Failure Assessment of Laser Spot-Welded Electronic Connector Structures

Abstract

Characteristics of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser spot-welding procedure applied to electronic connector structures are investigated in the current study. A volumetric heat source equation coded in a user subroutine DFLUX is implemented into a finite element commercial package ABAQUS. Bead shapes including both the pool diameter and the penetration depth of SUS304 stainless steel sheets under various laser intensities are predicted and compared with the associated observations Plastic behaviors of the fusion zone are estimated based on the micro-indentation test. The Gurson-type damage model is incorporated into the numerical analysis using a user subroutine VUMAT to describe the damage evolution of spot-welded structures. Designed spot-welded specimens subjected to the tensile-dominated and shear-dominated loading conditions were conducted. Experimental measurements were then used to evaluate parameters required in the damage model. Structure strength of a stainless steel sheet assembled with a metallic shell of an electronic connector utilizing laser spot-welding is further examined, and results based on the simulation agree well with those based on the experiments. A possibility of the usage of numerical simulations to achieve the efficient welding spot layout is finally demonstrated.

Keywords:

• Electronic connector
• Finite element analysis
• Laser welding

Notes

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