The resistance spot welding process represents the welding technology used to obtain assemblies trough welded spots characterized by adequate mechanical properties. This assembly process is used mainly into the automotive, petroleum and naval industries. It is applied due to the significant advantages concerning the technology and service properties of the obtained assembly. This paper purposes a study concerning the micro hardness change of an assembly made by resistance welding spot. The entire process of plastic deformations together with the solidification step developed in the presence of the heat generated during welding process determines the mechanical characteristics of the welded spot and, of course, of the assembly obtained. In such conditions, depending on the changes developed during the welding process, the micro hardness of the welded spot varies between the fusion area (FA) and heat affected zone (HAZ). In this way, the graphical representation of the micro hardness repartition gives clues about the weakness areas which don’t correspond to the requirements. As input factors, in this study, the values of current intensity, the electrical current time and the force pressure were considered. In order to solve the proposed problem and to graphically highlight the variation of the micro hardness obtained for welded points, it was used a classical welding device and a micro hardness device analyzer. The graphical representation shows that the micro-hardness and, as a consequence, some mechanical properties changes in the specified region and in the entire mass of the welded spot changes. In this way, the structure of welded spot is characterized by a variation of the hardness in the interest areas.
Control Criteria Determination and Quality Inference for Resistance Spot Welding through Monitoring the Electrode Displacement Using Bayesian Belief Networks