@article{63391,
  abstract     = {{This study addresses the challenge of insufficient weld penetration in the outer thin low-carbon steel during
resistance spot welding of three-layer dissimilar stack-ups containing advanced high-strength steels. To overcome
thermal imbalance constraints, an innovative strategy leveraging plastic shell containment is proposed to elevate
the expulsion-free heat input threshold. By applying a combined preheating and ramping current profile, a coordinated “shell-first, nugget-second” sequence is achieved. This mechanism creates a solid-state barrier prior to
rapid fusion, effectively preventing expulsion. Experimental results demonstrate that while the reference
constant-current schedule fails to maintain a process window under a 2 mm initial gap (IG) disturbance, the
proposed strategy significantly enhances process stability. It increases the maximum expulsion-free heat input by
24 % (to 6338 J) under normal conditions and by 77 % (to 6482 J) under the IG condition. Crucially, the
increased heat input drives nugget growth across all interfaces, achieving a penetration depth of 0.38 mm (48 %
penetration ratio) in the low-carbon steel sheet under the gap condition. These findings validate the strategy’s
effectiveness in ensuring weld quality and robustness, which is further confirmed by its transferability to a lowerresistivity DX54D cover sheet.}},
  author       = {{Yang, Keke and Männer, Leonhard and Wang, Zhuoqun and Olfert, Viktoria and Böhm, Yannic and Hein, David and Meschut, Gerson}},
  issn         = {{1526-6125}},
  journal      = {{Journal of Manufacturing Processes}},
  number       = {{Special issue entitled: ‘Trends on spot joining’ published in Journal of Manufacturing Processes.}},
  pages        = {{984--1000}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier BV}},
  title        = {{{Process window expansion with transferable applicability in three-layer dissimilar steel resistance spot welding via expulsion prevention}}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jmapro.2025.12.036}},
  volume       = {{157}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}