F Honarvar - Associate professor Manufacturing Group, Faculty of MechanicalEngineering,K. N. Toosi University of Technology,P.O. Box ۱۶۷۶۵-۳۳۸۱, Tehran, Iran
S.A Taymoori - MSc in Manufacturing Engrg.
H Tavalla - MSc Candidate
A Mohammadi - Engineer – Iran Khodro Co.

The body of an automobile is formed from many parts which are joined together by spot welding. In this paper, capability of ultrasonic methods for detection of various defects in two- and three-sheet spot welds is investigated. The test specimens are taken from the body of a PEUGEOT 405 automobile. The selected spot welds are first tested by ultrasonic method and then by destructive tests. Since established procedures for interpreting the results of destructive tests are available, the destructive tests are taken as the reference and ultrasonic tests are compared with them. The results indicate very good agreement between destructive andnondestructive tests.

spot weld, ultrasonic test, nondestructive testing, automobile body