Weld coupon design
AssigneeGM Global Technology Operations LLC
InventorsHui-ping Wang, Guangze Li, Eric Gregory Hartnagle, Alexander Mepham, Jacob Wayne Disbro, Min Liu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A weld coupon for testing weld integrity includes a top blank and a bottom blank in overlapping engagement with one another and connected to one another with an electrical weld, each of the top blank and bottom blank adapted to uniformly pass electrical current applied to the weld coupon across the weld and to uniformly pass tensile load applied to the weld coupon across the weld.
Claims20
A weld coupon for testing weld integrity, comprising:
- a top blank and a bottom blank in overlapping engagement with one another and connected to one another with an electrical weld, each of the top blank and bottom blank adapted to uniformly pass electrical current applied to the weld coupon across the weld and to uniformly pass tensile load applied to the weld coupon across the weld.
A method of using a weld coupon for testing weld integrity, wherein the weld coupon includes a top blank and a bottom blank in overlapping engagement with one another and connected to one another with an electrical weld, each of the top blank and bottom blank adapted to uniformly pass an electrical current applied to the weld coupon across the weld and to uniformly pass a tensile load applied to the weld coupon across the weld, the method comprising:
- passing an electrical current through the weld coupon and measuring a potential drop of the electrical current across the weld;
- and
- applying a tensile load to the weld coupon.
A method of forming a weld coupon for testing weld integrity, comprising:
- forming a top blank and a bottom blank, wherein each of the top blank and the bottom blank includes a loading zone and a distribution zone;
- and
- attaching, with an electrical weld, the top blank and the bottom blank in overlapping engagement with one another, the overlapping engagement defining an overlap zone of the weld coupon;
- for each of the top blank and the bottom blank:
- the loading zone adapted to support application of an electrical current from the loading zone of the top blank, across the weld, to the loading zone of the bottom blank, and support application of a tensile load from the loading zone of the top blank, across the weld, to the loading zone of the bottom blank;
- and
- the distribution zone extending from the weld to the loading zone and adapted to uniformly pass applied electrical current between the loading zone and the weld, and uniformly pass applied tensile load between the loading zone and the weld;
- the forming the top blank and the bottom blank further including forming the top blank and the bottom blank wherein:
- the loading zone has a length that is greater than or equal to both a minimum length adapted to allow tensile loading to be applied to the weld coupon, and a minimum length adapted to allow electrical current to be applied to the weld coupon;
- the loading zone of the top blank has a length that is equal to a length of the loading zone of the bottom blank, and the distribution zone of the top blank has a length that is equal to a length of the distribution zone of the bottom blank;
- a distance from the loading zone to a boundary of the overlap zone is adapted to uniformly distribute applied tensile load between the loading zone and the weld across a width of the weld coupon;
- each of the top blank and the bottom blank includes an equipotential zone extending from the loading zone, wherein, within the equipotential zone electrical current applied between the loading zone and the weld is uniformly distributed across the width of the weld coupon;
- and
- the distribution zone of each of the top blank and the bottom blank has a length that is greater than or equal to both:
- a sum of the distance from the loading zone to the boundary of the overlap zone and a distance from the boundary of the overlap zone to the weld;
- and
- a sum of a length of the equipotential zone and a distance from the equipotential zone to the weld.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.