| Abstract Scope |
Press hardened steel (PHS), part of the Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) portfolio, is widely used in automotive structural applications like front bumpers, A/B/C pillar reinforcements, and roof rail inners. These steels are precoated with Al-Si coating to protect the steel substrate from corrosion, and high temperature oxidation during the automotive hot stamping process. During a typical automotive hot stamping process, steel substrate and the Al-Si coating present on the steel substrate undergo a variety of microstructural changes which poses challenges in spot welding of these materials. In the present work, spot welding studies have been carried out on Al-Si coated PHS material with two different coating weights. Two spot weld strategies viz., constant current, and ramp-up current weld strategies have been used to study the weldability of these steels. Effect of these weld strategies on the spot weldability characteristics like weld nugget growth, and weld strength have been discussed. |