With the desire to lighten the frame while keeping or increasing the strength, Advanced High-Strength Steels (AHSS) have been developed for use in the automotive industry. AHSS meet many vehicle functional requirements because of their excellent strength and acceptable ductility. But joining AHSS is a challenge, because weldability is lower than that of mild steels. Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) is a solid state joining process that can provide a solution to the weldability issues in AHSS, but FSSW has not been studied in great detail for this application. In this work, Si3N4 tools were used for FSSW experiments on DP 980 steel with 1.2mm thickness. Joint strength was measured by lap shear tension testing, while thermocouples were used for the temperature measurements. A finite element model was developed in order to predict material flow and temperatures associated with FSSW. Since a 3D model of the process is very time consuming, a novel 2D model was developed for this study. An updated Lagrangian scheme was employed to predict the flow of sheet material, subjected to the boundary conditions of the fixed backing plate and descending rotating tool. Heat generation by friction was computed by including the rotational velocity component from the tool in the thermal boundary conditions. Material flow was calculated from a velocity field while an isotropic, viscoplastic Norton-Hoff law was used to compute the material flow stress as a function of temperature, strain and strain rate. Shear stress at the tool/sheet interface was computed using the viscoplastic friction law. The model predicted welding temperatures to within 4% of the experiments. The welding loads were significantly over predicted. Comparison with a 3D model of FSSW showed that frictional heating and the proportion of total heat generated by friction were similar. The position of the joint interface was reasonably well predicted compared to experiment.

With the desire to improve passenger safety and fuel efficiency, Ultra High Strength Steels (UHSS) have been developed for use in the automotive industry. UHSS are high strength steels with high ductility and strength. DP 980 is one of these UHSS being applied in automobile manufacturing. DP 980 is difficult to join with Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) because of the high carbon content and alloying in this material. The weld becomes brittle when it solidifies during the welding process. With the desire and motivation of widely using UHSS, new welding processes are needed to be developed in order to effectively join DP 980. Friction Stir Spot Welding (FSSW) is a developing welding process aimed to replace RSW in the automotive industry because of its ability to join materials at a lower temperature. Currently the welding loads of the tools are higher than 2000 pounds, ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 pounds, which exceeds the limit of the welding robots in the automotive factories. It is proposed that the welding loads can be reduced by increasing the spindle speed of the FSSW tool. Other focuses in the research include increasing the life of the tool and developing acceptable welding parameters for High Speed FSSW. The experimental work done for this thesis provided support that weld strength can be obtained at levels above the acceptable standard for DP 980 material (greater than 2400 pound lap shear fracture load for 1.2 mm material) while keeping the vertical load on the welding machine spindle below 2000 lbs.

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