Critical Dimensions of Tensile-Shear Specimen for Resistance Spot Welds

Resistance spot welding is used extensively in auto industry. Every commercial vehicle has 4000-5000 spot welds. The weld ability, performance, and reliability are therefore important issues in design. Tensile-shear tests are normally performed to evaluate the weld quality and acquire the mechanical strength of spot welds. However, different industry test standards often specify different dimensions for the tensile-shear specimen. In this work, we investigate the failure load and energy absorption of the spot welds made of Q235 steel using tensile-shear specimens of different dimensions. The objective is (a) to determine a specimen dimension independent geometry for failure strength, and (2) to call attention to the deficiency of some of the test standards.