Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Welding of thin sheet of Al alloy (6082) by using Vario wire DC P-GMAW

  • ORIGINAL ARTICLE
  • Published:
The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper describes an investigation on the micro-structure, weld bead geometry, dilution rate and mechanical properties of the butt and overlap weld joints of 1-mm-thick 6082 aluminium alloy sheet. Weld joints were produced with the help of a variant of gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process, i.e. direct current-pulsed GMAW (DC P-GMAW), using a Vario wire. The capability of the new process has been assessed in terms of dilution, weld bead geometry, mechanical properties and porosity. The welding results with this new process showed good process stability in the welding of thin sheets of aluminium, while weld mismatch was found to increase with an increase in heat input. Weld bead geometry parameters such as weld size, throat and weld convexity increases with the increase in heat input. The dilution in case of lap joints (10–25%) was less than that of butt joints (60–80%). The increase in factor Φ (summarizing the effect of pulse parameters) increases the form factor and lowers the toe angle. Mechanical properties of the welds are poor as the tensile strength of 6082 alloy welds was around 150 MPa, and the percent elongation was about 1.3%, and it was primarily due to high porosity. Porosity (%) in weld joints was found in the range of 0.33–11.59%. The porosity is a major issue with DC P-GMAW welds.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ulrich D, Konrad W (2005) Vario wire a new variant of the gas metal arc welding of aluminum with thin wire electrodes, Nov.

  2. Ueyama T, Tong H, Harada S, Passmore R, Ushhio M (2005) AC pulsed GMAW improves Sheet metal Joining. Welding Journal 84(2):40–46

    Google Scholar 

  3. Mathers G (2002) Wood Head, England, pp 4–5

  4. Praveen P, Yarlagadda PKDV (2005) Meeting challenges in welding of aluminum alloys through pulse gas metal arc welding. J Mater Process Technol 164–165:1106–1112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Dickerson PB, Irving B (1992) Welding aluminum: it’s not as difficult as it sounds. Weld J 71:45–50

    Google Scholar 

  6. Brace M, Brook J (2002) Tips for successfully welding sheet metal: proper equipment, electrodes, and welding techniques can prevent typical sheet metal welding problems such as warping and melt-through. Weld J 81(3)

  7. Miller DK (2005) Arc welding light gauge steel, Structure Magazine, pp 10–13

  8. Kearns WH (ed) (1978) Welding handbook, welding processes—arc and gas welding and cutting, brazing and soldering, vol. 2, 7th edn. American Welding Society, Miami, FL, pp 39–41, 119–120

    Google Scholar 

  9. Altschuller B (1998) A guide to GMA welding of aluminum. Weld J, pp 49–55

  10. Dorling DV (1992) Applying pulsed GMA welding to pipeline construction. Weld J 71(10):39–44

    Google Scholar 

  11. Nacey TJ (1993) Fourth generation inverters add artificial intelligence to the control of GMA welding. Weld J 72(2):31–36

    Google Scholar 

  12. Yamamoto H, Harada S, Ueyama T (1997) Improved current control makes inverters the power sources of choice. Weld J 76(2):47–49

    Google Scholar 

  13. Byrd T (1993) Inverter power sources: an efficient alternative. Weld J 72(1):37–42

    Google Scholar 

  14. Schiedermayer M (1997) Improving the reliability of inverter based welding machines. Weld J 76(2):51–52

    Google Scholar 

  15. Zhang YM, Liguoe E, Kovacevic R (1998) Active metal transfer control by monitoring excited droplet oscillation. Weld J 77(9):388s–395s

    Google Scholar 

  16. Zhang YM, Li PJ (2001) Modified active control of metal transfer and pulsed GMAW of Titanium. Weld J 80(2):54s–61s

    Google Scholar 

  17. Thamodharan M, Beck HP, Wolf A (1999) Steady and pulsed direct current welding with a single converter. Weld J 78(3):75s–79s

    Google Scholar 

  18. Nadzam J, Tandem GMAW (2002) The flexibility of pulsed spray transfer. Weld Innov 19(2)

  19. Ma J, Apps RL (1983) Analyzing metal transfer during MIG welding. Weld Met Fabr 51:119–128

    Google Scholar 

  20. Tong H, Era T, Ueyama T (2002) Development of adaptive control system for alternating current pulsed metal inert gas welding parameters. Sci Technol Weld Join 7(6):408–412

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Tong H, Ueyama T, Harada S, Ushhio M (2001) Quality and productivity improvement in aluminum alloy thin sheet welding using alternating current pulsed metal inert gas welding system. Sci Technol Weld Join 6(4):203–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Tong H, Ueyama T, Kihara T, Nakata K, Ushio M (2005) High speed welding of aluminium alloy sheets with using the laser/AC pulsed MIG hybrid process. Welding Int 19(2):89–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Ishchenko AY, Mashin VS, Pashulya MP (2005) Technological features of twin arc consumable electrode pulsed welding of aluminium alloys. Paton Weld J 1:10–14

    Google Scholar 

  24. Kim YS (1989) Metal transfer in gas metal arc welding. Ph.D. thesis, MIT, Cambridge, MA

  25. Gubicza J, Krállics Gy, Schiller I, Malgin D (2005) Evolution of the microstructure of Al 6082 alloy during equal-channel angular pressing. Mat Sci Forum 473–474:453–458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Datta S, Bandyopadhyay A, Pal PK (2007) Application of Taguchi philosophy for parametric optimization of bead geometry and HAZ width in submerged arc welding using mixture of fresh flux and fused slag. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 36:689–698

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Roy RK (1990) A primer on the Taguchi methods. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York

    Google Scholar 

  28. Tarng YS, Yang WH (1998) Optimization of weld bead geometry in gas tungsten arc welding by the Taguchi method. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 14:549–554

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Shore RJ (1968) M.S. thesis, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

  30. Randhawa HS, Ghosh PK, Gupta SR (1998) Geometrical characteristics of pulsed current positional GMA weld. ISIJ Int 38(3):276–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Maruo H, Hirata Y (1984) IIW DOC.SG 212-585-84, July

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, 247667, India

    Rakesh Kumar, D. K. Dwivedi & S. P. Sharma

  2. ISF-Welding and Joining Institute, RWTH-Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Ulrich Dilthey

  3. Metallurgy and Materials Engineering Department, IIT, Roorkee, India

    P. K. Ghosh

Authors
  1. Rakesh Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ulrich Dilthey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. D. K. Dwivedi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S. P. Sharma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. P. K. Ghosh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. K. Dwivedi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kumar, R., Dilthey, U., Dwivedi, D.K. et al. Welding of thin sheet of Al alloy (6082) by using Vario wire DC P-GMAW. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 42, 102–117 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-008-1568-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-008-1568-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation