Mechanical properties improvement of MIG welding steel sheets using Taguchi method

ABSTRACT

Metal inert gas (MIG) welding process employs many applications, such as automobile panels, ejector pins, nozzles, cold headed fasteners and bolts, etc., since all commercially important applicable metals can be welded in all positions with this process via selecting the proper shielding gas, electrode, and welding variables. These applications are almost subjected to bending failure because an unsuitable hardness with poor bending strength may fail the members rapidly. The aim of this research is to study the influence of the metal inert gas (MIG) welding parameters, including current (84, 140 and 196 A), wire feeding speed (5, 7 and 9 m/min) and gas pressure (17, 20 and 23 Kgf/cm²) on the hardness and maximum bending force of steel due to very little investigations in this field. Taguchi method has been used to design the experiments and to make the optimisation by Minitab 16.

KEYWORDS:

• MIG welding parameters
• hardness
• bending strength
• Taguchi method
• Optimisation

Acknowledgments

Special thanks for training and workshop centre and mechanical engineering departments in the university of technology-Iraq for all supports.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Najmuldeen Yousif Mahmood

Najmuldeen Yousif Mahmood is a lecturer in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Technology- Iraq.  The interested fields are mechanical properties of material, strength of materials, fatigue strength, machine elements.

Ali Hussein Alwan

Ali Hussein Alwan is an assistant lecturer in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Technology- Iraq.  The interested fields are stress analysis, residual stress, machine elements.