Weldbonding strengthens and balances the stresses in spot-welded dissimilar thickness joints

Often in spot welding, the metals to be joined are similar or the thicknesses of the sheets to be joined are similar or both. The aim of the present work is to analyze spot-welded dissimilar thickness joints. The finite element technique was used for the analysis of the present work. The present work gives that the stresses are more concentrated towards the thinner part of a,pot-welded dissimilar thickness joint, however, the introduction of an adhesive layer in conjunction with the spot weld nugget, resulted in strengthening and balancing the stresses on both members of the joint. (C) 2002 Published by ELsevier Science B.V.