International Journal of Automotive Technology, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp.

459−467 (2012) Copyright © 2012 KSAE/ 064−12

DOI 10.1007/s12239−012−0043−2 pISSN 1229−9138/ eISSN 1976-3832

NUMERICAL PREDICTION OF VARIOUS FAILURE MODES

IN SPOTWELDED METALS

N. T. NGUYEN1), D. Y. KIM1), J. H. SONG2), K. H. KIM3), I. H. LEE4) and H. Y. KIM1)*

1)
Department of Mechanical & Biomedical Engineering, Kangwon National University, Gangwon 200-701, Korea
2)
Korea Automotive Technology Institute, 74 Youngjung-ri, Pungse-myeon, Dongnam-gu,
Cheonan-si, Chungnam 330-912, Korea
3)
Sewon Corporation, LTD., Sewon R&D Center, 196 Donam-dong, Youngcheon-si, Gyeongbuk 770-130, Korea
4)
Hankook ESI Co. Ltd., Misung Bldg., 660-6 Deungchon 3-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul 157-033, Korea

(Received 1 July 2011; Revised 19 August 2011; Accepted 15 September 2011)

ABSTRACT−This paper aims to predict failure modes of spotwelded metals using an available failure criterion, namely, the
ESI-Wilkins-Kamoulakos (EWK) rupture model, in the PAM-CRASH finite element (FE) commercial software. By accounting
for the hydrostatic pressure and the stress asymmetry, the EWK model can successfully predict different failure modes in the
welding strength tests, including the shear mode, which cannot be predicted by Gurson's model. Moreover, characteristics of the
spotweld, including residual stress, phase distributions, sizes and material roper ties of different zones, are obtained from an
analysis with the SYSWELD software and are then mapped into the failure prediction model to achieve a realistic description
of the weldment. Both the simulated results of the FE model combining solid and shell elements and those of the model with
only solid elements show rather good consistency with the welding strength test data.

KEY WORDS : Fracture prediction, EWK rupture model, Spotweld, Damage, Heat-affected zone, PAM-CRASH, SYSWELD

1. INTRODUCTION inhomogeneity, welding parameters, thickness, nugget size,

Applying spotwelds in engineering structures is considered
one of the main techniques for joining components. The
characteristics of those connections differ according to the
welding conditions. Moreover, the fracture phenomenon
can be an important index for structural safety because it
generally occurs around the weld during large deformations.
A schematic of the typical tensile failure modes and
fracture paths is shown in Figure 1. Three distinct fracture
paths inherent to spot weld tensile failures include the
interfacial failure mode, the partial interfacial failure mode
and the button pullout failure mode. Therefore, to
successfully predict fracturing of the welding components,
the rupturing of the welded metal sheet should be included
and predicted correctly.
For prediction of various fracture modes, the spotweld
can be modeled by spring, bar, beam, shell, solid or contact
elements that are based on either mesh-free, node-to-node
or element-to-element connections (Song et al., 2006). The
rupture models for these types of connections have been
reported (Deng et al., 2000; Fan et al., 2007; Langrand and
Markiewicz, 2010; Wung, 2001; Wung et al., 2001;
Combescure et al., 2003). The inherent complexity of
spotwelds, including residual stress and strain, material
*Corresponding author. e-mail: khy@kangwon.ac.kr
material properties of heat-affected zones (HAZ) and base
metals (BM), is also found to strongly affect the failure
resistance of the weldments (Pouranvari et al., 2007;
Mikno, 2005; Zuniga and Sheppard, 1995). Depending on
the loading condition, characteristics and geometry of the
spotweld, several failure modes may occur (Wung, 2001;
Wung et al., 2001; Lin et al., 2003; Zhou et al., 1999; Khan
et al., 2008). However, failure prediction of welded
components is not yet satisfactory. The reason for this may
be due to either the extensive modeling of existing
approaches or the lack of a general failure model that can
be used for both the welding region and the base metals.
Furthermore, the shearing mode (interfacial failure of the
nugget) occurring in the tension-shear specimen cannot be
predicted by the Gurson model (Nielsen, 2008).
This paper investigates the application of the EWK
rupture model in the commercial code PAM-CRASH (ESI-
Group, 2008) to predict the failure of spotwelded
components. Characteristics of a spotweld, including
distortions, residual stress/strain and final phase proportions
in the weld region, are mapped from a welding process
analysis in the SYSWELD software (ESI-Group, 2005).
Two finite element (FE) models of welded parts are
introduced. The first model consists of only solid elements,
and the second one is constructed with shell and solid
elements. The reduced representation using a combination

459
460 N. T. NGUYEN et al.
of solid elements for nuggets, shell elements for base
metals, and HAZ is used to improve the modeling process
and computational speed. The elastic–plastic material
model incorporating the EWK failure criterion available in
the PAM-CRASH code was adopted for both shell and solid
element types (ESI-Group, 2008). These two FE models are
then used to simulate the failures in three basic welding
strength analyses, which are the tension-shear (I-type), the
cross-tension type and the peel-tension (T-type) tests
(Zhang and Senkara, 2005). Finally, consistency is
evaluated by comparing the real strength tests and the data
showing the curves of the displacement and force.
2. SPOT WELDING SIMULATION
The necessary physical insight about the behavior of spot-
welded joints can currently be obtained from experimental
work (Zhang and Senkara, 2005). In addition, predictive
tasks, including the design, analysis and evaluation of spot-
welded structures, are often carried out by computational
methods (Deng et al., 2000; Goodman and Keer, 1977). In
particular, spotwelds can be numerically simulated from
the welding process to the mechanical failure during in-
service operations. This section describes the welding
process simulation using the finite element modeling
technique. A two-dimensional axisymmetric model will be
used to model the thermo-mechanical-electrical coupling
of the process. A mechanical analysis and a thermal-
electric analysis will be carried out using the ESI-
SYSWELD software (ESI-Group, 2005). A spotweld is
composed of the main parts of the base metal, HAZ and the
nugget, each with different microcosmic compositions, as
shown in Figure 1.
At the center of the weld zone, distinct pillar crystals are
located in the nugget, which is surrounded by the HAZ
with fine crystalline grains whose sizes vary over the HAZ.
The weldment is thus inhomogeneous in composition and
in mechanical properties. Different compositions of
components in the spotweld zone result in different
mechanical properties. All of these factors influencing the
local structures, the inhomogeneity and the characteristics
of a spotweld should be obtained and taken into account for
the simulation. From observations and the direct
measurements of a typical spotweld, the hardness and yield
Figure 1. Spotweld structure with divided subzones and
typical tensile shear failure paths.
stress of the HAZ decrease from the highest value in the
nugget region to the smallest value in the base metal,
indicating a decrease in the material strength along the
spotweld radius direction. These mechanical properties are
also reduced from the nugget to the sheet surface through a
rather uniform value across the HAZ closed by the nugget
(Chang et al., 2001).
2.1. Spot Welding Process
A schematic diagram of a typical spot welding process is
depicted in Figure 2. Two copper alloy electrodes are
positioned over the area where the bond is to be made. The
two sheets of metal that are welded are clamped by the two
electrodes while a large electric current is run through
them. The main source of heat is the electric current
flowing through the welding region that causes heating via
Joule’s effect. The resistance to current flow through the
metal sheets generates heat. The heat delivered to the spot
is directly related to the resistance between the electrodes,
the amplitude and the duration of the applied electric
current. The temperature rises at the sheet interface until
the plastic point of the metal is reached. The metal will
begin to fuse, and a nugget is formed. The current is then
switched off, and the nugget is allowed to cool down
slowly to solidify under pressure. This process is
completed within a specified cycle time (Zhang and
Senkara, 2005).
2.2. Simulation
With the coupling between electromagnetism, heat transfer,
metallurgy, and mechanics, the strong interactions between
the electrical, metallurgical and mechanical phenomena of
the spot welding process are accurately simulated with
SYSWELD. Figure 3 illustrates these coupling characteristics
of the spot welding multiphysics simulation. The analysis
requires knowledge of parameters of both the welded and
electrode materials and of heat transfer. The accuracy of
assessing the physical properties of the electrodes and
welded materials affects the sensitivity of the calculations,
especially when the measurements are of a short duration,
i.e., the condition to which new processing guidelines seem
to point. First, the thermo-metallurgical calculation on the
axisymmetric mesh gives the temperature field and the
phase proportions during the spot welding. Then, the
mechanical calculation based on these first results can be
used to calculate the residual strain and stress distributions.
Finally, using the simulation, the complete results can be
obtained for axisymmetric modeling of spot welding (ESI-
Group, 2005).
For simulating the welding process, the half axisymmetric
finite element model was constructed as shown in Figure
4(a) with the given geometry of the welding tip in Figure
4(b). The welding analysis was performed using the
SYSWELD code, and the results are shown in Figure 5.
The obtained results include the distributions of the
phase, residual stress and yield stress, and the distortions in
 NUMERICAL PREDICTION OF VARIOUS FAILURE MODES IN SPOTWELDED METALS 461

Figure 2. Spot welding process.

Figure 5. Results of the welding analysis.

Figure 3. Multiphysics features of a spot welding process

simulation.

Figure 6. Determination of nugget and HAZ size from the

the welding region due to the electrode force and shrinkage results of the phase distribution.
of the material. The final phase distribution implying a
local inhomogeneity in the mechanical properties at the
spotweld is important to characterize the weld quality and
behavior. According to the phase distributions, the sizes of
the nugget and the HAZ are determined as shown on the
graph in Figure 6.

Figure 7. 2D and 3D deformed shapes of the spot welding

in the mapping process.

The characteristics of a spotweld from the welding

process results, including distortions, residual stress/strain
Figure 4. Finite element model and dimensions of the and final phase proportions in the weld region, are readily
welding simulation. transferred into the failure prediction model in the next
462 N. T. NGUYEN et al.

sections using a mapping technique between SYSWELD cracking on both the spacing and size of the inclusions
and PAM-CRASH. However, a fully transferred 3D model (Pickett et al., 2004). Moreover, the initiation and extension
between the two environments can sometimes be too costly. of a crack are assumed to be constitutive properties of
Depending on the nature of the problem under materials. Fracturing depends on the current state and the
investigation, some further assumptions and simplifications past loading history of a local region and is independent of
can be made in the analysis. The influential effects should geometry and boundary conditions, except as they affect
remain while the less important factors can be approximated the local state (Airoldi and Cacchione, 2005). As a
or neglected. A simple 3D distortion model of the spotweld consequence, crack extension and crack initiation are
mapped from the 2D analysis results is illustrated in Figure treated the same way in the EWK model.
7. This model contains information about the yield stress The EWK model in PAM-CRASH provides a so-called
and residual stress distributions in the nugget and the HAZ. semianalytical identification input method to facilitate user
interaction with the fracture simulation. The model
3. EWK RUPTURE MODEL calibration can be made using a test with a minimal
configuration and provided guidance (ESI-Group, 2008).
The EWK rupture model is a built-in ductile failure criteria Typical results of the application and validation of the
of metal provided in the PAM-CRASH commercial FE EWK model for regular specimen geometries are shown in
code (SYSWELD Manual, 2005). The model is Figure 8.
implemented from the Wilkins rupture model, which is in The material parameters are then adjusted with a trial-
turn based on the ductile-fracture theory of McClintock and-error adjusting procedure for several small specimen
(Pickett et al., 2004). This failure prediction model can configurations to obtain the fit values that will be used
solve the size-effect issue in classical fracture mechanics universally for that material, regardless of geometry,
and the shear loading failure mode of the Gurson-like
model (Airoldi and Cacchione, 2005).
The EWK model is a cumulative strain damage model,
which postulates plasticity as a relevant measure of damage
for metals. Damage is dened as the relative loss of ductility
of the material, and fracture ductility is the ability of a
material to accept a large amount of deformation without
fracture (usually measured by the equivalent strain to
fracture). The cumulative strain damage models assume
that the damage leading to eventual fracture is due to the
plastic deformation history of the material (depends on the
loading history). When a damage function exceeds a
critical value over a critical distance Rc, this leads to
‘discontinuous’ macro crack creation and stepwise growth.
Wilkins defined the damage function as follows:
p
D = ∫ w1w2 dε (1)

where w1 and w2 are weighting terms taking into account

the effects of the hydrostatic pressure and asymmetric-
strain, respectively.
α
1
w1 = ⎛⎝ --------------⎞⎠ (2)
1 + aP

w1 = ( 2 – A )β (3)

where P = 1--- ( σ1 + σ2 + σ3) is the hydrostatic pressure, A =

s s 3
max⎛⎝ ----2, ----2⎞⎠
is the stress asymmetry, si are deviatoric
s3 s1
stresses ( s1 > s2 > s3 ), and α, β, a, Dc and Rc are material
constants to be determined by tests. If P ≤ –1---, D must be
a
equal to Dc.
The introduction of a critical distance Rc as a Figure 8. Comparison of F-D curves for EWK parameter
characteristic of the material triggers the dependence of validations.
 NUMERICAL PREDICTION OF VARIOUS FAILURE MODES IN SPOTWELDED METALS 463

Table 1. Mechanical properties of the high-strength steel

sheet metal.
Young’s Poisson’s Yield
k e0 n
modulus ratio stress
210 GPa 0.3 356 MPa 1.1 0.0023 0.186

Figure 9. Validation process of the EWK model’s

parameters.

boundary conditions or loading in application problems

(Kamoulakos, 2004). The whole process is depicted by the
diagram in Figure 9. Following such a simple step-by-step
calibration procedure for the EWK model with the given
materials, the fracture simulation then becomes
straightforward with PAM-CRASH. Applications of the
EWK model in automotive and aerospace industries and
other fields show its effectiveness and reliability (Pickett et
al., 2004; Airoldi and Cacchione, 2005).

4. SIMULATION OF WELDED METAL

FAILURES

The tests and analysis of spot welding specimens were

performed to evaluate the load characteristics, which were
then applied to predict fracturing of structural components, Figure 10. Experiment setup and configurations of typical
including welding parts. The general specimens were welding strength analyses.
applied as depicted in Figure 10, and the test speed was 6
mm/min. Moreover, displacement and load were measured
at the load cell until the failure point, and the data will be function. The weld region sizes are determined by the final
compared with the analysis results. phase distribution.
Simulations of three welding strength tests are The material properties of the nugget and the HAZ
performed in this section using the PAM-CRASH software. around the nugget are identified by considering the yield
The analysis includes the lap-shear tension (I-type), peel- stress distribution in the previous section. The welded parts
tension (T-type), and cross-tension tests. The geometry and are modeled in two ways: with all solid elements and with
dimensions of typical specimens for each test are shown in
Figure 10. All of the specimens are made of high-strength
steel sheet metal of the same thickness of 1.4 mm. The
mechanical properties of this material are provided in Table
1. The hardening rule is given by Krupkowsky’s equation
in Equation (4).
σ = k ( ε0 + ε p ) n (4)
The characteristics of a spotweld from the welding
process results in the weld region are obtained from the
above SYSWELD welding analysis using the mapping Figure 11. Two FE models of spotwelds.
464 N. T. NGUYEN et al.
a combination of shell and solid elements. While the
former approach can model the weldment in a way that
closely resembles reality, with detailed descriptions of the
nugget and HAZ regions, more effort is required for
modeling and computing in this approach. In contrast, the
latter approach provides a simpler representation with a
combination of solid elements for the nugget and shell
elements for the base metals and the HAZ, and this
approach can reduce the modeling and computational time.
The two representative FE models of weldment are shown
in Figure 11. The elastic–plastic behavior incorporating the
EWK damage and failure material type information
available in the PAM-CRASH code was applied for both
shell and solid elements (material type 171 for shell
elements and type 71 for solid elements) (ESI-Group,
2008). The parameters of the EWK model are determined
by following the procedure in the previous section.
4.1. Tension-shear (I-type) Test Simulation
Spot-welded structures and specimens for ensuring joint
strength are made in the lap joint configuration. A welded
lap joint for the tension-shear test with a single spot is
analyzed. To perform this test, the tension-shear load is
applied at one end, and the other end of the joint is fixed.
Tension-shear testing is a fast, inexpensive, and widely
used method to evaluate spot welds in shear. In this test, the
weld is subjected to tension and shear conditions. When a
weld is under tension-shear loading, the nugget tends to
rotate to align the gripped ends, and sheet separation keeps
increasing. A narrow specimen tends to rotate more than a
wide one. Such rotation changes the loading mode from
pure shear to a mixture of shear and tension. The specimen
length is not critical beyond a certain value, and an overlap
of equal size with the specimen width is sufficient. The
nugget size is often determined with an optimized value for
each material for a given sheet thickness. Unlike the other
factors, the specimen width is shown to be an influential
factor controlling the strength under tension-shear loading
of the weld (Zhou et al., 1999).
The load-bearing capability in this test is also dependent
on the base metal strength and the microstructure in the
weld regions after being heated during the welding process.
The failure mechanisms and modes may vary with different
base metals (Khan et al., 2008). Figure 12 illustrates typical
failure modes of the weldment of high-strength steels
reported in (Khan et al., 2008). When the spotweld size is
sufficiently small compared with the specimen width, the
interfacial failure mode occurs. Fracturing initiates at the
interface of the two sheets and propagates through the
nugget, following the centerline of the weldments, as
shown in Figure 12(a). The interfacial mode of failure in
the spot weld is considered unacceptable for engineering
structures because of its low load-carrying and energy
absorption capabilities. Therefore, conditions in which this
mode may occur should be investigated so that it can be
avoided. The EWK model is capable of predicting the
Figure 12. Two typical failure modes in the tension-shear
specimen.
fracturing of a nugget under such condition in both FE
models. The shearing mode cannot be predicted by the
Gurson model, which does not include the failure due to
shear loading (Nielsen, 2008).
When exposed to tension-shear loading, the HAZ in a
welded specimen usually experiences the highest stresses.
In fact, the properties of the HAZ are significantly more
influential than those of the nugget in determining the
performance of a weldment. A spot weld nugget has
hardness and yield stress values two to three times greater
than those of the base metal and behaves mechanically like
a rigid button embedded in a ductile metal. As a result, the
specimen bends around the HAZ, and cracks often begin in
this area. The button pullout failure mode may occur
around the circumference of the weld nugget, as shown in
Figure 12(b). A comparison of the failure modes of the test
and the numerical analysis for an investigated case is
shown in Figure 13.
In addition, the failure mechanism for a tension-shear
sample of high-strength steel is localized necking (shear
localization) in the base metal and near the boundary
between the HAZ and the base metal (Zuniga and
Sheppard, 1997; Lin et al., 2006). Such behavior of the
weld can be seen in the simulation, and as a consequence,
the corresponding failure mode can be predicted, as shown
in Figure 14(a) with the solid model.
The initial location of yielding can be monitored in the
simulation. The damage distribution according to the EWK
criterion is used to show the crack initiation and
propagation for the case of the shell and solid model in
Figure 14(b). Moreover, the partial interfacial failure and
the button pullout failure in the HAZ that are observed
from experiments of different base metal strengths (Khan
et al., 2008) can also be predicted using the present
approach (not shown here). The force-displacement curve
of the tension-shear test and the simulation results are
presented in Figure 15(a).
 NUMERICAL PREDICTION OF VARIOUS FAILURE MODES IN SPOTWELDED METALS 465

4.3. Cross-type Tension Test Simulation

The cross-type tension sample geometry is chosen as a
representative case for a predominantly opening load. The
test is designed to load a weld in the direction normal to the
weld interface. Cross-tension specimens are prepared in an
“X” configuration with the weld at the center. The
specimen is pulled in a suitable tension testing machine,
and data are recorded. A special jig that can provide
adequate clamping for testing in a tensile testing machine is
used to pull the cross-tension specimen. In this test, the
weld is in a direct tension condition.
In a general case, failure is a competition between crack
mechanics and plastic collapse, as reported in (Chao,
2002). While the former reflects the predominant shear
effect often occurring at the nugget as the interfacial failure
in a smaller weld, the latter is the result of a critical plastic

Figure 13. Comparison of failure mode for a lap-shear

tension specimen.

4.2. Peel-tension (T-type) Test Simulation

The peel-tension (T-type) test is performed by welding two
L-shaped pieces together. The specimen is then attached to
a pulling apparatus, and data are recorded. In this test, the
weld is experiences a bending condition. The force-
displacement curve in Figure 15(b) shows a significant
amount of deformation due to bending of the base metal
before fracture at the weld occurs. Failure is found at the
corona bonding in the HAZ outside of the nugget.

Figure 14. Results of the spotweld strength analysis for a Figure 15. Comparison of the force-displacement curves
tensile-shear test specimen. for experiments and analyses.
466 N. T. NGUYEN et al.
shear around the circumference of the weld nugget leading
to a button pullout failure. The button pullout failure mode
is observed in the experiment of this study. The force-
displacement curve of this test and the simulation results
are presented in Figure 15(c).
5. CONCLUSION
The study in this paper reveals that different failure modes
of welded parts can be predicted and simulated using the
EWK rupture model available in the PAM-CRASH
commercial code. The spotweld model involving a much
simplified representation using a combination of solid
elements for the nugget and shell elements for the base
metal and the HAZ improves the modeling process and
computational speed significantly. The obtained results for
this simplified model are consistent with those of the
detailed solid element model. The characteristics of a
spotweld from the welding process results in the weld
region are transferred into the failure prediction model
using a mapping technique between SYSWELD and PAM-
CRASH. The obtained results in this paper apply such an
approximation of the local mechanical properties for
different zones in the weld geometry. Modeling the service
behavior of a welded joint under general loading conditions
can be achieved by following the procedure in this study.
The proposed models and analyses of spotwelded parts are
thus suitable for simulations of crashworthiness and will be
the topic of the next study.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT−This work was supported by
National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the
Korean Government (2010-0017090) and the Korean Ministry of
Knowledge Economy (10031312).
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