Evaluation of Shunt Distancein Resistance Spot Welding

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to generate a greater understanding of how the shunt distance affects the shunting phenomena which occurs when working with resistance spot welding (RSW). Shunting affects the quality of the weld and the goal of the study was to create guidelines for RSW to minimize its impact on the weld quality. In order to minimize waste from production and to reduce the welding time there is need for understanding of what the shunt effect depends on. To evaluate what impact the shunt distance will have on the weld, two different experiments were performed. In the first experiment, a one-dimensional welding lobe was manufactured for various materials and the current range was compared over three different shunt distances. The second experiment consisted of welding with a constant current on different shunt distances to investigate how this would impact the second weld performed in the welding sequence. A range of different steel grades and sheet thicknesses was used in the experiments to further explore what impact different material properties will have on the shunt effect. The result showed that the shunt distance has little impact on the acceptable weld-current range, with minor deviations. However, the shunt distance will affect the size of the shunted weld, which decreases as the shunt distance is reduced. Overall, the data collected in this study is not expansive enough to make guidelines that could be implemented in today´s industry. The phenomena of shunting require more data to fully be understood.