Resistance spot welding made easy

Abstract

Resistance spot welding remains one of the most frequently used joining processes in the automotive industry. An in-depth examination of the process is therefore necessary in order to increase both its availability and process efficiency. The existing resistance spot welding technology has now been used for several generations of vehicles. Revision of this technology has become necessary due to requirements for increasing energy efficiency in production and reducing emission values. To this end, the technology was not only put through its paces also the goal was set that the new technology should achieve maximum performance. The main developmental goals were the simplification and standardisation of the gun design, weight reduction of the pincers themselves, modularity for the integration of various components and also cost reduction of the overall design.