Growing environmental concerns and increasingly stringent pollutant emission regulations have driven automotive manufacturers to seek innovative solutions for reducing vehicle body weight, without compromising performance or incurring excessive costs. In this context, the present study aims to investigate the weldability of aluminum alloy sheets (5052-H32), used in the automotive industry, through the resistance spot welding (RSW) process employing additive manufacturing spot welding (AMSW). The additive manufacturing used in this work was “Wire arc additive manufacturing” (WAAM). Spot welding was also compared using the conventional RSW process. The results showed that the spot welding process using AMSW and utilizing deposition material AWS ER 5356 showed better mechanical properties, lower porosity volume, as well as a smaller heat-affected zone compared to the spot welding process using AMSW and utilizing deposition material ( American Welding Society - Electrode Rod ) AWS ER 4043 and also compared to the conventional spot welding process (RSW). These results are related to the lower thermal energy used during welding and the absence of indentation. It is also important to highlight that the additive manufacturing technology used in this work (WAAM) proved efficient for the spot welding process using AMSW about the dimensions of the depositions.
Batista et al. (Mon,) studied this question.