This study examined the effects of alloying elements, which are normally used to modify the composition of advanced high strength steels, on the expulsion phenomenon during resistance spot welding as well as the effects of alloying elements on the expulsion limit current (ELC). An equation for the ELC prediction was derived from the correlation between the ELC and alloying element: ELC (kA)59.85-0.74Si-0.67Al-0.28C-0.20Mn-0.18Cr. The coefficient of determination between the calculated and measured values was sufficiently high (R 2 50.94). The extent of the effects of the alloying elements on the ELC was in the order of Si, Al, C, Mn and Cr. From the correlations among the ELC and resistivity R, the coefficient of thermal expansion a and yield strength (YS 12008C ), the ELC was calculated to be ELC (kA)59.320.057R20.035a+0.22YS 12008C , and the coefficient of determination was sufficiently high (R 2 50.96).

In this study, the effect of laser source(CO 2 and Nd:YAG) on the microstructure and tensile properties of laser welded Al-Si coated boron steel(1.2mmt) was investigated with before and after hot-stamping. In case of as welds condition, fracture occurred in base metal unrelated to the laser source. It could be explained that tensile strength of fusion zone composed of martensite and bainite is higher than that of base metal that contains a lot of ferrite despite dilution of Al and Si from coating layer to fusion zone. In case of hot-stamping condition, the fracture occurred in fusion zone irrelevant to laser source and the tensile strength was lower than hot stamped base metal. In the CO 2 laser welds, Fe 3 (Al,Si) formed near the bond line was transformed into ferrite during hot-stamping. Therefore tensile strength of bond line is lower than that of base metal and center of fusion zone and the fracture occurred in the bond line. On the other hand, in the Nd:YAG laser welds, the higher concentration of Al formed the ferrite in the fusion zone during hot-stamping treatment. Also, the thickness of centerline was thinner than that of base metal. Therefore, it is considered that fracture occurred in centerline of fusion zone due to effect of concentration stress, and it leaded to a lower tensile strength and elongation.

In this study, the effect of the welding current on the hardness characteristics and microstructure in the resistance spot welding of 1GPa grade cold-rolled DP steel was investigated, Also, correlation between the hardness and microstructure was discussed. In spite of the change in the welding current, the hardness distributions near weld was similar. the hardness in the HAZ and the fusion zone was higher than that of the base metal and the hardness in the fusion zone was variated with the location. Especially, the hardness of HAZ adjacent to the base metal showed maximum value, and softening zone in the base metal adjacent to HAZ was found. With the increasing of welding current, there were no difference in maximum hardness and average hardness in the fusion zone were, but the hardness of the softening zone reduced. The difference in the hardness in each location of weld due to grain size of prior austenite. The softening of the base metal occurred by tempering of the martensite.

In this study, effect of Si content on nugget diameter in electric resistance spot welded dual-phase(DP) steel was investigated. The cold rolled DP steels with different Si content (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 wt.%) were used and thickness of those sheet was 1.2mm. With increasing Si content, nugget diameter was increased at the same welding current. This is attributed to increase of heat input result from high resistivity. Also, nugget diameter was increased with an increase in Si content for the same heat input. For this reason, the melting point of DP steel is lowered with an increase in the Si content. And solid DP steel can easily be transformed to a liquid phase because the low melting point. Finally, a prediction formula for the nugget diameter(N.D.) could be obtained in terms of heat input(Q) and melting point(M.P) as follows: N.D.(mm) = 0.11Q(J)-0.0031 M.P.(℃) + 0.32

Ferritic stainless steels, which have relatively small thermal expansion coefficient and excellent corrosion resistance, are increasingly being used in vehicle manufacturing, in order to increase the lifetime of exhaust manifold parts. But, there are limits on use because of the problem related to cosmetic resistance, corrosions of condensation and high temperature salt etc. So, Aluminum-coated stainless steel instead of ferritic stainless steel are utilized in these parts due to the improved properties. In this investigation, Al-8wt% Si alloy coated 409L ferritic stainless steel was used as the base metal during Gas Tungsten Arc(GTA) welding. The effects of coated layer on the microstructure and hardness were investigated. Full penetration was obtained, when the welding current was higher than 90A and the welding speed was lower than 0.52m/min. Grain size was the largest in fusion zone and decreased from near HAZ to base metal. As welding speed increased, grain size of fusion zone decreased, and there was no big change in HAZ. Hardness had a peak value in the fusion zone and decreased from the bond line to the base metal. The highest hardness in the fusion zone resulted from the fine re-precipitation of the coarse TiN and Ti(C, N) existed in the base metal during melting and solidification process and the presence of fine Al2O3 and SiO2 formed by the migration of the elements, Al and Si, from the melted coating layer into the fusion zone.