Resistance spot welding (RSW) is a dominant

welding process, used in sheet metal fabricationindustries I. In RSW, two or more metal sheets are

joined together by fusion, at discr ete spots at theinterface of work-pieces. Heat generated at
theinterface of the sheets, due to the resistance of the

material to the tlow of current through it'. Thevolume of the metal iToh the work-pieces thuthave
undergone heating, melting, I'usion and

re-solidifi cation is called the weld nugget.'. In thisprocess, two copper electr adex are used to hold the

work sheets together tmd to pass a high current

th, ough it 4. RSW is getting signil'icant importance inautomobile and rail car industries, as it is a last

process and can be automated easily 5. A modernvehicle typically contains 2000 to 5000 spot weids
6.Quality, performance and the lhilur e characteristics of

resistance spot weids are important aspectsdetermining the durability and safety design ot'thevehicles.
As they govern the transfer the load th, oughthe structure of the vehicle, dur-ing a crash 7.

Effect of welding cur rent on mechanical performance

Peak load, the maximum load at the point of

initiation of failur e for each sample, at varyingcurr ent, was recorded. Experimental results indicate

that peak load of the weld joint varies directly withrespect to welding current. The nature of correlation

between welding current and peak load is shown inFig. 2a. It was noticed that peak load maintains a

direct relationship with welding current, even though,at higher values of current (> 12. 5 kA), with the
onset

of expulsion of molten metal, this relationshipbecomes inconsistent. Expulsion results in heat andmetal
loss fr om the weld, causing reduction in theload bearing capacity of the joint.

Effect of welding time on mechanical performance

As stated in the case of welding current. Both peak

load tind failure energy were found to be in direct

relationship with welding time.

Increase in welding time is associated with higherheat input and hence more fusion takes place at
thefaying surlaces. Mor e fusion results in larger nuggetsize, in terms of both diameter and penetration.
A

lar ger nugget can withstand increaked load and absor bhigher amount of energy, than that of a smaller
size.Variation of peak load, flilure energy and nuggetdiameter with var iation in welding current are
shown

in Fig. 4. However it can be observed that the increasein peak load, failur e energy and nugget diameter
withr expect to increase in welding time is not as drastic asthat with increase in welding cur rent. The
intluence ot'

welding time in heat generation ind subsequentnugget formltion is less compared to that of weldingcurr
ent, zls the heat generated is propor tional to thesquare of current. Accor ding to Joule's llIw.

Eff e« t of holding time «m mechanical performance

Holding time is the time period in cycles. Dur-ingwhich the pressure is continued to be muinttined zlfter

weld is made. Holding time rffects the solidificalion

of the molten metal in RSW. It has heen reported thltthe cooling rates associlted with RSW zlre
extremelyhigh. In the order of 1000-10. 000 ° C/5 19 This is

mainly due to the quenching effect pr ovided by thewatel-cooled copper electrodes. It was noticed that

with increasing value of holding time. parame.such. ils peuk load. Ililur e energy and nugget size