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#2011 The Japan Institute of Metals
Resistance microwelding of fine insulated copper wire to phosphor bronze thin sheet without prior removal of insulation is of increasing
industrial importance for electrical connections in downsized electronic devices, but the understanding of the process is very limited. Therefore,
this work aims to clarify the basic joining mechanism. The effects of main process parameters (welding current, weld time and electrode force)
and joint microstructure were investigated by tensile testing, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy. A welding mechanism with main process stages (cold wire deformation, insulation melting and displacing, and solid-state
bonding) is proposed. It should be pointed out that there is no weld nugget forming at the faying surfaces. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.M2011013]
(Received January 11, 2011; Accepted March 11, 2011; Published May 18, 2011)
Keywords: resistance microwelding, insulated copper wire, welding mechanism
Sn P Fe Pb Cu
5.6 0.16 0.008 0.007 Bal.
Fig. 4 (a) Top layer insulation heated by 200-A current and 100-ms
preheat time under 4-N electrode force; (b) showing details of rectangle
region in (a).
Fig. 11 A blown-off joint due to sparking under 1-N electrode force with
360-A welding current and 30-ms weld time.
4. Discussion
Fig. 10 Effects of electrode force on JBF.
4.1 Welding mechanism
In theory, two ideal metallic surfaces (i.e., both perfectly
electrode tip. For instance, when the weld time was extended clean and atomically flat) will bond together spontaneously
above 40 ms at welding current of 360 A, frequent ESW when brought into their equilibrium interatomic spacing, and
occurred with liquefied (even carbonized) insulation splash- thus form a weld.19) In reality, most engineered surfaces
ing; if continued to prolong the weld time (e.g. 50 ms), the consist of surface asperities, oxide layers or contamination
electrode would be even burnt out. films that will impede the formation of metallic bonds.
Therefore, external energy, usually in the forms of heat
3.4 Effect of electrode force and/or pressure, is required to overcome these impediments
Electrode force is another key parameter in RMW required to achieve a metallurgical joint.
to be carefully selected. Figure 10 shows the relation Heating and pressure is helpful to obtain material
between electrode force and JBF at different welding current. continuity and, thereby, promote the weld formation in
The JBF appeared to be more sensitive on electrode force several ways.20–22) In the solid state of metals to be joined,
when the welding current was relatively lower (i.e., joints heating helps to drive off volatile adsorbed layers of gases,
fractured from the bond interface). Figure 10 also suggests moisture, or organic contaminants, exposing clean base metal
that increasing the electrode force would not necessarily lead to enable formation of metallic bonds once atoms are brought
to a higher JBF when interfacial fracture occurred. This trend sufficiently close together. Moreover, heating and pressure
is identical to that observed in the RMW of crossed Ni tend to break the brittle oxide layers through differential
wires.7) The reason is that the JBF is determined by both thermal expansion and mechanical deformation, or, occa-
welded area and interfacial strength. When the bonds is weak sionally, cause these oxides to thermally decompose, dis-
(fractured from the interface), increasing the electrode force sociate or dissolve. The heating treatment will be further
will get a larger bonding area, but the improvement of helpful in the solid state bonding by softening the base
interfacial strength is limited because of insufficient heat metals, consequently results in plastic deformation under
input. It is evident from the joint microstructures showing in pressure so as to bring more atoms into contact. At last,
Fig. 6. On the other hand, with the increasing of electrode heating is desirable for the promotion of dynamic recrystal-
force, contact resistance between the wire and the sheet will lization during plastic deformation, hence causes new grains
dramatically decrease,17,18) resulting in a reduction of to nucleate and grow across the original interface.
resistance heat. Moreover, when the electrode force was set During the RMW process of insulated Cu wire to phosphor
above 4 N, frequent unexplained ‘‘sparking’’ phenomena bronze sheet, both heat and pressure are available in the
were observed to occur (probably due to the approach of forms of resistance heating and electrode force. First, the
electrode tip to base metal), which also contributed to the loss polyurethane coating, as well as probably adsorbed moisture
of welding energy. The above two factors led to the decline of layer, were squeezed out or vaporized from the bond
interfacial strength and thus JBF at lower welding current. interface after thermal depolymerization and mechanochem-
It should be pointed out that the ‘‘sparking’’ phenomena ical depolymerization23,24) during the preheating stage (Fig. 4
occurring in RMW are undesirable and should be avoided, and Fig. 5), which created a possibility of metal-to-metal
since they were observed to be relevant to the unstable bonding. In the welding stage, the wire was softened by the
welding process and could reduce the consistency of weld resistance heating, and a substantial plastic deformation of
quality. In addition, the ‘‘sparking’’ phenomena would also the Cu wire would be caused by the electrode force.
occur when the electrode force was set as a low value (e.g. Therefore, the surface asperities would be removed, bringing
less than 2 N). In this case, the wire and the electrode tip a large number of atoms into intimate contact over a large
would have a poor contact and the contact resistance was area (Fig. 6). The substantial plastic deformation of the Cu
high, resulting in a sharp increase of Joule heating.17,18) At wire also facilitated the fracture of the oxide layer on the
worst, the joint might be blown off (Fig. 11). phosphor bronze sheet by fast plastic flow and grain
Mechanism of Resistance Microwelding of Insulated Copper Wire to Phosphor Bronze Sheet 1257
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