Innovative RSW Electrode for New Light-Weight Design

Important results from the project

The pre-study aimed to investigate the possibility of increased utilisation range for implemented RSW-equipment though a minor modification to the process. It is the first step in the overarching goal of enabling lighter and more fuel-efficient vehicles with maintained crash safety, by a minor modification to existing infrastructure. The results show increased weld quality and process robustness for complex materials and combinations, which is an important contribution for achieving decreased component and product weight with maintained quality and collision safety.

Expected long term effects

The pre-study has shown excellent potential of increased weldability and quality in complex steel and aluminium combinations. A tendency of increased process robustness has been seen for aluminium-steel combinations, evaluation between the concept and other methods for mixed material joining is however required. Before the implementation possibilities can be determined additional aspects and requirements must be evaluated. Continued work is expected to increase the welding possibilities of lightweight materials enabling a more sustainable vehicle industry in the future.

Approach and implementation

Phase one of the project focused on FE-simulation for testing the hypothesis and development of prototype design. Suitable materials for prototype manufacturing and weld trials were studied. The main intent of using prototypes was to verify the hypothesis as the FE-program was determined to be limited in this sense. Several prototypes for physical weld trials of complex material combinations were manufactured. The results were evaluated with regard to both weld quality with optimised process settings and the process robustness. The results show great potential for the concept.