Small-scale resistance seam welding of 304 stainless steel with capacitor discharge welding machine

Abstract

In this paper, small scale resistance seam welding (SSRSEW) of 304 stainless steel sheet with a thickness of 0.1 mm with a capacitor discharge (CD) welding machine is investigated. The effect of the main parameters such as discharged energy, electrode force, and electrode speed on the quality of the weld seam was investigated. In order to control the speed of the electrode, the electrode wheel was mounted on a CNC machine. Mechanical tests such as tensile-shear and peel tests were used to evaluate the quality of the weld seam. Also, the failure modes were investigated in different welding conditions. The results show that the discharged energy has more effect on the weld seam strength and the maximum strength in the peel test is usually lower than the strength of the tensile-shear test. Also, discharge energy level of 14 ws and electrode force of 20 N and electrode speeds of 200 and 300 mm/min are the optimum welding condition for welding the 304 stainless steel sheets with a thickness of 0.1 mm.

Small‐scale resistance seam welding of stainless steel bipolar plates of PEM fuel cells

“…In Table 3 the maximum peel strength by using ball electrode compared with the maximum peel strength by using wheel electrode at the same welding conditions, which has been studied in authors' previous work, 44 for six specimens. As shown in this table, there is no significant difference in joint strength by using wheel electrode and ball electrode.…”

“…As stated in all published articles on RSW, the welding current is one of the effective parameters on the size and strength of the weld nugget. [42][43][44][45] In the RSW with CD welding machine, the discharged energy determines the amount of welding current and as the discharged energy increases, the current passing through the weld zone increases, and as a result, the size of the weld nugget increases.…”