Resistance Welding
PRINCIPLE OF RESISTANCE WELDING:
Resistance welding(RW) is a group of fusion welding processes that utilizes a
combination of heat and pressure.
In resistance welding, the metal parts to be joined are heated to a plastic state over a
limited area.
Resistance to the flow of (high amperage low voltage) electric current and mechanical
pressure is employed to accomplish the weld.
Both the electric current and pressure require close regulation and control during the
whole operation.
In this process , the work pieces are placed between two water cooled copper
electrodes constituting a low resistance circuit. High resistance at the interface or the
point of contact creates heat, sufficient enough to produce plastic state in the metal.
The heat produced is given by the relation: H=I2RT
Where H=heat generated I=current
R=resistance of the assembly
T=time or duration of current flow
PRINCIPLE OF RESISTANCE WELDING:
Since H, the heat generated varies with I2 , so to generate the greatest heat effect, it
should be very large current.
PRINCIPLE OF RESISTANCE WELDING:
The electric resistance welding machines use low voltage and high amperage current
for welding due to this reason. An alternating current(AC) has been found most
suitable for resistance welding since many combinations of current and voltage can be
obtained with the help of a transformer.
The amount of power supplied to the weld normally ranges from about 6 to 18KW per
sq cm of contact area. So, electric voltage ranging from 4 to 12 volt depending upon
the composition, contact area and thickness of the metal pieces being welded is
reduced from 240V or 440V power supply available by using a suitable transformer.
The welding pressure is applied hydraulically or pneumatically and the whole
arrangement is fitted in the machine. The process is particularly suitable for mass
production of similar jobs with sheet metal of 0.5 to 3.2 mm thickness and with steel
pipe and tubing can be welded.
RESISTANCE WELDING TYPES:
This type of welding is further is sub divided into the following main methods:
1. Spot welding
2. Seam welding
3. Projection welding
4. Butt welding (a) Upset (b) Flash
5. Percussion welding
SPOT WELDING
It is the simplest and probably the most commonly
utilized resistance welding method employed to join
overlapping strips, sheets or plates (up to a
maximum thickness of 2.7mm).
This technique is popular due to the fact that it can
quite suitably replace riveting in sheet metal
products without any change in its design. The
principles of spot welding are illustrated in figs.
SPOT WELDING :
The pieces to be assembled are placed between two
electrodes which posses high electrical & thermal conductivity
and retain the required strength at elevated temperatures.
These electrodes consist of pure copper for a limited service
and of alloys of copper and tungsten for continuous working.
Whenever these are used for production, they are designed
with internal passage ways for water cooling.
The work pieces to be welded are pressed between the tips of
the electrodes and strong current (i.e, high amperage) and low
voltage is passed.
Due to the resistance offered by the work pieces to the flow of this current, the
temperature at the contact surfaces rises to fusion point and the weld is completed under
the contact surfaces rises to fusion point and the weld is completed under the contact
pressure of electrodes.
The operation are repeated by changing the position of the sheet/plate to obtain the weld
at a number of points. The spot welding method is useful for fabricating all types of sheet
metal structures requiring mechanical strength rather than air/water tightness such as
boxes and packaging cases.
SEAM WELDING:
Seam welding is used for making continuous welds between
two overlapping pieces of sheet metal.
The process is capable of producing airtight joints, and its
industrial application includes the production of gasoline
tanks, automobiles mufflers and various other fabricated
sheet metal containers.
The normal procedure for making a seam weld is to place the
work between the wheels that act as conductors for
producing continuous joints/welds.
In this process, the current is not passed continuously but is
controlled by a timer.
The metal/job to be welded is placed between wheels/
electrodes and is heated to fusion temperature and welded
continuously under the constant pressure of rotating
electrodes as it passes between them.
SEAM WELDING:
The process of resistance seam welding illustrated can be
successfully utilized for welding of mild steel, high carbon
steels, alloy steels, stainless steel , aluminum and its alloys,
magnesium and its alloys and a large combination of other
dissimilar metals.
However, copper as well as its alloys that have higher
proportions of copper cannot be welded with this process
satisfactorily
The weld pressure is provided either hydraulically or
pneumatically. A majority of these machines work on a single
phase A.C, although a few of them are so designed that they
can operate on three phase supply also.
Both stationary and portable types of these machines are
available.
PROJECTION WELDING:
This type of welding is a modification of spot
welding. In this process, the spots at which
welding is to be done are located by providing
projections at the desired locations on the surface
of one of the work pieces to be welded. Thus, the
current is localized at the predetermined spots as
shown in figure.
The mating surfaces are in contact with each other
only at their projections when the current is
switched on.
The projections reach the fusion temperature
and the work pieces are pressed together to
complete the weld, by pressing the upper
electrode downwards only the melted projections
form the weld.
Thus , this process enables the production of
several spot welds simultaneously.
PROJECTION WELDING:
Advantages offered by projection welding are:
It is possible to weld more than one spot at a
given time. The number of welds depends on the
number of projections on any one of the jobs.
The welds can be closer than in the case of spot
welding
The life of welding electrodes is much longer
than that of spot welding due to their larger size.
•While welding sheets/plates of different thicknesses, proper heat balance can be easily
achieved by making the projections in thicker sheets. In case of dissimilar metals, the
projections are to be made on the metals having higher thermal conductivity
•The appearance and uniformity of the weld is much better in comparison with spot welding
•This welding process is only justified in case of mass production, as prior operation of
embossing is essential. So, this is limitation of projection welding process.
PERCUSSION WELDING:
This is, however, a recent development in the field
of welding where effects of heating instead of the
resistance effect is utilized.
One of the two pieces to be joined is held in a
stationary holder and the other is placed in a
clamp mounted in a slide, and backed up by a
heavy spring pressure.
For the purpose of welding the movable clamps
are released, which rapidly carries the part
forward.
When the two pieces/ parts to be welded are
about 1.5mm apart, there is a sudden discharge
of electric energy, causing intense arc between the
two surfaces.
PERCUSSION WELDING:
This percussion blow of the two parts coming
together with sufficient force to affect the weld.
The pressure is applied and the joint is allowed to
cool to form the weld.
It is a very quick welding technique but the
limitation is of an object diameter which is 0.40cm
only.
The major advantage of this method is that
dissimilar metals such as nichrome with copper,
copper with stainless steel and high carbon steel
with brass can be welded.
Usually, the electric energy required for the discharge is built up with the help of a
capacitor and the parts to be welded are heated by the sudden discharge of a heavy
current form the capacitor.
UPSET BUTT WELDING:
The upset butt welding is utilized to join/weld the
metal pieces end to end.
In this technique the parts to be welded usually
bars and rods of the same cross section are
clamped edge to edge in copper jaws of the
welding machine which acts as electrode clamps.
One of the electrodes is fixed (part of the
machine frame) and other is movable.
The two ends of the work pieces are butted
together in a solid contact so that their contact
surface forms a locality of high electric resistance,
while current flows to heat the joint quickly.
At the point/surface of contact, the pressure
applied upsets or forges the parts together.
UPSET BUTT WELDING:
This process is suitable for welding non-ferrous
materials in the shape of formed parts, tubes,
bars and rods etc.
The joint is upset somewhat by the process, but
this defect can be eliminated by subsequent
grinding or rolling.
Application of this welding process includes the
welding of tubes, chains wire rods which have
high electrical conductivity such as copper and
aluminum of their alloys
FLASH BUTT WELDING:
The flash butt welding is similar to upset butt
welding with a difference that the parts must be
brought together in a very light contact.
A very high voltage starts a flashing action
between the two surfaces and continues as the a
parts advance slowly and the forging temperature
is reached and then sufficient pressure is applied
to affect the weld.
A small fin or projection left around the joint can be easily removed.
The pressure applied squeezes out from the joint faces at any unwanted stage, oxides and
overheated metal.
The inner weld metal is then sound and free of oxides and cast metal. In this process, less
current is required than in ordinary butt welding; there is less metal to remove around the
joints,
The metal that forms the weld is free from atmospheric contamination; the operation requires
little time and end to end welding of sheets is possible.
FLASH BUTT WELDING:
Many non-ferrous metals can be flash welded
satisfactorily;
Commonly welded metals are low carbon steels,
stainless steel, tool steels, alloys of aluminum,
nickel, molybdenum, titanium and magnesium
etc.
Alloys containing high percentage of zinc, lead,
tin and copper are not recommended for this
process.
Problems
1. Determine the melting efficiency in the case of arc welding of steel with
a potential of 22V and current of 230A. The cross-sectional area of the
joint is 25 mm2 and the travel speed is 6 mm/s. Heat required to melt
steel may be taken as 10 J/mm3 and the heat transfer efficiency as 86%.
2. It is requried to weld a low carbon steel plate by the manual metal arc
welding process using a linear V-I characteristic DC (motor) Power
source. The following data are available.
• Open circuit voltage of power source = 62 V
• Short circuit current = 130 A
• Arc length = L=4mm
• Transverse speed of welding = 15cm/min
• Voltage is given as V = 20 + 1.5L
• Efficiency of heat input = 84%
• Calculate the heat input to the work piece.
Problems
3. The arc length characteristic of a DC arc is given by the equation:
V=24+4L, Where V is the voltage in Volts and L is the arc length
in mm. The static volt-ampere characteristic of the power source
is approximated by a straight line with a no load voltage of 80V
and a short circuit current of 600A. Determine the optimum arc
length for maximum power.
Problems
A SMAW (Shielded Metal Arc Welding) operation is accomplished in a work cell using a fitter and a
welder. The fitter takes 5.5 min to place the unwelded components into the welding fixture at the
beginning of the work cycle, and 2.5 min to unload the completed weldment at the end of the cycle.
The total length of the several weld seams to be made is 2000 mm, and the travel speed used by the
welder averages 400 mm/min. Every 750 mm of weld length, the welding stick must be changed,
which takes 0.8 min. While the fitter is working, the welder is idle (resting); and while the welder is
working, the fitter is idle. (a) Determine the average arc time in this welding cycle. (b) How much
improvement in arc time would result if the welder used FCAW(Flux-core-Arc-Welding) (manually
operated), given that the spool of flux-cored weld wire must be changed every five weldments, and it
takes the welder 5.0 min to accomplish the change. (c) What are the production rates for these two
cases (weldments completed per hour)?
• Solution:
• (a) SMAW cycle time Tc = 5.5 + 2000/400 + (2000/750)(0.8) + 2.5
= 5.5 + 5.0 + 2.133 + 2.5 = 15.133 min.
Arc time = 5.0/15.133 = 33.0%
• (b) FCAW cycle time Tc = 5.5 + 2000/400 + (1/5)(5.0) + 2.5
= 5.5 + 5.0 + 1.0 + 2.5 = 14.0 min.
Arc time = 5.0/14.0 = 35.7%
• (c) SMAW Rp = 60/15.133 = 3.96 pc/hr
FCAW Rp = 60/14.0 = 4.29 pc/hr.
THANK YOU
Source: http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/CDA/16plus/copelech2pg1.html
