Welding structural part and welding method of the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9498840-B2
Application number	US-201013388239-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 30, 2010
Priority date	Jul 31, 2009
Publication date	Nov 22, 2016
Grant date	Nov 22, 2016

Abstract

A welding structural part 1 is manufactured by overlapping the surfaces of steel sheets 2 , and forming a weld zone by spot welding. The weld zone 3 includes: a weld nugget 4 ; and a heat affected zone 5 surrounding the weld nugget 4 , wherein the hardness in the weld zone increases along an exterior region 6 of the heat affected zone 5 toward the heat affected zone 5 , and then decreases along the heat affected zone 5 toward the central region of the weld nugget 4 . In the boundary region between the weld nugget 4 and the heat affected zone 5 , the weld nugget 4 may have a convex portion 4 A bulging into the heat affected zone 5 along the overlapped portion. The steel sheets 2 contain carbon in 0.15 mass % or more.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A spot welded structural part, comprising: steel sheets bonded together at an overlapping portion with a weld zone, the weld zone comprising a weld nugget and a heat affected zone surrounding the weld nugget, the weld nugget being a solidified mass melted during spot welding,
wherein the weld zone having a hardness gradient where hardness decreases from a bonded edge toward a center of the weld zone, and
wherein carbide is dispersed in the weld nugget and the heat affected zone, and a dispersion coefficient of particles expressed by equation (1) shown below is 0.02 or higher, defining that the particle diameter of the carbide dispersed in the weld nugget and the heat affected zone as d and the mean spacing of particles as L:
Dispersion coefficient of particles=(Square root of particle diameter)/Mean spacing of particles=( d ) 1/2 /L   (1).

2. A spot welded structural part, comprising: steel sheets bonded together at an overlapping portion with a weld zone, wherein the weld zone comprising: a weld nugget; and a heat affected zone surrounding the weld nugget, the weld nugget being a solidified mass melted during spot welding,
wherein the spot welded structural part has a hardness distribution on a weld surface where the hardness increases from an exterior region of the heat affected zone toward the heat affected zone, and then decreases from the heat affected zone toward a center of the weld nugget, and
wherein carbide is dispersed in the weld nugget and the heat affected zone, and the dispersion coefficient of particles expressed by equation (1) shown below is 0.02 or higher, defining that the particle diameter of the carbide dispersed in the weld nugget and the soft region the heat affected zone as d and the mean spacing of particles as L:
Dispersion coefficient of particles=(Square root of particle diameter)/Mean spacing of particles=( d ) 1/2 /L   (1).

3. The welding structural part as set forth in claim 2 , wherein when the maximum increment in hardness of the steel sheets in the heat affected zone is H, the hardness at the central portion of the weld nugget is softer than the hardest part of the heat affected zone by at least ½ of H.

4. The welding structural part as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the heat affected zone has a fine dual-phase microstructure consisting of a hard phase having a hardness of 550 HV or more and a soft phase having a hardness of 470 to 550 HV.

5. The welding structural part as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the microstructure of the weld nugget is martensite where fine carbides are dispersed.

6. The welding structural part as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the particle diameter of the carbide is 10 nm or larger.

7. The welding structural part as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the particle volume fraction of the carbide falls within the 1% to 10% range.

8. The welding structural part as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the steel sheets in the heat affected zone are bonded by solid-phase bonding.

9. The welding structural part as set forth in claim 8 , wherein the solid-phase bonding of the heat affected zone has bonding strength that allows a crack to run along a region other than the weld nugget, or along a proximity region of the boundary between the weld nugget and the heat affected zone, as a fracture path in a cross tensile test of the weld zone.

10. The welding structural part as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the weld nugget has a convex portion bulging into the heat affected zone along the overlapped portion within the boundary region of the weld nugget and the heat affected zone.

11. The welding structural part as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the steel sheets contains carbon in 0.15 mass % or more.

12. The welding structural part as set forth in claim 2 , wherein a crack runs along a region other than the weld nugget, or along a proximity region of the boundary between the weld nugget and the heat affected zone, as a fracture path in a cross tensile test of the weld zone.

Assignees

• Kanai Takahiko
• Hatta Munehisa
• Ikuta Fumiaki
• Kawasaki Kazuhiro
• Nakanishi Eizaburou
• Miyake Masayuki
• Nagai Kotobu
• Hayakawa Masao
• Itagaki Takehiko
• Neturen Co Ltd
• Nat Inst For Materials Science

Inventors

• Kanai Takahiko
• Hatta Munehisa
• Ikuta Fumiaki
• Kawasaki Kazuhiro
• Nakanishi Eizaburou
• Miyake Masayuki
• Nagai Kotobu
• Hayakawa Masao
• Itagaki Takehiko

Classifications

• B23K11/312

  for several electrodes · CPC title

• B23K2203/04

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B23K11/24

  Electric supply or control circuits therefor · CPC title

• B23K2201/18

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• Y10T428/12965

  Both containing 0.01-1.7% carbon [i.e., steel] · CPC title