Structural performance of adhesive and weld-bonded joints in AHSS

A study was performed to compare the properties of weld-bonded joints in several zinc-coated high-strength (H260LAD GI) and advanced high-strength steels (DP600 GI and DP800 GI) with spot-welded and adhesive bonded joints. Both the microstructure of the spot-welds and the mechanical properties of the joints were evaluated. Joints were tested under varied static loading conditions and, to a more limited extent, under crash and fatigue loading conditions. The results indicate that weld-bonding of zinc-coated steel does not result in any significant absorption of detrimental components from the adhesive into the weld zone. In addition, a greater joint failure strength for all static mechanical loading types was achieved with weld-bonding across the range of AHSS materials tested. Weld-bonding also increases the fatigue and crash performance compared with conventional spot-welded joints.