Distance to the upper face of workpieces W sandwiched between electrode rollers 15 and 16 is measured by a range sensor 41 that has a predetermined positional relationship with the electrode rollers 15 and 16 (STEPs 1, 3). Correction is made based on the distance found by the range sensor 41 by moving the pair of electrode rollers 15, 16 with reference to the workpieces W so that an angle Rx between a straight line L0 connecting centers of the pair of electrode rollers 15, 16 and the surface of the plurality of workpieces W is preset angle (STEP 5).

A vehicle structural component is provided having a substrate with one or more patches applied thereto. The thickness of the structural component is thicker and has added stiffness at the locations of the patches. The patches are bonded to the substrate via full surface bonding. The full surface bonding may be achieved via brazing, resistance seam welding, or adhesive bonding. A bonding layer may be disposed between the patches and the substrate. The patches and the substrate may be bonded via resistance seam welding, where a current and pressure are applied by weld wheels. The patches may be applied to the substrate in the form of a blank, or may be applied after the substrate has been formed and shaped into the vehicle component. The fully bonded patches provide comparable stiffness as a solid material having the same thickness.

A lithium-ion secondary-battery case that allows bonding without weld spatter and has high strength against external force acting on the battery case, and a method for manufacturing the lithium-ion secondary-battery case are provided. Specifically, an austenitic stainless steel foil is used for a cup component (2), and a two-phase stainless steel having an austenite transformation start temperature A.sub.C1 in a temperature increase process at 650° C. to 950° C. and an austenite and ferrite two-phase temperature range of 880° C. and higher, is used for a cover component (3), and the diffusion bonding is proceeded while accompanied by grain boundary movement upon transformation of the two-phase steel from a ferrite phase into an austenite phase within a heating temperature range of 880° C. to 1080° C.

A localized annealing process and a part having localized areas with increased ductility produced by the process. The part is formed of hard material, tempered, and/or otherwise hardened such that it meets minimum hardness and ductility requirements. The part further includes localized areas that have increased ductility for workability, which could include various types of deformation. The localized annealing process includes providing a part with low levels of ductility and then annealing localized areas of the part for increased ductility that will need to be machined or attached to another formed part. The annealing process includes placing an electrode on either side of the localized area and generating electricity through the localized area. The material in the localized area is then heated from the electricity to form a more ductile physical structure.

A dual pass seam welding method for steels having a Ceq of greater than about 0.45. The first pass welds the immediately anneals the weld. On the second pass, the welder is disengaged, and the weld is subjected to a second anneal.

An electrode orientation checking apparatus includes a machine stand attached to a seam welding apparatus from which one roller electrode of a set has been removed, a positioning guide and a set of distance sensors that are provided on the machine stand, and a calculating section. A positioning surface of the positioning guide is fixed at a position corresponding to a portion of an outer circumferential surface of the one roller electrode before being removed, the portion lying on a line segment connecting rotational centers of the roller electrodes. The distance sensors are respectively fixed forward and backward of the positioning surface in a progression direction of the roller electrodes. The calculating section calculates data for acquiring a direction of the line segment relative to the stacked body.

A welding-rolling integrated composite forming method uses the low heat input wire filling welding method to cooperate with the optimization of the welding process, and at the same time the rolling device is used to roll the weld reinforcement area of the welded joint, realizing the precise control of the structure and properties of each area of the welded joint by using the plastic flow and deformation strengthening effect of the weld reinforcement of the welded joint during rolling process. The integrated composite forming device adjusts the distances between the welding mechanism, the rolling mechanism and the metal sheet to-be-welded and rolled by the coordination of each mechanism, and carries out synchronous rolling on the weld reinforcement of the welded joint.

A weld joint manufacturing method of the present disclosure includes performing current-passing through an aluminum-plated steel sheet provided with an aluminum plating layer while moving a pair of wheel electrodes relative to the aluminum-plated steel sheet by sandwiching the aluminum-plated steel sheet between the pair of wheel electrodes and rotating the pair of wheel electrodes in a circumferential direction; and welding a part of the aluminum-plated steel sheet, where the current-passing has been performed, and another steel sheet, in an overlapped state of the aluminum plating layer with the other steel sheet.

The invention relates to a method of welding of at least two metal-based materials (5, 7), non-weldable directly to each other with resistance welding. At least one spacer (6) is joined by welding on at least one of the two surfaces of a material (5) in every interstice between two surfaces of materials to be welded. The welded spacer (6) is utilized so that resistance welding is focused to the surface of the material (5) with the spacer (6) to melt at least one spacer (6) located on the heat affecting zone in order to achieve a weld between the metal-based materials (5, 7).

A welding gun includes first and second movable arms, and first and second welding electrodes. The first and second movable arms are movable upward and downward. The first and second welding electrode are disposed respectively on the first and second movable arms. The welding gun is capable of performing a first mode in which the first and second welding electrodes are brought into contact with one side of a workpiece to weld the workpiece, and a second mode in which the workpiece is sandwiched by the first and second welding electrodes to weld the workpiece. The first and second welding electrodes are pivotally supported by the first and second movable arms, respectively. Each of the first and second welding electrodes has a rotatable roller shape. The first movable arm includes a first slide mechanism configured to allow the first welding electrodes to slide to below the second welding electrode.