
However, reducing the peak load is expected by a
further increase in the electrode indentation.
As mentioned above, the electrode indentation affects
the failure location and therefore the samples experien-
cing expulsion fail at the edge of the weld nugget. The
weld ductility for these samples is less than its value for
those samples failed at base metal due to the higher
hardness of the edge of the weld nugget. Therefore,
failure at the edge of the weld nugget results in less
energy absorption.
Thus, the failure energy for those welds showing
expulsion is less than expulsion free welds with similar or
even smaller weld nugget diameters. Therefore, it is
concluded that in addition to the weld nugget size, the
failure location of spot welds which is affected by
expulsion can significantly affects the weld performance.
The energy absorption capability is an important
parameter in vehicle crashworthiness. There is a direct
relationship between the failure energy in the static
tensile–shear test and impact test.17
In the present study, contrary to some reports5,6
on the negligible effect of expulsion on the weld
performance, it can be seen that although expulsion
does not have a significant effect on the weld peak
load, it does reduce the failure energy. Therefore, it
is necessary to eliminate/reduce the expulsion during
welding in order to improve the quality of resistance
spot welded joints. It should also be noted that, if
merely peak load is used to describe the mechanical
behaviour of the weld, the negative effect of expulsion
cannot be detected. As have been suggested by Zhou
et al.18 to fully describe the mechanical behaviour of
spot weld, the failure energy should be considered in
addition to the peak load. To fully investigate the
expulsion effect on the resistance spot weld quality, its
Science and Technology of Welding and Joining
Effect of expulsion on peak load and energy absorption of spot welds
7 Microstructure of weld nugget
effect on the fatigue performance of spot welds should
be further researched.
Conclusions
In this research, the effects of expulsion on the peak load
and energy absorption of low carbon resistance spot
welds were analysed. From this research the following
conclusions can be drawn.
1. In addition to the weld nugget size, the failure
location of spot welds during the tensile–shear test
which is affected by the electrode indentation can
significantly affects the weld performance.
2. There is a direct relationship between the fusion
zone size and the peak load and failure energy in
expulsion free samples.
3. Although expulsion might not decrease the load
carrying capacity of spot weld, it could reduce their
energy absorption capability. The failure energy for
samples experiencing expulsion is lower compared to
that for expulsion free samples with identical or even
smaller weld nugget size which is related to changing
failure location due to excessive electrode indentation
associated with expulsion.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Novinsazan Setareh Sanat
Company which made this study possible. The authors
would also like to thank Amirkabir University of
Technology for providing foundations for this research.
Thanks are also due to Mr S. M. Mosavizadeh, for his
input through many useful discussions.
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