A Study on the Arc Position which Influence on Quality of Plug Welding in the Vehicle Body

Welding is an essential process in the automotive industry. Most welding processes that are used for auto body is spot welding. And $CO_2$ arc welding is used in a small part. In production field, $CO_2$ arc welding process is decreased and spot welding process is increased due to welding quality is poor and defects are occurred in $CO_2$ arc welding process frequently. But $CO_2$ arc welding process should be used at robot interference parts and closed parts where spot welding couldn't. $CO_2$ welding is divided into lap welding and plug arc spot welding. In case of plug arc spot welding, burn through and under fill were caused in various welding environment such as different thickness combinations of base metal, teaching point, over the two steps welding and inconsistent voltage/current. It makes some problem like poor quality of welding area and decrease the productivity. In this study, we will evaluate the effect of teaching point through the weld pool behavior and bead geometry in the arc spot welding at the plut hole. Welding position is horizontal position. And galvanized steel sheet of 2.0mm thickness that has plug hole of 6mm diameter was used. Teaching point was changed by center, top, bottom, left and right of the plug hole. At each condition, the phenomenon of weld pool behavior was confirmed using a high-speed camera. As the result, we find the center of plug hole is the most optimal teaching point. In the other teaching point, under fill was occurred at the plug hole. This phenomenon is caused by gravity and surface tension. For performance of arc spot welding at the plug hole, the teaching condition should be controlled at a center of plug hole.