Simulation and Microstructure Prediction of Resistance Spot Welding of Stainless Steel to Carbon Steel

Joining of stainless steel to carbon steel is widely used in various industries. Resistance spot welding (RSW) is a suitable process for joining steel sheets. Due to the complexity and importance of optimizing the parameters, numerical simulation of this process was considered. In this research, the electrical-thermal-mechanical simulation of RSW of 304 stainless steel to St37 carbon steel was performed using finite element method (FEM). Then, the simulated weld nugget size was compared with the experimental results of optical microscopy (OM). In addition, diffusion of metallic elements of the steels in the molten region was simulated using Fick’s equation and compared with experimental results of energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). It was shown that diffusion of Cr and Ni through the weld nugget, would make a new stainless steel structure. Microstructure prediction of the heat affected zone (HAZ) was performed using Koistinen–Marburger and Leblond–Devaux equations to predict the percentage of martensite and ferrite-perlite phases during the heating and cooling stages of the specimens from room temperature to the peak temperature and cooling down under the Mf temperature. The results of this simulation were validated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and shear tensile and micro-hardness test results. The simulation results showed that increasing the heat input from 1250 A during 0.5 s to 3750 A during 1.5 s, increases the percentage of martensite, from 40% to 80%, in the HAZ and widens the martensite region.