OPTIMIZATION OF SOME ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND WELD QUALITY RESPONSE PARAMETERS IN GAS METAL ARC WELDING by Taranvir S. Saini
Abstract
In manufacturing industries, welding process is the most energy intensive due to large amount of energy losses associated with it and is commonly used for fabrication work. Very few researchers have explored the energy consumption parameters in case of welding processes, although these parameters are very important to make this process sustainable. The optimization of three energy consumption viz. power factor (PF), active power consumption (APC), and active energy consumption (AEC) and three weld quality response parameters (tensile strength, bending load and hardness) of Gas metal arc welding (GMAW) have been performed in the present research work. The welding voltage, travel speed and gas flow rate are selected as welding input parameters. The Taguchi based design of experiments has been generated by using L9 orthogonal array. Experiments have been conducted on SAE1020 mild steel work pieces and the most influencing parameters have been found using ANOVA. For optimum PF (0.73), the welding input parameters are found to be welding voltage of 30 volts, gas flow rate of 15 lpm and travel speed of 19.05cm/min. For optimum APC (2872.45W), the welding input parameters are found to be welding voltage of 30 volts, gas flow rate of 10 lpm and travel speed of 16.03cm/min. For optimum AEC (53.90Wh) and hardness (247.05Hv), the welding input parameters are found to be welding voltage of 30 volts, gas flow rate of 10 lpm and travel speed of 25.39cm/min and all three welding input parameters are significant for AEC. For optimum tensile strength (672MPa), the welding input parameters are found to be welding voltage of 35 volts, gas flow rate of 12 lpm and travel speed of 16.03 cm/min. For optimum bending load (984kgf), the welding input parameters are found to be welding voltage of 35 volts, gas flow rate of 10 lpm, travel speed of 16.03 cm/min and all three welding input parameters are significant. Welding voltage has been found to be most contributing welding input parameter for all response parameters. Validation result of optimum PF, AEC and bending load shows that experimental value of PF, AEC and bending load are lower than the predicted value of PF, AEC and bending load by 2.66%, 6.60% and 2.08% respectively, but validated optimum experimental value of hardness is 0.43 % higher than the predicted optimum value of hardness.
