Journal of Materials Processing Technology 87 (1999) 230 – 236

Comparative studies on stresses in weld-bonded, spot-welded and

adhesive-bonded joints
Baohua Chang a,*, Yaowu Shi b, Shijie Dong c
a
Welding Research Institute, School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong Uni6ersity, Xi’an 710049, People’s Republic of China
b
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Polytechnic Uni6ersity, Beijing 100022, People’s Republic of China
c
Department of Materials, College of Hubei Automobile Technology, Shiyan 442002, People’s Republic of China

Received 8 September 1997

Abstract

A numerical analysis on the distribution of stresses in weld-bonded joints is carried out using a three-dimensional elastoplastic
finite-element method. A comparison is made of the stresses distribution in weld-bonded joints, spot-welded joints and
adhesive-bonded joints. The results show that the stresses in the lap zone of weld-bonded joints are distributed uniformly, no
high-stress zone being found in weld-bonded joints. The stress concentration in spot-welded joints is thus avoided by the use of
adhesive. The stresses of weld-bonded joints in the lap zones, with the exception of the spot-weld zones, have almost the same
characteristics as those of adhesive-bonded joints. The strengths of these joints predicted from the results of the stress analysis are
coincident with existing experimental results. © 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Weld-bond; Finite element; Stress analysis

1. Introduction to adhesive joints. Weld-bonded structures have lower

There exists great stress concentration in spot-welded
joints, which leads to poor static loading performance
and fatigue performance of structures made by the
spot-welding technique. There also exists the problem
of corrosion on the inner surface of spot-welded lap
joints. The application of spot welding in the aviation
and space-flight industries is limited by these unfa-
vourable factors. To solve these problems, a hybrid
joining technique, called weld-bonding, which combines
spot welding with adhesive bonding, was developed in
the 1950s. So far, many experimental studies [1 –3] on
weld-bonded structures have been carried out, the re-
sults showing that the static loading strength and fa-
tigue strength of weld-bonded structures are much
superior to those of spot-welded structures. Moreover,
joints with longer term durability and tearing strength
can be produced by the weld-bonding technique relative
* Corresponding author. Present address: Welding Division, School
of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Polytechnic University,
100 Ping Le Yuan, Chaoyang District, Beijing; 100022, People’s
Republic of China.
weight compared with riveted structures. In addition,
weld-bonded structures also have excellent acoustical
property, which has very important significance for the
performance of facilities for space navigation, missiles
and rockets.
On account of the excellent properties of weld-
bonded structures mentioned above, such as high
strength, light weight and good acoustical damping
performance, the weld-bonding technique has been used
in the manufacturing of aeroplanes, automobiles, vehi-
cles and many other structures [4]. The technique can
be used in the joining of aluminium alloys, titanium
alloys, composites of boron and aluminium, stainless
steel and coated steel. The weld-bonding technique has
very great potential in the combining of different mate-
rials that can not be joined with other joining methods
now in existence.
Recently, studies on weld-bonded structures have
focused on experimental work aiming at the selection of
a suitable weld-bonding technology and an acceptable
joint design [5,6]. The stress distribution in the joints,
the fracture mechanism of joints and the fracture condi-
tions can not be fully understood from experimental

0924-0136/99/$ - see front matter © 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
PII S0924-0136(98)00355-0
 B. Chang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 87 (1999) 230–236
Fig. 1. Shape and dimensions of a specimen (mm).
results. However, numerical methods have advantages
over experimental methods in the acquisition of knowl-
edge about the above subjects. As is known, there has
been little numerical analysis carried out for weld-
bonded joints up to the present time, especially three-
dimensional FEM analysis. Problems exist in numerical
studies, such as difficulties in the modelling of weld-
bonded joints, complexity caused by the presence of
adhesive in joint, the asymmetry of joints and so on.
Based on these considerations, a model for single-point
lap weld-bonded joints is established and numerical
analysis on the stress distribution in weld-bonded joints
is carried out with the three-dimensional finite-element
method. The stress distribution of adhesive-bonded
joints and spot weld joints is obtained also. Compari-
sons are made for these stress analyses. The results
obtained have guiding significance for optimising weld-
bonding technology and joints design.
2. Numerical modelling and material properties
The shape and dimensions of a weld-bonded lap
specimen with a single weld are shown in Fig. 1.
Uniform tensile shear loads are applied at both ends of
the specimen. On account of the symmetry of the
specimen about the X-axis, only one half of the speci-
men is included in the model. The mesh division of the
FEM calculating model is demonstrated in Fig. 2. Each
of two plates joined is divided into two layers, the
Fig. 2. Mesh division of a weld-bonded specimen: (a) whole mesh of the weld-bonded joint; (b) mesh of the lap zone.
231
adhesive line also being divided into two layers. Finer
meshes are introduced near to the edges of the lap joint
and the spot weld, the minimum dimension in the
meshes being 0.15 mm. Three-dimensional body ele-
ments are used, each of which consists of eight nodes.
The shape and dimensions of a adhesive-bonded speci-
men and a spot-welded specimen are the same as that
of the weld-bonded specimen, the absence of the spot
weld in the adhesive-bonded specimen and the absence
of the adhesive line in the spot-welded specimen being
the only differences. A gap of 0.02 mm is assumed in
the spot-welded specimen in the lap zone, with excep-
tion of the spot-weld zone, so that no mesh is needed
here in the spot-welded specimen. The mesh dividing
pattern for the adhesive-bonded specimen is the same
as that for the weld-bonded specimen. There consists a
total of 1808 elements and 2471 nodes in the mesh for
the weld-bonded and the adhesive-bonded specimen,
and 1476 elements and 2287 nodes for the spot-welded
specimen. The mechanical properties of the materials
used in this investigation are listed in Table 1. The base
metal is 08A1 steel plate used in the manufacturing of
automobiles. The adhesive is a structural adhesive of
phenol resin. All specimens are assumed to be joined
perfectly, with no defects in the bond interfaces. The
stress distribution in these three types of joints under
three applied loads of P=1.8, 2.5 and 3.2 kN have
been obtained using the ALGOR program. A small
deformation condition is assumed in the calculation.
Only non-linearity of the material is considered, non-
linearity of the geometry being neglected. All calcula-
tions are accomplished on a Pentium 166
microcomputer.
3. Calculation results and discussion
3.1. Comparisons of the stresses in weld-bonded joints
and spot-welded joints
Results from the calculation show that the stresses
developed in all three specimens increase with increase
232 B. Chang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 87 (1999) 230–236
Table 1
Mechanical properties of the materials used in the FEM analysis
Material G (GPa) n sy (MPa)
Base metal 190 0.25
Spot weld 200 0.20
Adhesive 2.875 0.42
of the loads from 1.8 to 3.2 kN. Each of the specimens
has the same stress-distribution tendency for the three
levels of loads, therefore only the stress-distribution
curves for the three specimens under the load of 2.5 kN
are given.
The stresses over the lap zones in the weld-bonded
and the spot-welded specimen are shown in Fig. 3.
These stresses are along the centre line in the inner
surface of the upper plate of the specimens shown in
Fig. 1. The Mises effective stresses, which determine the
yielding and fracture of joints, are shown in Fig. 3(a),
the normal stresses in the X and Z directions, i.e. sX
and sZ, are shown in Fig. 3(b) and Fig. 3(c), respec-
tively, whilst shown in Fig. 3(d) is the tZX shear stresses
in the X direction. Stresses sX and tZX control the
tensile and angular deformations of joints in X the
direction, respectively, whilst sZ controls the tearing
fracture of the joints.
From Fig. 3(a), it is found that the Mises effective
stresses in the spot-welded specimen are much greater
than that in the weld-bonded specimen over the lap
zone ( −10–10 mm) of a joint. There exists a very high
stress concentration at the edge of the spot weld in the
spot-welded specimen. For instance, at the right edge of
the specimen (X= 2.5 mm), the stress values reach a
level of about 560 MPa, which is much higher than the
average stress of 120 MPa predicted by the material
strength theory, the stress-concentration factor thus
being 4.67. The effective stresses at the right edge are a
little greater than at the left edge. The effective stresses
in the weld-bonded specimen are distributed much
more uniformly than those in the spot-welded speci-
men, and no peak stresses are found. There exists a
zone with high and even effective stresses, which corre-
sponds to the spot-weld area in the weld-bonded joint.
The stresses in this zone are a little greater than those in
the equivalent zone of the adhesive-bonded joint. The
reason may be as follows. The deformation in the lap
zone of the weld-bonded joint is uniform, the spot weld
and the adhesive zone having almost the same deforma-
tion. For the same strain quantities, the spot welds,
with greater modules, will have greater stress than the
adhesives.
Peak tensile-stresses values of sX and sZ are found at
the right edge of the weld in the spot-welded specimen,
whilst peak compressive-stresses are at the left edge.
Et (MPa) G (GPa)
160 2000 76
450 1800 83.34
90 500 1.06
The maximum of the tensile stress of sX reaches almost
2000 MPa: a stress concentration factor therefore of
16.7. It can be seen that the high tensile stresses sX
together with the high tearing stresses sZ are all located
at the edges of spot welds in the spot-welded joints, and
will cause bending of the lap zones of the specimens.
Normal stresses sX and sZ have a uniform distribution
over the lap zones of the weld-bonded joints, and no
peak stresses are developed in the weld-bonded joints,
including the zones near to the edges of spot welds.
Because of the use of adhesives in weld-bonded joints,
the stress concentration located at the edges of the spot
welds in spot-welded joints, the stress concentration
located at the edges of the spot welds in spot-welded
joints is avoided. The deformation of the spot-welded
and the weld-bonded specimen is shown in Fig. 4.
Obviously, the greater values of normal stress sX and
sZ in the spot-welded specimen result in a much greater
bending deformation in the lap zone, whilst the weld-
bonded specimen deforms uniformly over the whole lap
zone. The adhesives in a weld-bonded joint prevents the
separation of the two plates from each other under
applied load.
The distribution of shear stresses tZX shown in Fig.
3(d) indicates that the tZX values in the spot-weld zone
are much greater than those in other parts of the lap
zone, and there is shear stress concentration at the
edges of the weld in a spot-welded joint. The shear
stresses in the weld-bonded joint are distributed uni-
formly, neither a high-stresses zone nor stress concen-
tration being found.
Many experimental results have shown that the fail-
ure of a weld-bonded joint always begins at either or
both of the edges of the joint lap zone, which indicates
that the stress distribution of the lap zone edges along
plate width has an important influence on the perfor-
mance of the joint. For this reason, the distribution of
normal stresses sX and sZ across the plate width on the
right edge of the lap zone in the weld-bonded and the
spot-welded specimen is studied. It is found from Fig. 5
that sX and sZ in the spot-welded joint are much
greater than those in the weld-bonded joint, sX and sZ
in the spot-welded joint decreasing with the increase of
Y, indicating that there exist greater stresses in the
middle part of the lap zone than at its two edges, whilst
sX and sZ in the weld-bonded joint vary slightly with
 B. Chang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 87 (1999) 230–236
Fig. 3. Stresses distribution along the X-axis for weld-bonded and spot-welded joints.
the varying of Y, showing that no high stresses are
located in the middle part of the lap zone, the stress
being distributed uniformly across the plate width.
From deformed shape of the weld-bonded and the
spot-welded joint (Fig. 4), it can be seen that there is a
greater deformation in the lap zone for the spot-welded
joint than for the weld-bonded joint. The deformation
of the lap zone of the spot-welded joint in the middle
part is more serious than that at both edges. The reason
for the phenomena may be as follows. The loads ap-
plied are borne completely by the welds in spot-welded
joints, the stress flows concentrating to the welds in the
middle part of the lap zones, so that high stresses arise
there. This reason also accounts for the large deforma-
tion observed in the middle part of the spot-welded
joints. The weld-bonded joints, using adhesives, have
uniform deformation over the lap length, and the defor-
Fig. 4. Showing the deformed shapes of the lap zones of : (a) the
spot-welded joint; and (b) the weld-bonded joint (the deformation is
magnified three times).
233
mation is much smaller than that of the spot-welded
joints. It is evident that using adhesives in spot welding
i.e. weld-bonding, improves the stress distribution in
the joints.
From the analyses of the results obtained with the
FEM method, it is found that the tensile shear applied
to the spot-welded joints are absorbed solely by the
spot welds, whilst they are absorbed by both the adhe-
sives and the spot welds in the weld-bonded joints.
Thus, the high stresses developed in the spot welds of
the spot-welded joints are reduced by the use of adhe-
Fig. 5. Stress distribution across the plate width: (a) X stress; (b) Z
stress.
234 B. Chang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 87 (1999) 230–236
Fig. 6. Stresses distribution along the lap length in the weld-bonded and the adhesive-bonded joint.
sives. The stress concentration occurring at the edge of
the spot welds in spot-welded joints is removed in
weld-bonded joints. The stress-distribution condition in
weld-bonded joints is superior to that in spot-welded
joints, which is advantageous for the improvement of
the static loading performance and fatigue performance
of joints.
3.2. Comparison of the stress distribution in
weld-bonded joints and adhesi6e-bonded joints
The distribution of stresses of the centre line in the
middle plane of the lap zone for the weld-bonded and
the adhesive-bonded specimens along the lap length is
demonstrated in Fig. 6. It is found that there are very
similar stress distribution characteristics for the weld-
bonded and the adhesive-bonded joint. The stresses in
both types of joints have a symmetrical distribution.
The presence of the spot weld in the weld-bonded joint
leads to some difference in stress distribution from that
of the adhesive-bonded joint, the differences being situ-
ated mainly in the spot-weld zone. The Mises effective
stress (Fig. 6(a)) in the adhesive-bonded joint has a
maximum value at both edges of its lap zone and the
minimum stress value at its middle part. The effective
stresses in the weld-bonded joint also have a greater
value at the edges of its lap zone, the difference of stress
distribution in the weld-bonded joint from that in the
adhesive-bonded joint are that the effective stresses in
the spot-weld zone of the lap zone of the weld-bonded
joint are much greater than that in the equivalent zone
of the adhesive-bonded joint. The effective stresses in
the spot weld zone of the weld-bonded joint are dis-
tributed uniformly, and there are almost the same stress
values in the zone, with no stress concentration being
observed at the edge of the spot weld in the weld-
bonded joint.
sX (Fig. 6(b)) at the edges of the lap zone is greater
than that at the middle part of either the weld-bonded
joint or the adhesive-bonded joint. There is a high value
of sX in the spot-weld zone of the weld-bonded joint,
whilst in the corresponding zone of the adhesive joint,
the normal stresses in the X direction are almost zero.
The tearing stresses sZ in both joints are almost entirely
the same, with the values of sZ being greater at both
edges of the lap zone than those at its middle part. The
high values of sX and sZ lying at the lap edges will
cause the specimens to bend, which results in compress-
ing stresses in areas near to the edges. Because the sX
and sZ values are low, small deformations are produced
in the middle part of the lap zones for both types of
joints under tensile shear loads. The shear stresses tZX
in both the weld-bonded and the adhesive-bonded spec-
imens have the distributing tendency that tZX at both
edges of the lap zone is greater than that at the middle
part of the lap zone.
Obviously, the greater stresses acting on the adhe-
sives with lower strength will cause the origination of
cracks at either or both edges of the lap zone. With the
increase of the loads, the adhesive-bonded joints will
collapse rapidly along the adhesive lines, whilst the
weld-bonded joints can still bear loads by the presence
of the spot welds in joints instead of the sudden frac-
ture that occurs with the adhesive-bonded joints. Ex-
perimental results show that with a suitable selection of
the adhesives, the spot-weld component of the weld-
bonded joint can bear a greater load than the adhesive
component.
 B. Chang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 87 (1999) 230–236
Table 2
Experimental results for tensile-shear specimens made by weld bonding, spot welding and adhesive bonding
Joining method Maximum load (F/N)
Weld bonding 8444
Adhesive bonding 7780
Spot welding 6000
4. Experimental results
At the present time, there have already been many
experimental results reported on the mechanical per-
formance of weld-bonded, spot-welded and adhesive-
bonded joints. Ryazantsev and Shavyrin [2] have
carried out experimental studies on the strength char-
acteristics of weld-bonded joints and spot-welded
joints, their results showing that the properties of
weld-bonded joints are better than that of spot-welded
joints under static and fatigue loads. The fatigue
strength of weld-bonded joints under cycles of 2 × 107
is 1.9–3.5 times greater than that of spot-welded
joints. Experimental results from Jones and Williams
[5] demonstrate that the tensile-shear strengths of
weld-bonded joints are greater than those of adhesive-
bonded joints. With a suitable selection of adhesives
and weld-bonding technology, the weld-bonded joints
have greater tensile shear strengths than spot-welded
joints. The tearing strengths of weld-bonded joints are
superior to those of both spot-welded joints and adhe-
sive-bonded joints. For specimens each with a single
spot weld, the tearing strengths of weld-bonded joints
and spot-welded joints are similar. The impact
strengths of weld-bonded joints are also superior to
those of the other two types of joints. Dai et al. [3]
have also studied the strength characteristics experi-
mentally for these three types of joint, the static tensile
strengths and fatigue strengths obtained being listed in
Table 2. It can be seen clearly from the table that the
static loading capacity and the fatigue life of weld-
bonded joints are remarkably superior to those of
adhesive-bonded joints and spot-welded joints.
Form the FEM analysis results mentioned above, it
is concluded that the weld-bonding technique, which
combines spot welding with adhesive bonding, notably
decreases the high stresses in the welds zones of the
spot-welded joints and removes the stress concentra-
tion around the welds edges. The stress distribution of
the spot-welded joints is improved by the use of the
adhesives. The stresses in weld-bonded joints are dis-
tributed uniformly, and the applied loads are absorbed
by the two components of the adhesives and the spot
welds in weld-bonded joints. Both components have
contributions to the failure loads of joints. Compared
235
Fatigue life Nf (Fmax =3000 N) Fatigue life Nf (Fmax =4000 N)
1.0×106 8.84×105
2.77×105 4.8×104
4.9×104 B104
with the adhesive-bonded joints, the weld-bonded
joints, with spot welds in them, have slightly greater
stresses in the spot-weld zones, but no obvious stress
concentration is found around these spot welds. An
adhesive-bonded joint will fail rapidly after a crack is
initiated at the edge of its lap zone, whilst a spot weld
in a weld-bonded joint can still endure the applied
loads after the adhesive line has collapsed. These ef-
fects will lead to greater static tensile strengths, longer
fatigue strengths, and better further features of perfor-
mance of weld-bonded joints relative to spot-welded
joints and adhesive-bonded joints. It is obvious that
the results from FEM analysis can give a reasonable
interpretation for the existing experimental results;
whilst on the other hand, the correctness and validity
of the numerical method are confirmed by these exper-
iments.
The results of experiments have shown that different
properties of adhesives and the dimensions of the
specimens such as the lap length, the thickness and
width of specimens, the area of welds or adhesives
etc., all have effects on the fracture loads of weld-
bonded joints. Undoubtedly, these factors have an
influence on the stress distribution in the joints. Nu-
merical investigations on these effects have a guiding
significance for the optimisation of joint design and
weld-bonding technology.
5. Conclusion
1. In a spot-welded lap joint with a single weld, there
are high stresses in the spot-weld zone. Stress con-
centration occurs at the edge of the spot weld, and
the stresses are distributed unevenly across the plate
width. The stresses in the middle part of either of
the plates joined are greater than those at both
edges. The stresses in a weld-bonded joint are dis-
tributed more evenly than those in a spot-welded
joint. The weld-bonded joint has far lower stresses
than the spot-welded joint and no stress concentra-
tion is found around the spot weld in the weld-
bonded joint.
2. The stresses in weld-bonded joints and adhesive-
bonded joints have almost the same characteristics.
The presence of the spot weld in the weld-bonded
236 B. Chang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 87 (1999) 230–236
joint results in high stresses in the spot-weld zone,
but the stresses in this zone are distributed evenly.
3. Under applied loads, the stresses in weld-bonded
joints are low and uniform, so that weld-bonded
joints have a better mechanical properties, espe-
cially fatigue performance, than those of spot-
welded joints. The spot weld in the weld-bonded
joint can provide enhanced strength over that of an
adhesive-bonded joint, particularly the tearing
strength.
4. Results from the FEM calculation give a reason-
able interpretation for existing experimental results
and these experimental results verify the correctness
of the numerical method. At the same time, the
validity of the FEM calculation is confirmed.
References
[1] T.B. Jones, A future for weldbonding sheet steel, Weld. Fabr. 46
(7/8) (1978) 415 – 420.
[2] V.I. Ryazantisev, V.N. Shavyrin, Strength characteristics of
welded and bonded-welded joints, Weld. Res. Abroad 27 (6)
(1981) 35 – 37.
[3] R.L. Dai, W. Wang, C.Z. Li, Research on weldbonding technique
and its best technology, J. Mech. Strength 18 (3) (1996) 64–67 in
Chinese.
[4] M.M. Schwartz, Metals Joining Manual, McGraw-Hill, New
York, 1979.
[5] T.B. Jones, N.T. Williams, Fatigue in adhesive and weldbonded
steel joints, SAE 97 (7) (1986) 48 – 53.
[6] D.R. Hills, J.D. Parker, N.T. Williams, Effect of number of welds
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