Numerical analysis for weld pool of pulsed TIG welding

A two-dimensional axisymmetric mathematical model of weld pool of pulsed TIG welding was established. Numerical simulation for weld pool of pulsed TIG welding was done using FLUENT software by selecting the appropriate boundary conditions and strongly coupled control equations. The distributions of temperature field and flow field of weld pool under the periodic change of welding current were obtained. According to the maximum temperature of upper and lower surface of workpiece and depth and width of weld pool, the distributions of temperature field and flow field under different pulsed frequencies and current duty cycles were obtained and periodic variation was analyzed under pulsed current. The analysis results show that with the increase of pulsed frequency, weld pool width increases slightly while depth decreases slightly, and with the increase of current duty cycle, the width and depth of weld pool both increase significantly, and the depth increases greatly.

Optimization of pulsed current gas tungsten arc welding process parameters to attain maximum tensile strength in AZ31B magnesium alloy

An empirical relationship to predict tensile strength of pulsed current gas tungsten arc welded AZ31B magnesium alloy was developed. Incorporating process parameters such as peak current, base current, pulse frequency and pulse on time were studied. The experiments were conducted based on a four-factor, five-level, central composite design matrix. The developed empirical relationship can be effectively used to predict the tensile strength of pulsed current gas tungsten arc welded AZ31B magnesium alloy joints at 95% confidence level. The results indicate that pulse frequency has the greatest influence on tensile strength, followed by peak current, pulse on time and base current.

Weld pool image sensor for pulsed MIG welding

Visual image sensor is developed to detect the weld pool images in pulsed MIG welding. An exposure controller, which is composed of the modules of the voltage transforming, the exposure parameters presetting, the complex programmable logic device （CPLD） based logic controlling, exposure signal processing, the arc state detecting, the mechanical iris driving and so on, is designed at first. Then, a visual image sensor consists of an ordinary CCD camera, optical system and exposure controller is established. The exposure synchronic control logic is described with very-high-speed integrated circuit hardware description language （VHDL） and programmed with CPLD , to detect weld pool images at the stage of base current in pulsed MIG welding. Finally, both bead on plate welding and V groove filled welding are carried out, clear and consistent weld pool images are acquired.

Modeling, Simulation and Control of Pulsed DE-GMA Welding Process for Joining of Aluminum to Steel

Joining of aluminum to steel has attracted significant attention from the welding research community,automotive and rail transportation industries.Many current welding methods have been developed and applied,however,they can not precisely control the heat input to work-piece,they are high costs,low efficiency and consist lots of complex welding devices,and the generated intermetallic compound layer in weld bead interface is thicker.A novel pulsed double electrode gas metal arc welding（Pulsed DE-GMAW）method is developed.To achieve a stable welding process for joining of aluminum to steel,a mathematical model of coupled arc is established,and a new control scheme that uses the average feedback arc voltage of main loop to adjust the wire feed speed to control coupled arc length is proposed and developed.Then,the impulse control simulation of coupled arc length,wire feed speed and wire extension is conducted to demonstrate the mathematical model and predict the stability of welding process by changing the distance of contact tip to work-piece（CTWD）.To prove the proposed PSO based PID control scheme’s feasibility,the rapid prototyping experimental system is setup and the bead-on-plate control experiments are conducted to join aluminum to steel.The impulse control simulation shows that the established model can accurately represent the variation of coupled arc length,wire feed speed and the average main arc voltage when the welding process is disturbed,and the developed controller has a faster response and adjustment,only runs about 0.1 s.The captured electric signals show the main arc voltage gradually closes to the supposed arc voltage by adjusting the wire feed speed in 0.8 s.The obtained typical current waveform demonstrates that the main current can be reduced by controlling the bypass current under maintaining a relative large total current.The control experiment proves the accuracy of proposed model and feasibility of new control scheme further.The beautiful and smooth weld beads are also obtained by this method.Pulsed DE-GMAW can thus be considered as an alternative method for low cost,high efficiency joining of aluminum to steel.

Simulation on Dynamic Characteristic of Negative Resistance Arc in Pulsed TIG Welding

A mathematical model is established on the basis of the physical characteristic of the negative resistance arc when a low current of 0—50 A is applied in pulsed TIG welding. The simulation model converted from the mathematical model is run in MATLAB environment, and the discussion is focused on the way the peak current ranging from 29 A to 50 A and the time constant of arc in the span of 0.003—0.006 s influence the simulating results and the dynamic characteristic. The simulating data are close to that of welding experiments and correspond to the theoretical conclusion.

Analysis of droplet transfer of pulsed MIG welding based on electrical signal and high-speed photography

In order to study how welding parameters affect welding quality and droplet transfer, a synchronous acquisition and analysis system is established to acquire and analyze electrical signal and instantaneous images of droplet transfer simultaneously, which is based on a self-developed soft-switching inverter. On the one hand, welding current and voltage signals are acquired and analyzed by a self-developed dynamic wavelet analyzer. On the other hand, images are filtered and optimized after they are captured by high-speed camera. The results show that instantaneous waveforms and statistical data of electrical signal contribute to make an overall assessment of welding quality, and that optimized high-speed images allow a visual and clear observation of droplet transfer process. The analysis of both waveforms and images leads to a further research on droplet transfer mechanism and provides a basis for precise control of droplet transfer.

Digital pulsed MIG welding machine based on adaptive fuzzy controller

Digital pulsed metal inert gas welding machine with double closed-loop control mode is designed and implemented. It realizes precision control for real time energy and demonstrates the flexibility of digital control. Test results of design prototype show that the designed control strategy can effectively adapt to the change of arc length and achieve ideal droplet transfer via one drop per pulse mode. Thus the welding process is stable and the weld bead is good.

Effect of pulsed laser process parameters on welding quality of automobile fuel injector

In this research, pulverization plate and base of a fuel injector in an automobile electronic-controlled engine was joined by pulsed laser welding. The different welding parameters were evaluated and effect of process parameters on joint characteristics was analyzed. The optimal process parameters were obtained as follows： welding current 120 A, welding speed 600 ram/rain, pulse duration 1.80 ms and pulse frequency 60 Hz. The microstructure of weld metal was investigated. Results show that the fusion zone is austenitic dendrite, the weld center is equiaxed grain, while the transition zone between fusion zone and weld center is mixed crystal with austenitic dendrite and equiaxed grain. The weld layered phenomenon was observed, and eddy caused by keyhole effect is the main reason for the formation of layered structure in molten pool.

Analysis of weld pool vibration characteristics in pulsed gas metal arc welding

Using highspeed camera image measuring and processing,the contour of the weld pool was extracted accurately in pulsed metal inert gas(P-MIG)welding.Based on this extraction method,time and frequency domain characteristics at different points along the contour of the weld pool were analyzed for one pulse one droplet and one pulse two droplets,respectively.The results show that,because of the wave super position that was created by the pulsed arc and droplet impacting the weld pool,the oscillation amplitude along the weld pool fluctuated and decreased with an increase in distance from the point to the arc center.The oscillation near the arc center was complex and intense for one pulse two droplets,and the amplitude were relatively small because the oscillation caused by the pulsed arc could be offset by the molten droplet impact.The weld pool oscillation that was caused by the pulsed arc was stronger than that caused by the droplet.

Digital control of pulsed gas metal arc welding inverter using TMS320LF2407A

A digital control of pulsed gas metal arc welding inverter was proposed. A control system consisting of analogue parts was replaced with a new digital control implemented in a TMS320LF2407A DSP chip. The design and constructional features of the whole digital control were presented. The resources of the DSP chip were efficiently utilized and the circuits are very concise, which can enhance the stability and reliability of welding inverter. Experimental results demonstrate that the developed digital control has the ability to accomplish the excellent pulsed gas metal arc welding process and the merits of the developed digital control are stable welding process, little spatter and perfect weld appearance.

Effect of Conventional and Pulsed TIG Welding on Microstructural and Mechanical Characteristics of AA 6082-T6 Repair Welds

Repair welding of AA 6082-T6 joints was carried out using ER 4043 filler through the TIG welding process with or without pulsed current.Microstructure and mechanical characteristics of the joints before and after repairing were investigated by examining macrostructure,microstructure,and distributions of porosity in the weld metal(WM),and by hardness,tensile,and bending tests.We observed that the welding current,phase transformations in heat-affected zone(HAZ)and porosity introduced in the WM during welding influence on its mechanical properties in sequence.The experimental results showed that the bead width and penetration as well as size of pores in the joints were mainly influenced by the welding currents.The sound joints were obtained at a welding current of 140 A with or without pulsed current when welding speed and gas flow rate were set at 20 cm·min-1 and 15 L·min-1,respectively.Among them,the decrease in mechanical properties of repair weld(RW)was directly related to the phase transformations in the over-ageing zone due to the double welding thermal cycles and elevated distribution of porosity in the WM.In addition,it was observed that the comparatively smaller grain size and lower porosity in WM of the RW produced by pulsed TIG welding gave a positive effect on its mechanical properties.

INTELLIGENT CONTROL SYSTEM OF PULSED MAG WELDING INVERTER BASED ON DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR

A fuzzy logic intelligent control system of pulsed MAG welding inverter based on digital signal processor （DSP） is proposed to obtain the consistency of arc length in pulsed MAG welding. The proposed control system combines the merits of intelligent control with DSP digital control. The fuzzy logic intelligent control system designed is a typical two-input-single-output structure, and regards the error and the change in error of peak arc voltage as two inputs and the background time as single output. The fuzzy logic intelligent control system is realized in a look-up table （LUT） method by using MATLAB based fuzzy logic toolbox, and the implement of LUT method based on DSP is also discussed. The pulsed MAG welding experimental results demonstrate that the developed fuzzy logic intelligent control system based on DSP has strong arc length controlling ability to accomplish the stable pulsed MAG welding process and controls pulsed MAG welding inverter digitally and intelligently.

Digital control system for pulsed MIG welding power based on STM32

Digital control system for pulsed MIG welding power based on STM32 is set up with 32-bit STM32FlO3ZET6 directing against the pulse waveform modulation of pulsed MIG welding. High-frequency inverter and medium-low frequency pulse waveform modulation of pulsed MIG welding are realized by using the integrated PWM module within STM32 to generate PWM signals of phase-shifted full-bridge soft-switching and constant-current control of output current is achieved by means of anti-windup PI control algorithm to improve the stability and reliability of control system. Experimental results demonstrate that the designed digital control system based on STM32 can achieve pegrect pulsed MIG welding technique with stable welding process and good weld appearance, fully demonstrating the advantages of digital control based on STM32.

FEATURES OF THYRISTOR COMMUTATORS OPERATION OF WELDING CURRENT UNDER PULSED-ARC WELDING

This article presents the special requirements and features of the thyristor commutators of the welding current.Advantages of pulsed - arc welding are described.Specificity of the thyristor commutators op- eration is presented. Semiconductor converter simulation allowing to create the engineering calculating techniques are considered.

Correction factor based double model fuzzy logic control strategy of arc voltage in pulsed MIG welding

According to the feature of arc voltage control in welding steel using pulsed MIG welding, a correction factor based double model fuzzy logic controller (FLC) was developed to realize the arc voltage control by means of arc voltage feedback. When the error of peak arc voltage was great, a coarse adjusting fuzzy logic control rules with correction factor was designed, in the controller, the peak arc voltage was controlled by the wire feeding speed by means of arc voltage feedback. When the error of peak arc voltage was small, a fine adjusting fuzzy logic control rules with correction factor was designed, in this controller, the peak arc voltage was controlled by the background time by means of arc voltage feedback. The FLC was realized in a Look-Up Table (LUT) method. Experiments had been carried out aiming at implementing the control strategy to control the arc length change in welding process. Experimental results show that the controller proposed enables the consistency of arc length and the stability of arc voltage and welding process to be achieved in pulsed MIG welding process.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of pulsed laser welded Al/steel dissimilar joint

Pulsed laser welding was used in joining pure aluminum to stainless steel in a lap joint configuration. It is found that the mechanical properties of the laser joints were closely correlated with the bead geometry, i.e., penetration depth. In order to study the correlation, two typical laser welds with different penetration depths were analyzed. In high penetration depth (354 μm) joint, Al-rich Fe?Al IMCs with microcracks were formed at the Al/fusion zone (FZ) interface. The joint strength was found to be (27.2±1.7) N/mm and three failure modes were observed near the Al/FZ interface. In low penetration depth (108 μm) joint, Fe-rich Fe?Al IMCs without any defect were formed at the Al/FZ interface. The joint strength was found to be (46.2±1.9) N/mm and one failure mode was observed across the FZ.

Study on fuzzy control IGBT inverter arc welding power source for robot

Arc welding robot is playing more and more important roles in modern welding manufacturing, but now available welding power sources seldom satisfy with robot system requirements. In this paper, study on fuzzy control IGBT inverter arc welding power source for robot is developed to bring robotic advantages into full play. Firstly, fast response 500A IGBT inverter arc welding rectifier is developed. Secondly, fuzzy control system, which features multi-functions, fast response and wide using range, is developed and reliable measures for preventing interference are designed. Finally, technological experiments for carbon steel are made. The welding experimental results show that the goal of design is attained.

Improving pulsed laser weldability of duplex stainless steel to 5456 aluminum alloy via friction stir process reinforcing of aluminum by BNi-2 brazing alloy

Effects of laser pulse distance and reinforcing of 5456 aluminum alloy were investigated on laser weldability of Al alloy to duplex stainless steel (DSS) plates. The aluminum alloy plate was reinforced by nickel-base BNi-2 brazing powder via friction stir processing. The DSS plates were laser welded to the Al5456/BNi-2 composite and also to the Al5456 alloy plates. The welding zones were studied by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, micro-hardness and shear tests. The weld interface layer became thinner from 23 to 5 μm, as the laser pulse distance was increased from 0.2 to 0.5 mm. Reinforcing of the Al alloy modified the phases at interface layer from Al-Fe intermetallic compounds (IMCs) in the DSS/Al alloy weld, to Al-Ni-Fe IMCs in the DSS/Al composite one, since more nickel was injected in the weld pool by BNi-2 reinforcements. This led to a remarkable reduction in crack tendency of the welds and decreased the hardness of the interface layer from ~950 HV to ~600 HV. Shear strengths of the DSS/Al composite welds were significantly increased by ~150%, from 46 to 114 MPa, in comparison to the DSS/Al alloy ones.

Microstructure,properties and first principles calculation of titanium alloy/steel by Nd: YAG laser self-fluxing welding

The experiment of Nd： YAG pulsed laser self-fluxing welding for 304 stainless steel/Ti6Al4V titanium alloy dissimilar metal was carried out. The microstructure properties of welded joint were analyzed by SEM, EDS and XRD. The equilibrium lattice constants, enthalpies of formation, cohesive energies, mechanical properties, Debye temperatures and valence electron structures of Ti-Fe intermetallic compounds （IMCs） were calculated by the first principle pseudopotential plane wave method based on density functional theory （DFT）. According to the thermodynamic data of Ti-Fe-Cr compounds, the Gibbs free energy per mole of compound at different temperatures was calculated and their thermal stability was compared. The results show that there are no macroscopic cracks in the welded joints, and the IMCs distributed evenly along the welding interface exhibits 3 distinct layers of microstructure with different colors. The welds interface generates IMCs of TiFe, TiFe 2 and a small amount of Ti 5Cr 7Fe 17 IMCs. Ti-Fe IMCs with high thermodynamic stability and easy alloying formation. The results of Gibbs free energies show that the sequence of precipitates in the interface is Ti 5Cr 7Fe 17 , TiFe 2 and TiFe in high temperature during the metallurgical reaction. The G/B values of Ti-Fe IMCs are greater than the critical value of 0.5, indicating that it is an intrinsic brittleness.

Realizing precision pulse TIG welding with arc length control and visual image sensing based weld detection

Methods of arc length control and visual image based weld detection for precision pulse TIG welding were investigated. With a particular all hardware circuit, arc voltage during peak current stage is sampled and integrated to indicate arc length, deviation of arc length and adjusting parameters are calculated and output to drive a step motor directly. According to the features of welding image grabbed with CCD camera, a special algorithm was developed to detect the central line of weld fast and accurately. Then an application system were established, whose static arc length error is ±0.1 mm with 20 A average current and 1 mm given arc length, static detection precision of weld is 0.01 mm , processing time of each image is less than 120 ms . Precision pulse TIG welding of some given thin stainless steel components with complicated curved surface was successfully realized.