Nugget formation and growth during resistance spot welding of aluminium alloy 5182

Surface interaction at the worksheet/worksheet interface during resistance spot welding of aluminium alloy 5182 with spherical tip electrodes was investigated. Oxide layer cracking and nugget formation were focused. Both experimental work and finite element analysis were employed to explain the contact behaviour at this interface. It was found that sheet separation and thus bending occurred during the squeezing phase of the resistance spot welding process and suggested a profound influence on nugget formation. The sheet separation caused enlarged and aligned cracks in the surface oxide layers which led to a good metal-to-metal contact near the periphery of the faying surface. High current densities which occurred at the beginning of the current phase caused significant heat generation in this zone. Consequently, the melting at the faying surface started near the periphery and moved in towards the central zone of the contact region to produce a ‘doughnut shaped’ nugget with a filled-in but thin central region.