TY - JOUR A1 - Gaul, Holger A1 - Weber, Gert A1 - Rethmeier, Michael T1 - Influence of HAZ cracks on fatigue resistance of resistance spot welded joints made of advanced high strength steels JF - Science and technology of welding and joining N2 - A method is reported with which heat affected zone (HAZ) cracks in a specific region of spot welded joints, made of advanced high strength steels, could be realised. The influence of HAZ cracks on the fatigue behaviour, which is the focus of the contribution, was studied by evaluating the stiffness characteristics as a function of the number of cycles N in comparison with crack-free specimens, i.e. by analysing HAZ and fatigue cracks on the specimen surface and the surface of fatigue fractures containing beach marks. It was found that the fatigue cracks are not initiated at the HAZ cracks. The number of cycles to failure Nf is not significantly reduced for specimens with HAZ cracks. Overall, the examinations did not reveal any influence of HAZ cracks on the fatigue strength of resistance spot welded joints. KW - Discontinuities KW - AHSS KW - HAZ crack KW - Spot welding KW - Advanced high strength steels KW - Fatigue PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1179/1362171810Y.0000000031 SN - 1362-1718 SN - 1743-2936 VL - 16 IS - 5 SP - 440 EP - 445 PB - Maney CY - London AN - OPUS4-24214 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -