Resistance Spot Welding of AA5052 Sheet Metal of Dissimilar Thickness

Resistance spot welding of dissimilar thickness of AA5052 aluminum alloy was performed in order to investigate the effect of metal thickness on the weldment strength. Resistance spot welding was done using a spot welder machine available in Coraza Systems Sdn Bhd using a hemispherical of chromium copper electrode tip with radius of 6.00 mm under 14 kA of current and 0.02 bar of pressure for all thickness combinations. Lap joint configuration was produced between 2.0 mm thick sheet and 1.2 - 3.2 mm thick sheet, respectively. Microstructure of joint showed asymmetrical nugget shape that was larger on the thicker side indicating larger molten metal volume. Joint 2.0 mm x 3.2 mm sheets has the lowest hardness in both transverse direction and through thickness direction because less heat left in the weld nugget. The microstructure shows that this joint has coarse grains of HAZ. As thickness of sheet metal increased, the failure load of the joints increased. However, there was no linear correlation established between joint strength and metal thickness due to different shape of fusion zone in dissimilar thickness sheet metal.