公开(公告)号：US20140076859A1

公开(公告)日：2014-03-20

申请号：US13783343

申请日：2013-03-03

Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC

Inventor： David R. Sigler ,  Michael J. Karagoulis

IPC: B23K11/11

CPC classification number: B23K11/3063 ,  B23B5/166 ,  B23K11/11 ,  B23K11/115 ,  B23K35/222 ,  B23K35/302 ,  B23K2103/10

Abstract: A method of resistance spot welding aluminum alloy workpieces together includes several steps. In one step a welding electrode is provided. The welding electrode has a weld face. In another step, the weld face of the welding electrode is shaped to have a desired radius of curvature. The shaped weld face is then textured to a desired surface roughness, and resistance spot welding using the welding electrode is performed to the aluminum alloy workpieces. In yet another step, the weld face is dressed to an extent sufficient to remove contamination build-up that may have accumulated on the weld face from the aluminum alloy workpieces.

Abstract translation: 铝合金工件电阻点焊方法包括几个步骤。 在一个步骤中，提供焊接电极。 焊接电极具有焊接面。 在另一步骤中，焊接电极的焊接面被成形为具有期望的曲率半径。 然后将成形的焊接面纹理为所需的表面粗糙度，并且对铝合金工件进行使用焊接电极的电阻点焊。 在另一个步骤中，焊接面的修整程度足以消除可能从铝合金工件积聚在焊接面上的污染物积聚。

公开(公告)号：US20220097165A1

公开(公告)日：2022-03-31

申请号：US17038368

申请日：2020-09-30

Applicant: GM Global Technology Operations LLC

Inventor： Amberlee S. Haselhuhn ,  Adam R. Ballard ,  David R. Sigler ,  Peter M. Parlow ,  Mark A. Nelson

IPC: B23K11/20 ,  B23K11/11

Abstract: A method to join three panels together for a motor vehicle includes one or more of the following: layering the three panels, the three panels including a first panel, a second panel, and a third panel, the second panel being positioned between the first panel and the third panel, the third panel having a higher electrical conductivity than the first panel and the second panel; joining the first panel and the second panel together; and joining the third panel to the first panel and the second panel.

公开(公告)号：US11045894B2

公开(公告)日：2021-06-29

申请号：US15953546

申请日：2018-04-16

Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC

Inventor： David R. Sigler ,  Michael J. Karagoulis

IPC: B23K11/11 ,  B23K11/18 ,  B23K11/25

Abstract: Aluminum-base alloy workpieces have surfaces with films of aluminum oxide which inhibit good contact with weld faces of resistance spot weld electrodes and the faying surfaces of, for example, sheet workpieces stacked for welding. Sometimes, the surfaces of the sheets also are coated with an adhesive or a sealer which further complicates welding. But in accordance with this invention, weld faces of opposing, round, copper welding electrodes are pressed against opposite outside surfaces of the sheets at a spot weld site and weld current is applied to the electrodes in accordance with a three-stage weld schedule to better form each weld. The weld schedule comprises a Conditioning stage (stage 1), a weld nugget Shaping stage (stage 2), and a weld nugget Sizing stage (stage 3).

公开(公告)号：US10857619B2

公开(公告)日：2020-12-08

申请号：US15485996

申请日：2017-04-12

Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC

Inventor： Tyson W. Brown ,  David R. Sigler ,  Blair E. Carlson ,  Amberlee S. Haselhuhn

IPC: B23K11/20 ,  B23K11/11 ,  B23K11/16 ,  B23K11/18 ,  B23K35/00 ,  B23K35/02 ,  B23K35/30 ,  B23K35/36 ,  C22C38/02 ,  C22C38/04 ,  C22C38/16 ,  B23K103/04 ,  B23K103/10 ,  B23K103/20 ,  B23K101/00 ,  B23K101/34 ,  B23K101/18

Abstract: A method of resistance spot welding a workpiece stack-up that includes an aluminum workpiece and an overlapping adjacent steel workpiece so as to minimize the thickness of an intermetallic layer comprising Fe—Al intermetallic compounds involves providing reaction-slowing elements at the faying interface of the aluminum and steel workpieces. The reaction-slowing elements may include at least one of carbon, copper, silicon, nickel, manganese, cobalt, or chromium. Various ways are available for making the one or more reaction-slowing elements available at the faying interface of the aluminum and steel workpieces including being dissolved in a high strength steel or being present in an interlayer that may take on a variety of forms including a rigid shim, a flexible foil, a deposited layer adhered to and metallurgically bonded with a faying surface of the steel workpiece, or an interadjacent organic material layer that includes particles containing the reaction-slowing elements.

公开(公告)号：US10682723B2

公开(公告)日：2020-06-16

申请号：US15097821

申请日：2016-04-13

Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC

Inventor： David R. Sigler ,  Blair E. Carlson ,  James G. Schroth ,  David S. Yang ,  Anil K. Sachdev

IPC: B23K11/20 ,  B23K11/11 ,  B23K11/30 ,  B23K103/20

Abstract: A method of resistance spot welding a steel workpiece and an aluminum or aluminum alloy workpiece, and a welding electrode used therein. In one step of the method a workpiece stack-up is provided. The workpiece stack-up includes a steel workpiece and an aluminum or aluminum alloy workpiece. Another step of the method involves contacting the aluminum or aluminum alloy workpiece with a weld face of the welding electrode. The welding electrode has a body and an insert. The insert is composed of a material having an electrical resistivity that is greater than an electrical resistivity of the material of the body. The weld face has a first section defined by a surface of the insert and has a second section defined by a surface of the body. Both the first and second sections make surface-to-surface contact with the aluminum or aluminum alloy workpiece amid resistance spot welding.

公开(公告)号：US10272515B2

公开(公告)日：2019-04-30

申请号：US14854467

申请日：2015-09-15

Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC

Inventor： Michael J. Karagoulis ,  David R. Sigler

IPC: B23K11/11 ,  B23K11/16 ,  B23K103/04

Abstract: A method of resistance spot welding steel workpieces—at least one of which includes a high-strength steel substrate having a tensile strength of 1000 MPa or greater—involves passing a pulsating DC electrical current between a pair of aligned welding electrodes that are pressed against opposite sides of a workpiece stack-up that includes the steel workpieces. The pulsating DC electrical current delivers sufficient power through the weld site by way of electrical current pulses to initiate and grow a molten steel weld pool at each faying interface within the workpiece stack-up that solidifies into a weld nugget of uniform hardness. In other words, each of the weld nuggets formed by the pulsating DC electrical current does not include soft, coarse, and alloy deficient shell regions that tend to reduce the strength of the weld nugget.

公开(公告)号：US20190076955A1

公开(公告)日：2019-03-14

申请号：US16181809

申请日：2018-11-06

Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC

Inventor： Hui-ping Wang ,  David R. Sigler ,  Blair E. Carlson ,  Amberlee S. Haselhuhn ,  Michael J. Karagoulis

IPC: B23K11/30 ,  B23K11/11 ,  B23K11/20

Abstract: A welding electrode includes a weld face that has a convex base weld face surface and a plurality of ringed ridges that are radially spaced apart on the base weld face surface and surround a central weld face axis. The plurality of ringed ridges including an innermost ringed ridge and an outermost ringed ridge. The innermost ringed ridge is located closest to the central weld face axis and rises above a central portion of the base weld face surface, and the outermost ringed ridge is located farthest from the central weld face axis and rises above an outer peripheral portion of the base weld face surface. At least one of the plurality of ringed ridges is a discontinuous ringed ridge.

公开(公告)号：US10166627B2

公开(公告)日：2019-01-01

申请号：US14503969

申请日：2014-10-01

Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC

Inventor： David R. Sigler ,  James G. Schroth ,  Blair E. Carlson ,  Yelena Myasnikova ,  David Yang

IPC: B23K11/10 ,  B23K11/16 ,  B23K11/00 ,  B23K11/20 ,  B23K11/11 ,  B23K35/02

Abstract: A resistance spot welding method may involve spot welding a workpiece stack-up that includes a steel workpiece and an aluminum alloy workpiece that overlap one another to provide a faying interface. A pair of opposed welding electrodes are pressed against opposite sides of the workpiece stack-up with one welding electrode contacting the aluminum alloy workpiece and the other welding electrode contacting the steel workpiece. The welding electrodes are constructed so that, when an electrical current is passed between the electrodes and through the workpiece stack-up, the electrical current has a greater current density in the steel workpiece than in the aluminum alloy workpiece to thereby concentrate heat within a smaller zone in the steel workpiece. Concentrating heat within a smaller zone in the steel workpiece is believed to modify the solidification behavior of the resultant molten aluminum alloy weld pool in a desirable way.

公开(公告)号：US20180272457A1

公开(公告)日：2018-09-27

申请号：US15992748

申请日：2018-05-30

Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC

Inventor： David Yang ,  David R. Sigler ,  Blair E. Carlson ,  James G. Schroth ,  Michael J. Karagoulis

IPC: B23K11/20 ,  B23K35/02 ,  B23K11/11 ,  B23K11/30 ,  B23K103/20

CPC classification number: B23K11/20 ,  B23K11/115 ,  B23K11/3009 ,  B23K11/3018 ,  B23K35/0205 ,  B23K35/0261 ,  B23K2103/20

Abstract: A method of spot welding a workpiece stack-up that includes a steel workpiece and an aluminum alloy workpiece involves passing an electrical current through the workpieces and between welding electrodes that are constructed to affect the current density of the electrical current. The welding electrodes, more specifically, are constructed to render the density of the electrical current greater in the steel workpiece than in the aluminum alloy workpiece. This difference in current densities can be accomplished by passing, at least initially, the electrical current between a weld face of the welding electrode in contact with the steel workpiece and a perimeter region of a weld face of the welding electrode in contact with the aluminum alloy workpiece.

公开(公告)号：US10058949B2

公开(公告)日：2018-08-28

申请号：US14503504

申请日：2014-10-01

Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC

Inventor： Blair E. Carlson ,  David Yang ,  David R. Sigler ,  Robert T. Szymanski ,  Anil K. Sachdev

IPC: B23K9/28 ,  B23K11/00 ,  B23K11/20 ,  B23K11/11 ,  B23K103/20

CPC classification number: B23K11/20 ,  B23K11/115 ,  B23K2103/20

Abstract: A method of resistance spot welding a steel workpiece and an aluminum or aluminum alloy workpiece together includes several steps. One step involves inserting a cover between the aluminum or aluminum alloy workpiece and an adjacent welding electrode. In another step, the adjacent welding electrode is pressed against cover, and another opposed welding electrode is pressed against the steel workpiece at a weld site. In yet another step, electrical current is passed between the welding electrodes, passed through the cover, and passed through the workpieces in order to initiate and grow a molten weld pool within the aluminum or aluminum alloy workpiece.