Weld bonding of stainless steel

This paper presents a comprehensive theoretical and experimental investigation of the weld bonding process with the purpose of evaluating its relative performance in case of joining stainless steel parts, against alternative solutions based on structural adhesives or conventional spot-welding. The overall assessment of the weld bonding process is made using several commercial adhesives with varying working times under different surface conditions.

The quality of the resulting joints is evaluated by means of macroetching observations, tension-shear tests and peel tests. The theoretical investigation of the process consists of numerical predictions based on the commercial finite element program SORPAS with the purpose of establishing the most favourable parameters that allow spot-welding through the adhesives.