Characterization of loading responses and failure loci of a boron steel spot weld

Boron steel, classed as an ultra high-strength steel (UHSS), has been utilized in anti-intrusion systems in automobiles, providing high strength and weight-saving potential through gage reduction. UHSS spot welds exhibit unique hardness distributions, with a hard nugget and outlying base material, but with a soft heat-affected zone in-between these regions. This soft zone reduces the strength of the weld and makes it susceptible to failure. Due to the interaction of various weld zones that occurs during loading, there is a need to characterize the loading response of the weld for accurate failure predictions. The loading response of certain weld zones, as well as failure loci, was obtained through physical simulation of the welding process. The results showed a significant difference in mechanical behavior through the weld length. An important result is that instrumented indentation was shown to be a valid, quantitative method for verifying the accuracy with which weld microstructure has been recreated with regard to the target weld microstructure.