Title: Mathematical modelling and optimisation of laser welding of butt joints

Authors: K.R. Balasubramanian, K. Sankaranarayanasamy, T. Suthakar, S.P. Sivapirakasam, G. Buvanashekaran

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 622 015, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 622 015, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 622 015, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 622 015, India. ' Laser Materials Processing Division, Welding Research Institute, BHEL Tiruchirappalli 622 014, India

Abstract: Laser welding is characterised by its high power density and concentrated heat input. The weld bead profile of laser welding depends on various parameters and these parameters are to be selected correctly to obtain the desired output. As the trial and error method for selecting weld parameters is very costly, suitable analytical methods has to be established for selecting optimum parameters for welding. In this paper the influence of laser welding parameters on the weld bead profile of butt joints are analysed and discussed. The experimentation is performed based on Box-Behnken design. Mathematical modelling is done to predict the responses and the adequacy of the model is tested using the analysis of variance. Numerical and graphical optimisation techniques are used to find the optimum process range which will improve the weld quality.

Keywords: laser welding; mathematical modelling; optimisation; butt joints; stainless steel; weld bead geometry; weld quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCMSSE.2010.036220

International Journal of Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering, 2010 Vol.3 No.4, pp.321 - 335

Published online: 31 Oct 2010 *

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