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ABSTRACT−This paper aims to predict failure modes of spotwelded metals using an available failure criterion, namely, the
ESI-Wilkins-Kamoulakos (EWK) rupture model, in the PAM-CRASH finite element (FE) commercial software. By accounting
for the hydrostatic pressure and the stress asymmetry, the EWK model can successfully predict different failure modes in the
welding strength tests, including the shear mode, which cannot be predicted by Gurson's model. Moreover, characteristics of the
spotweld, including residual stress, phase distributions, sizes and material roper ties of different zones, are obtained from an
analysis with the SYSWELD software and are then mapped into the failure prediction model to achieve a realistic description
of the weldment. Both the simulated results of the FE model combining solid and shell elements and those of the model with
only solid elements show rather good consistency with the welding strength test data.
KEY WORDS : Fracture prediction, EWK rupture model, Spotweld, Damage, Heat-affected zone, PAM-CRASH, SYSWELD
459
460 N. T. NGUYEN et al.
of solid elements for nuggets, shell elements for base stress of the HAZ decrease from the highest value in the
metals, and HAZ is used to improve the modeling process nugget region to the smallest value in the base metal,
and computational speed. The elastic–plastic material indicating a decrease in the material strength along the
model incorporating the EWK failure criterion available in spotweld radius direction. These mechanical properties are
the PAM-CRASH code was adopted for both shell and solid also reduced from the nugget to the sheet surface through a
element types (ESI-Group, 2008). These two FE models are rather uniform value across the HAZ closed by the nugget
then used to simulate the failures in three basic welding (Chang et al., 2001).
strength analyses, which are the tension-shear (I-type), the
cross-tension type and the peel-tension (T-type) tests 2.1. Spot Welding Process
(Zhang and Senkara, 2005). Finally, consistency is A schematic diagram of a typical spot welding process is
evaluated by comparing the real strength tests and the data depicted in Figure 2. Two copper alloy electrodes are
showing the curves of the displacement and force. positioned over the area where the bond is to be made. The
two sheets of metal that are welded are clamped by the two
2. SPOT WELDING SIMULATION electrodes while a large electric current is run through
them. The main source of heat is the electric current
The necessary physical insight about the behavior of spot- flowing through the welding region that causes heating via
welded joints can currently be obtained from experimental Joule’s effect. The resistance to current flow through the
work (Zhang and Senkara, 2005). In addition, predictive metal sheets generates heat. The heat delivered to the spot
tasks, including the design, analysis and evaluation of spot- is directly related to the resistance between the electrodes,
welded structures, are often carried out by computational the amplitude and the duration of the applied electric
methods (Deng et al., 2000; Goodman and Keer, 1977). In current. The temperature rises at the sheet interface until
particular, spotwelds can be numerically simulated from the plastic point of the metal is reached. The metal will
the welding process to the mechanical failure during in- begin to fuse, and a nugget is formed. The current is then
service operations. This section describes the welding switched off, and the nugget is allowed to cool down
process simulation using the finite element modeling slowly to solidify under pressure. This process is
technique. A two-dimensional axisymmetric model will be completed within a specified cycle time (Zhang and
used to model the thermo-mechanical-electrical coupling Senkara, 2005).
of the process. A mechanical analysis and a thermal-
electric analysis will be carried out using the ESI- 2.2. Simulation
SYSWELD software (ESI-Group, 2005). A spotweld is With the coupling between electromagnetism, heat transfer,
composed of the main parts of the base metal, HAZ and the metallurgy, and mechanics, the strong interactions between
nugget, each with different microcosmic compositions, as the electrical, metallurgical and mechanical phenomena of
shown in Figure 1. the spot welding process are accurately simulated with
At the center of the weld zone, distinct pillar crystals are SYSWELD. Figure 3 illustrates these coupling characteristics
located in the nugget, which is surrounded by the HAZ of the spot welding multiphysics simulation. The analysis
with fine crystalline grains whose sizes vary over the HAZ. requires knowledge of parameters of both the welded and
The weldment is thus inhomogeneous in composition and electrode materials and of heat transfer. The accuracy of
in mechanical properties. Different compositions of assessing the physical properties of the electrodes and
components in the spotweld zone result in different welded materials affects the sensitivity of the calculations,
mechanical properties. All of these factors influencing the especially when the measurements are of a short duration,
local structures, the inhomogeneity and the characteristics i.e., the condition to which new processing guidelines seem
of a spotweld should be obtained and taken into account for to point. First, the thermo-metallurgical calculation on the
the simulation. From observations and the direct axisymmetric mesh gives the temperature field and the
measurements of a typical spotweld, the hardness and yield phase proportions during the spot welding. Then, the
mechanical calculation based on these first results can be
used to calculate the residual strain and stress distributions.
Finally, using the simulation, the complete results can be
obtained for axisymmetric modeling of spot welding (ESI-
Group, 2005).
For simulating the welding process, the half axisymmetric
finite element model was constructed as shown in Figure
4(a) with the given geometry of the welding tip in Figure
4(b). The welding analysis was performed using the
SYSWELD code, and the results are shown in Figure 5.
Figure 1. Spotweld structure with divided subzones and The obtained results include the distributions of the
typical tensile shear failure paths. phase, residual stress and yield stress, and the distortions in
NUMERICAL PREDICTION OF VARIOUS FAILURE MODES IN SPOTWELDED METALS 461
sections using a mapping technique between SYSWELD cracking on both the spacing and size of the inclusions
and PAM-CRASH. However, a fully transferred 3D model (Pickett et al., 2004). Moreover, the initiation and extension
between the two environments can sometimes be too costly. of a crack are assumed to be constitutive properties of
Depending on the nature of the problem under materials. Fracturing depends on the current state and the
investigation, some further assumptions and simplifications past loading history of a local region and is independent of
can be made in the analysis. The influential effects should geometry and boundary conditions, except as they affect
remain while the less important factors can be approximated the local state (Airoldi and Cacchione, 2005). As a
or neglected. A simple 3D distortion model of the spotweld consequence, crack extension and crack initiation are
mapped from the 2D analysis results is illustrated in Figure treated the same way in the EWK model.
7. This model contains information about the yield stress The EWK model in PAM-CRASH provides a so-called
and residual stress distributions in the nugget and the HAZ. semianalytical identification input method to facilitate user
interaction with the fracture simulation. The model
3. EWK RUPTURE MODEL calibration can be made using a test with a minimal
configuration and provided guidance (ESI-Group, 2008).
The EWK rupture model is a built-in ductile failure criteria Typical results of the application and validation of the
of metal provided in the PAM-CRASH commercial FE EWK model for regular specimen geometries are shown in
code (SYSWELD Manual, 2005). The model is Figure 8.
implemented from the Wilkins rupture model, which is in The material parameters are then adjusted with a trial-
turn based on the ductile-fracture theory of McClintock and-error adjusting procedure for several small specimen
(Pickett et al., 2004). This failure prediction model can configurations to obtain the fit values that will be used
solve the size-effect issue in classical fracture mechanics universally for that material, regardless of geometry,
and the shear loading failure mode of the Gurson-like
model (Airoldi and Cacchione, 2005).
The EWK model is a cumulative strain damage model,
which postulates plasticity as a relevant measure of damage
for metals. Damage is dened as the relative loss of ductility
of the material, and fracture ductility is the ability of a
material to accept a large amount of deformation without
fracture (usually measured by the equivalent strain to
fracture). The cumulative strain damage models assume
that the damage leading to eventual fracture is due to the
plastic deformation history of the material (depends on the
loading history). When a damage function exceeds a
critical value over a critical distance Rc, this leads to
‘discontinuous’ macro crack creation and stepwise growth.
Wilkins defined the damage function as follows:
p
D = ∫ w1w2 dε (1)
w1 = ( 2 – A )β (3)
Figure 14. Results of the spotweld strength analysis for a Figure 15. Comparison of the force-displacement curves
tensile-shear test specimen. for experiments and analyses.
466 N. T. NGUYEN et al.
shear around the circumference of the weld nugget leading finite element analysis of the mechanical behavior of
to a button pullout failure. The button pullout failure mode spot welds. Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, 35,
is observed in the experiment of this study. The force- 17−39.
displacement curve of this test and the simulation results ESI-Group (2005). SYSWELD Reference Manual Version
are presented in Figure 15(c). 2005. Cedex. Parais. France.
ESI-Group (2008). PAM-CRASH Solver Reference Manual
5. CONCLUSION and Solver Notes Manual Version 2008. Cedex. Parais.
France.
The study in this paper reveals that different failure modes Fan, X., Masters, I., Roy, R. and Williams, D. (2007).
of welded parts can be predicted and simulated using the Simulation of distortion induced in assemblies by spot
EWK rupture model available in the PAM-CRASH welding. Proc. Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part
commercial code. The spotweld model involving a much B: J. Engineering Manufacture, 221, 1317−1326.
simplified representation using a combination of solid Goodman, L. E. and Keer, L. M. (1977). Near field stress
elements for the nugget and shell elements for the base analysis of a spot weld between elastic plates. Int. J.
metal and the HAZ improves the modeling process and Solids and Structures, 13, 151−158.
computational speed significantly. The obtained results for Kamoulakos, A. (2004). The ESI-Wilkins-Kamoulakos
this simplified model are consistent with those of the (EWK) Rupture Model. Raabe, D., Roters, F., Barlat, F.
detailed solid element model. The characteristics of a and Chen, L.-Q. (Edn). Continuum Scale Simulation of
spotweld from the welding process results in the weld Engineering Materials: Fundamentals - Microstructures
region are transferred into the failure prediction model - Process Applications. Wiley-VCH. Berlin. Germany.
using a mapping technique between SYSWELD and PAM- 795−804.
CRASH. The obtained results in this paper apply such an Khan, M. I., Kuntz, M. L. and Zhou, Y. (2008). Effects of
approximation of the local mechanical properties for weld microstructure on static and impact performance of
different zones in the weld geometry. Modeling the service resistance spot welded joints in advanced high strength
behavior of a welded joint under general loading conditions steels. Science and Technology of Welding and Joining,
can be achieved by following the procedure in this study. 13, 294−304.
The proposed models and analyses of spotwelded parts are Kim, H. Y., Choi, J. G., Lee, K. W. and Yeo, T. J. (2008).
thus suitable for simulations of crashworthiness and will be Cumulative impact damage evaluation of automotive
the topic of the next study. aluminum bumper beam. Int. J. Modern Physics B, 22,
1584−1591.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT−This work was supported by Langrand, B. and Markiewicz, E. (2010). Strain-rate
National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the dependence in spot welds: Non-linear behaviour and
Korean Government (2010-0017090) and the Korean Ministry of failure in pure and combined modes I/II. Int. J. Impact
Knowledge Economy (10031312). Engineering, 37, 792−805.
Lin, P. C., Lin, S. H. and Pan, J. (2006). Modeling of failure
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