Sankaran Subramaniam

Finite Element Modeling of Spot Welding for Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS)

Weldability is a critical enabler for application of new grades of steel, which have found widespread applications in the auto industry to meet new safety regulations and reduce weight of vehicles. There are a wide variety of these grades of steel which are being used across the industry. Even within a OEM the number of material and gauge combinations becomes quite large. This requires a considerable amount of testing to prove out welding feasibility of these steels. This paper discusses the use of a finite element method (FEM) to model spot welding of DP600 and correlates the results with experiments. Improved accuracy and confidence in these tools can provide a way to better understand the physics of the process and improve the weldability of these steels in a cost effective manner.Copyright