A spot-welding electrode assembly includes an electrode, an electrode cap at an outer end of the electrode, and a plurality of transducer elements positioned inward of the electrode cap. The transducer elements may be micro-elements. A method for monitoring a weld formed by a spot-welder includes passing current from an electrode assembly through a stack-up, transmitting an ultrasonic wave from each of a plurality of sources in the electrode assembly to a plurality of points in the stack-up, and monitoring the ultrasonic waves to monitor the weld formation.

A plurality of aluminum materials overlapped with each other are sandwiched between electrodes for spot welding. After main energization to form a nugget between the aluminum materials sandwiched between the electrodes, pulsation energization in which energization and stop of the energization are repeated a plurality of times is performed. A current value in the pulsation energization is set to be greater than a current value of the main energization, the energization and stop of the energization are repeated at least three times in the pulsation energization, and an energization stop period is increased from a first half of the pulsation energization to a second half of the pulsation energization.

Automated real-time characterization of resistance spot welds using ultrasound-based nondestructive evaluation requires a computational process and system to accurately and rapidly interpret the ultrasonic data in real time. Such a process can be automatically learned using artificial intelligence, from a dataset of exemplary ultrasonic data from nondestructive evaluation of resistance spot welds for which a corresponding ideal evaluation of each weld is provided. The process can then be implemented into a system to automatically interpret data from non-destructive evaluation in real-time. The ideal evaluation of each weld requires identification a large set of features that are observable in the ultrasonic signature and comprehensively characterize the corresponding weld process.

Methods for resistance welding, resistance-welded assemblies, and vehicles including resistance-welded assemblies are provided. An exemplary resistance welding method includes compressing a workpiece stack-up with an interface material between first and second workpieces to squeeze a portion of the interface material to a reduced thickness. After compressing the workpiece stack-up, the first welding electrode contacts the first workpiece at an operating contact area between the first welding electrode and the first workpiece that is greater than an initial contact area. The method also includes passing an electrical current between the welding electrodes to form a molten weld pool within the workpieces, and ceasing the passing of the electrical current between the welding electrodes to allow the molten weld pool to solidify into a weld nugget that forms all or part of a weld joint between the workpieces.

A laminate structure and method of forming is provided. The laminate structure includes a first metal sheet having a first thickness, a second metal sheet having a second thickness, and an adhesive core having an adhesive thickness. The adhesive core is disposed between and bonded to the first and second metal sheets. The first and second metal sheets are made of an aluminum based material and the adhesive core is made of an adhesive material also described as a viscoelastic adhesive material. The laminate structure is configured such that a ratio of the sum of the first and second thickness to the adhesive thickness is greater than either to one (8:1). The laminate structure including the viscoelastic adhesive core is characterized by a composite loss factor at 1,000 Hertz which is continuously greater than 0.1 within a temperature range of 25 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius.

A bonding device for joining together a first member (3), an intermediate member (4), and a second member (3) which are layered as a laminated assembly includes a probe (12, 41, 52), an anvil (111, 121), an electric conductor configured to come into contact with the second surface of the laminated assembly, the electric conductor being either the probe or a shoulder member (13, 13a, 61, 64, 68) provided with a through hole for receiving the probe, and a shoulder contact surface configured to abut against the second surface, a drive mechanism (14) configured to rotate the probe around the central axial line and move the probe toward and away from the second member along the central axial line, and an electric power supply (15) electrically connected to the anvil and the probe to conduct electric power through the laminated assembly via the anvil and the probe.

A bonding device for joining together a first member (3), an intermediate member (4), and a second member (3) which are layered as a laminated assembly includes a probe (12, 41, 52), an anvil (11), a drive mechanism (14) configured to rotate the probe around the central axial line and move the probe toward and away from the second member along the central axial line, and an electric power supply (15) electrically connected to the anvil and the probe to conduct electric current through the laminated assembly via the anvil and the probe.

An apparatus for measuring alignment of a welding gun comprises a case comprising an interior space and an open side, a supporting member mounted to the interior space, an upper block comprising a first end fixed to the supporting member, formed with an upper tip insertion hole at a second end, hinge-engaged with an upper pin mounted to the case and configured to rotate when an upper tip is misaligned, an upper sensor unit mounted adjacent to the upper block to detect rotation of the upper block, a lower block having a first end fixed to the supporting member, formed with a lower tip insertion hole at a second end, hinge-engaged with a lower pin mounted to the case, and configured to rotate when a lower tip is misaligned, and a lower sensor unit mounted adjacent to the lower block configured to detect rotation of the lower block.

A method of forming an assembly includes providing a metallic first workpiece having base and a first layer disposed on the base and adhering a second layer onto the first layer. One of the first and second layers is formed of a zinc-based material formed of at least a majority of zinc, and the other of the first and second layers is formed of a metallic alloying material having a melting point higher than the melting point of the zinc-based material. Preferably, the first layer is formed of the zinc-based material, and the second layer is formed of the metallic alloying material with the higher melting point. A metallic second workpiece is disposed in contact with the second layer. A welding operation is performed to join the first workpiece to the second workpiece. A welded assembly is also provided.

Provided is an inverter power supply including a measurement function of measuring deterioration of a rectifier element such as a diode. The inverter power supply includes a step-down stabilization unit that applies a reverse voltage increasing gradually to diodes, an isolation amplifier that detects a current value of a current flowing to the diodes when the reverse voltage is applied, and an inverter control unit that decides that the diodes have deteriorated when the detected current value is larger than a determination current value for determining deterioration of the diodes, and decides that the diodes have not deteriorated when the detected current value is smaller than the determination current value.