MODELING THE EFFECT OF TIG ARC PROCESS PARAMETERS ON ARC WELDS

Abstract

Weld pool geometry plays an important role in determining the mechanical properties of the weld. Therefore, it is very important to select the welding process parameters for obtaining optimal weld pool geometry. Usually, the desired welding process parameters are determined based on experience or from a handbook. However, this does not ensure that the selected welding process parameters can produce the optimal or near optimal weld pool geometry for that particular welding machine and environment. In the present study, investigations were carried out on the 8 mm thick mild steel plate having length 180 mm and width 65 mm. In this study, experimental design based on the statistical principles has been used to achieve the most reliable results. Then, the information obtained has been used to optimize the process and determine the effect of parameters on the quality responses. A mathematical model of the process has also been developed to determine the optimal values of TIG welding parameters. As a part of the study, mathematical models were developed to inter-relate the process parameters and then the weld quality responses have been analyzed using the developed models for TIG welding of 8 mm mild steel plate. The optimizations of the quality responses were carried out using the optimization module of MINITAB 15 and SPSS 17.