Objective A rubber seat must be attached to the troughs of the corrugated plates on stainless steel rail vehicle underframes. Therefore, it is required that the corrugated plate welding should not form excess weld metal like other arc welding methods. A new welding process technology must be investigated to meet the requirement for attaching the rubber seats.

Method The working principle of TIG (tungsten inert gas) rivet welding is analyzed. Based on the flatness characteristics of the base material in actual production, the structural forms and process requirements for TIG rivet welding clamping device and welding gun protection device are analyzed. Taking the welding specimens completed on an actual vehicle structure on Xi'an Metro Line 4 as an example, their visual inspection, tensile test, cross-sectional test, and chisel-open test are conducted. The obtained tensile shear force, weld nugget diameter and penetration depth in metallographic tests, and weld nugget diameter in chisel-open tests are analyzed.

Result & Conclusion  By selecting reasonable welding parameters and designing appropriate welding gun protection device and clamping device, TIG rivet welding is successfully implemented. This welding technology shows no internal defects, conforming to resistance spot welding standards, and meeting the welding requirements successfully. For stainless steel rail vehicles, when TIG rivet welding technology is employed to weld products, and the upper plate thickness ranges from 0.6 mm to 0.8 mm, the welding performance proves to be reliable.