This document presents recommended practices and criteria for evaluating resistance spot welds typical of automotive sheet steel applications. It contains weld characteristics, metrics, and testing methods useful in evaluating spot welding quality on coated and uncoated automotive sheet steels of all strength levels and compositions. These test methods are designed to assess static and dynamic properties of automotive sheet steel welds. D8.7M:2005, Recommended Practices for Automotive Weld Quality ­ Resistance Spot Welding, supersedes an earlier document published in 1978 and revised in 1988. The new version has 28 pages and contains 18 figures and three tables. Its price is $36 for AWS members and $48 for nonmembers.

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The American Welding Society is the largest organization in the world dedicated to advancing the science, technology, and application of welding and allied processes, including joining, brazing, soldering, cutting, and thermal spray. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, USA, AWS serves almost 50,000 members in the United States and around the world. In 2005, the AWS Welding Show - the premiere trade show for the welding industry - will take place April 26 through April 28 in Dallas, Texas, USA. For more information on AWS programs and publications, visit the Society's Web site, www.aws.org