Numerical analysis of ultrasonic spot welding of metal sheets: a review

AbstractUltrasonic spot welding has recently garnered significant attention as a method for joining metal sheets. Numerical simulation plays an important role in understanding the principles of this process and improving the quality of the ultrasonic spot welded joint. This paper aims to summarises the critical parameters in the finite element model of ultrasonic spot welding, including the friction coefficient, thermal field, acoustic and thermal softening, meshing and boundary conditions. Additionally, it provides a detailed review of the research status related to the simulation results, such as welding interface temperature, stress distribution, plastic strain, intermetallic compounds, macrostructure, dynamic recrystallisation and interfacial diffusion. Furthermore, this paper discusses the remaining challenges and the development trend of the numerical simulation.KEYWORDS: Ultrasonic spot weldingfriction coefficientstress distributionthermal fieldacoustic and thermal softening AcknowledgementsThis work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51905171, 51975406), and the authors thank for the special funding and equipment support of the visiting professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering. A. A. Nazarov was supported by a grant # 22-19-00617 from the Russian Science Foundation.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 51905171; 51975406]; the Russian Science Foundation [grant number 22-19-00617].