Fatigue Testing for Spot Welds – Problems, Solutions and New Development

Engineering design of spot welded components as well as computational analyse of the local stress in the weld zone require relevant fatigue test data. Those test data, however, are dependent on the applied specimens, on the specimen restrain, on the load introduction into the weld zone as well as on the definition of the specimen failure. The discussion of the advantages and drawbacks as well as of the influence of these factors shows that a deliberate selection of specimens is necessary for different test purposes. For the comparability of the test results it is essential in addition to specify comparable test conditions, e. g. specimen fixturing, load introduction and definition of the specimen failure. On account of the variety of variants, a standardization of suitable specimens and respective test conditions hence constitutes an approach to the determination of relevant and comparable test results.