Shot welding

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Shot welding is a specific type of spot welding used to join two pieces of metal together. This is accomplished by clamping the two pieces together and then passing a large electric current through them for a short period of time. Assuming the right amount of current for the right time, this will weld the two pieces of metal together. Shot welding was invented by Earl J. Ragsdale, a mechanical engineer at the Budd Company, in 1932 for the purposes of welding stainless steel. This welding method was used to construct the Pioneer Zephyr.

[edit] The method

The E. G. Budd Company of Philadelphia recognized the important metallurgical characteristics of stainless steel (18-8) and developed a spot welding machine to take advantage over the oxidized layer of stainless steel. Heat treating the 18-8 stainless steel leaves a metal with non-magnetic and ductile properties. Reheating the metal to 1000 - 1100° Celsius repeatedly impairs the characteristics of the metal. The metal becomes susceptible to corrosion and carbide migration, and loses fatigue resistance. The important factor to control the metal's properties is the time at those temperatures. Using a controlled time element and recorder, a power supply with smooth current, and very brief high currents, a satisfactory spot weld may be produced.

The corona of the shot weld essentially should not exist on the metal and the equipment used produces satisfactory welds with a smaller than normal (three times the spot diameter) diameter. Sufficient pressure is applied to hold the two sheets of metal together and the peak current rapidly melts the interface and produces a small nugget of weld metal, which when cooled results in a shear resistant metal interface. Good shotwelds have twice the shear strength of a rivet of similar diameter and can be placed 50 percent closer together to each other. Distortion is eliminated, a problem that plagues the gas welding processes.

[edit] References

• Ragsdale, Earl J. W., (August 20, 1932), Patent number 1,944,106 - Method and product of electric welding (PDF). Retrieved February 27, 2005.
• “Shot Welding - A Forward Step in Resistance Welding”, The Welding Engineer, 17 (8), August 1932, p25-26