Characterisation of a metal mesh heating element for closed-loop resistance welding of thermoplastic composites

Resistance welding is one of the most suitable and mature welding techniques for thermoplastic composites. It uses the heat generated at the welding interface when electric current flows through a resistive element, mostly a metal mesh. Closed-loop resistance welding relies on indirect temperature feedback from the weld line for process control. Its implementation is more complex than the most common open-loop welding, but on the contrary, it does not, in principle, require the definition of processing windows for each welding configuration and it allows for constant-temperature welding. The temperature at the welding interface can be indirectly monitored through the resistance of the heating element. The relationship between resistance and temperature, expected to be approximately linear for a metal mesh heating element, can then be used to translate the welding temperature into a target resistance value for the process-control routine. Despite the apparent straightforwardness of this procedure, the research results presented in this article prove that different types of characterization tests yield different resistance versus temperature relations for a metal mesh heating element, which can lead to significant temperature deviations when used in closed-loop processes.