PSI - Issue 77

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2026) 000–000 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2026) 000–000 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect

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ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 77 (2026) 229–236

© 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of ICSI organizers Resistance spot welding (RSW) is one of the dominant joining processes in “body-in-white” of the automotive industry and is mainly used for steel materials. Currently, RSW is also increasingly being used for aluminum alloys. However, the welding results vary greatly when welding aluminum. As less research has been carried out into the welding of aluminum than steel, the causes of various aspects, including these variations, are not yet fully understood. A partially automated robot welding cell was set up at MPA to address various industry-related issues and test them under laboratory conditions. Important welding parameters such as electrode force and welding current can be adjusted. The weld samples are examined using destructive testing for the size of the weld spot and the presence of defects. Since the spot diameter is considered the main quality criterion in industry, the study presented here also examines the spot diameter in more detail. This study demonstrated the influence of welding current, electrode force, adhesive and sheet thickness on the spot diameter. © 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of ICSI organizers Keywords: Resistance Spot Welding, Aluminum Alloy, Adhesive, Automotive Industry, Robotic International Conference on Structural Integrity Influences of Various Parameters on the Weld Spot Diameter during Resistance Spot Welding of the Aluminum Alloy EN AW-6014 Andreas Fezer a *, Stefan Weihe a , Martin Werz a a Materials Testing Institute (MPA) University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 32, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany Abstract Click here and insert your abstract text. Resistance spot welding (RSW) is one of the dominant joining processes in “body-in-white” of the automotive industry and is mainly used for steel materials. Currently, RSW is also increasingly being used for aluminum alloys. However, the welding results vary greatly when welding aluminum. As less research has been carried out into the welding of aluminum than steel, the causes of various aspects, including these variations, are not yet fully understood. A partially automated robot welding cell was set up at MPA to address various industry-related issues and test them under laboratory conditions. Important welding parameters such as electrode force and welding current can be adjusted. The weld samples are examined using destructive testing for the size of the weld spot and the presence of defects. Since the spot diameter is considered the main quality criterion in industry, the study presented here also examines the spot diameter in more detail. This study demonstrated the influence of welding current, electrode force, adhesive and sheet thickness on the spot diameter. © 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of ICSI organizers Keywords: Resistance Spot Welding, Aluminum Alloy, Adhesive, Automotive Industry, Robotic International Conference on Structural Integrity Influences of Various Parameters on the Weld Spot Diameter during Resistance Spot Welding of the Aluminum Alloy EN AW-6014 Andreas Fezer a *, Stefan Weihe a , Martin Werz a a Materials Testing Institute (MPA) University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 32, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany Abstract Click here and insert your abstract text.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 711 685-63582 E-mail address: andreas.fezer@mpa.uni-stuttgart.de * Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 711 685-63582 E-mail address: andreas.fezer@mpa.uni-stuttgart.de

2452-3216 © 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of ICSI organizers 2452-3216 © 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of ICSI organizers

2452-3216 © 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of ICSI organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2026.01.031