Effect of GTAW process parameters on joining stainless steel 316L Available to Purchase

The quality of the weldment in gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process is attuned by varying discrete process parameters. The improved weldment can be obtained with optimum parameters. In this study, L9 Taguchi array constructed for performing welding trials on 1.6 mm thin sheets of stainless steel 316L (SS316L) with welding current (80-120 A), gas flow rate (5-15 L/min), arc length (3-5 mm), and welding speed (250-450 mm/min) as input parameters. The weld bead geometries (i.e. Depth of Penetration-DOP and Bead Width-BW) are measured for welding trials using welding expert system and software. Whereas, the weld bead profiles are simulated in COMSOL software and compared with the experimentally obtained profiles. The predicted bead profiles of simulation are in good agreement with the experimental results. Vlsekriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje in Serbian (VIKOR) is utilized to identify the optimized GTAW process parameters set. Based on the VIKOR optimized Technique, the 7th welding trail (i.e. heat input- 134.4 J/mm) is selected as optimum process parameters. The butt joint configuration is conducted with optimum parameters. The quality of the butt joint is evaluated by analyzing its integrity and tensile properties. The butt joint configuration displayed 564 MPa weld strength with nominal elongation and showed absolute integrity without any cracks and fissures nucleation in the three-point bend test.