Numerical and experimental analysis of heat transfer in resistance spot welding process of aluminum alloy AA5182

In this work, a numerical model and experiments are used to investigate heat transfer processes during resistance spot welding process of aluminum. For this purpose, calibrated heat transfer conditions and thermal contact conductance are transferred from a previous work to a coupled thermal-electrical-mechanical finite element model. First, all domains of the numerical model are validated by an experimental study. The experimental setup includes the measurement of current, voltage drops, electrode force, electrode displacement, and temperatures while two sheets of aluminum alloy AA5182 are joined. Computational results show that most of the generated Joule heat (78%) is stored in the electrodes or transferred to cooling water until the end of weld time. Heat transfer by natural convection and thermal radiation is very small and can in general be neglected for complete process. Afterwards, the influence of electrode water-cooling on welding process is investigated numerically. The results indicate that the generation of Joule heat and thermal energy of the sheets during weld time is only slightly affected by electrode water-cooling. As a consequence, water-cooling conditions do not affect nugget formation. In contrast, electrode water-cooling highly influences cooling conditions during hold time.