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Posinasetti, Praveen and Kang, Mun-Jin and Yarlagadda, Prasad K. (2008) Drop transfer mode prediction in pulse GMAW of aluminum using statistical model. Journal of Materials Processing Technology 201(1-3):pp. 502-506.

Copyright 2008 Elsevier

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Drop transfer mode prediction in pulse GMAW of aluminum using statistical model
P. Praveen a , M.J. Kang b , P.K.D.V. Yarlagadda a,
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a r t i c l e
Keywords:

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a b s t r a c t

Processes like GMAW-P introduce additional complexity (with need of dening supplementary variables such as peak current, base current, peak time, base time, frequency and duty cycle) which needs intense process knowledge for correctly dening pulsing parameters to achieve good quality. For achieving good weld quality one droplet should detach in every pulse to produce best weld quality with minimal defects and spatter. But depending upon the input pulse parameters, drop transfer can result in either one drop or multiple drops per pulse which directly inuence the nal weld quality. The purpose of this study was to of the electrode to the workpiece quantitatively using the pulsing parameters of the pulse waveform acquired during the real time operation. Model was proposed to estimate the number of drops transferred from the end of the electrode to the workpiece, performing the multiple regression analysis between model and quantied number of drops transferred

Pulse gas metal arc welding Drop transfer mode Pulsing parameters Waveform factors

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from the end of the electrode to the workpiece. 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.

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Introduction

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develop a statistical model able to estimate the number of drops transferred from the end

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School of Engineering Systems, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, Qld 4001, Australia Production Technology Center, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 994-32, Dongchun-dong, Yeonsu-gu Incheon 406-130, South Korea

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In GMAW-P, process quality is dependent on the regularity and the nature of the liquid metal transfer. Drop transfer may occur in the form of one drop per pulse (ODPP) or multiple drops per pulse (MDPP). It is also generally believed that one droplet should detach in every pulse to produce best weld quality with minimal defects and spatter (Praveen et al., 2005). Hence prediction models to access the drop transfer mode which can be used to quantitatively establish quality are required since the qualities cannot be measured online directly. GMAW-P is a widely used arc welding process for thin sheet metal joining of aluminum (Praveen and Yarlagadda, 2005). In GMAW-P, the welding current is alternatively and

periodically varied between the background (or base) and peak (or pulse) values as shown in Fig. 1. But pulse welding parameters are relatively complex to dene and lack consistency in parameter denitions by different researchers. Higher peak current results in blowing of the molten drop at the end of the electrode and generates spatter. Higher and lower peak time results in MDPP and one drop per multiple pulses (ODMP), respectively. If dominant base conditions are selected then there are chances of increase in the melting during the background conditions and results generally in bigger drops. Hence, mode of drop transfer observed is signicantly dependent upon the choice of the pulsing parameters of the pulse waveform that are directly responsible for the variation in number of the molten metal droplets at the end of electrode.

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Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 7 38645167; fax: +61 7 38641469. E-mail addresses: p.posinaseeti@qut.edu.au (P. Praveen), moonjin@kitech.re.kr (M.J. Kang), y.prasad@qut.edu.au (P.K.D.V. Yarlagadda). 0924-0136/$ see front matter 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.11.226
Please cite this article in press as: Praveen, P., et al., Drop transfer mode prediction in pulse GMAW of aluminum using statistical model, J. Mater. PROTEC 11666 15 Process. Tech. (2007), doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.11.226

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tors that cause multi-collinearity were eliminated. Multiple regression analysis was performed on the four linear regression model composed of the remaining factors that were not eliminated. Also, the factors that have high probability values were removed. Hence, estimation model that can predict the number of drops transferred per pulse is proposed. The estimated results predicted by the models were compared to the number of drops transferred per pulse observed during actual experiment.

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2.
Fig. 1 Parameters of pulsed current waveform.

Experiments

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Experimental setup

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Several researchers in the past have tried to study the drop transfer from the end of the electrode to the workpiece for GMAW and GMAW-P. There are two well-quoted theories of metal transfer. These are static force balance theory (SFBM) (Allum, 1965) and the pinch instability theory (PIT) (Allum and Quintino, 1985). Previous results based on these models suggest that SFBM predicts the droplet size better in the lower current regions and the PIT is more accurate at high currents. However, both fail to fully explain experimental observations of different drop transfer phenomena. Most of the previous research in GMAW-P has used experimentation technique to characterise and establish the region of ODPP. Many researchers like Amin (1981), Smati (1994) and Rajasekaran (1999) have used the burn-off criteria, arc stability and weldment quality to determine the suitable range of the pulse parameters. They established that the ODPP is realc ized when the term IP TP remains constant and results in best quality with GMAW-P process. Subramanian (1996) formed a relation between the peak and background conditions by a combination of exponential and Lorentzian function to dene the minimum time at peak required for droplet detachment at a desired peak current level. The relationship is given as:

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TP IP = 496.1 (1 e0.003IB TB ) +

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(IB TB 182.2) /8423.5

(1)

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To summarize, the common observation from these earlier research results was that drop transfer is strongly dependent upon the prevalent pulsing parameters and most of the earlier research result has been done for steel. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a statistical model consisting of operating parameters namely pulsing parameters and wire feed rate acquired in real time from the online signal of the pulse current waveform to predict the number of drops transferred in GMAW-P for aluminum. Occurrence of the different drop transfer modes under several welding conditions was observed and the number of drops transferred per pulse was noted down using the signal processing and image processing techniques on the measured signals and high-speed camera pictures. Linear regression model composed of the operating parameters namely pulsing parameters and wire feed rate are proposed. A correlation analysis between the number of drops transferred per pulse and the constitution factors of the proposed model was executed, and some fac-

The experimental setup used in this study is shown in Fig. 2. Through-the-arc sensing of the welding current, arc voltage and high-speed imaging of the droplet transfer are assembled in conjunction with each other to study the inuence of the pulse current waveform on the metal transfer process during GMAW-P. The experimental setup consists of a pulsed type inverter controlled GMAW power source with constant current characteristics, automated welding system with 3-axis servo motors and controllers, sensors for measuring actual welding current and voltage signals, A/D converter, high-speed camera with 10,000 frames/s performance and xenon lamp along with set of lenses and lters was used as light source to provide back light for high-speed lming. Experiments were carried out using the principle of backlight high-speed xenon lamp cinematography which was synchronized with the data acquisition system. A high-speed video camera was used to acquire the images of the droplets. The images acquired by the high-speed video camera were transferred in the form of video signal to the computer for the analysis. The backlight was projected by the xenon lamp after passing through a set of lenses and lters towards the droplet/wire system. Light blocked by the droplet/wire will not reach the lens. So in the process, almost all of the arc light is eliminated and a shadow of the drop and wire is captured by a high-speed camera. The advantage of xenon lamp over laser light is lower cost and its larger light spot makes it possible to capture the images of both droplet/wire system and arc. Also diffused xenon lamp illumination needs to be focussed over a

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Please cite this article in press as: Praveen, P., et al., Drop transfer mode prediction in pulse GMAW of aluminum using statistical model, J. Mater. PROTEC 11666 15 Process. Tech. (2007), doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.11.226

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Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of experimental setup.

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Table 1 Experimental design plan Levels

IP (A) IB (A) TP (ms) TB (ms) WFR (m/min)

1
220 40 2 10 4

2
250 50 4 16 5

3
280 60 6 22 6

4
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been quantied in this work on the basis of number of times drop transfer occurs in a single pulse.

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Waveform factors
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Wire melting rate is dependent upon arc and resistance heating of the wire during welding. Wire melting rate for a square wave pulse has been written and interpreted by several authors in different forms as shown below in Eqs. (2)(4):
2 W = a Iav + b L Iav

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small region by passing it directly through a mild steel sheet cylinder. The arc voltage was measured between the contact tip of the welding gun and the xture. This allowed voltage measurements as close to the arc as possible to most accurately measure the arc voltage. The welding current was measured with a Hall sensor, which was attached to the earth cable. A data acquisition card in combination with a laptop personal computer was used to acquire voltage and current signals along with high-speed camera pictures. The sampling rate was 10 kHz. The noise on the signals was removed by a digital low pass lter with a 200 Hz cut-off frequency. The data acquisition system measurements were compared to a calibrated digital oscilloscope. Several measurements were taken and synchronised with both the oscilloscope and the data acquisition system, and subsequently compared. The waveform signals were collected Q2 during a 2 s period after 10 s elapsed from the start of welding. Bead on plate welds was made in the at position using an inverter controlled GMAW power source. Welds were made in the constant current mode. The ller material used was a 4047 aluminum alloy welding wire with a 1.2 mm diameter. The base material was 6061 aluminum alloy with a thickness of 6 mm. The shielding gas used throughout the experiments was pure argon with a gas ow rate of 20 L/min. Contact tip to the workpiece distance (CTWD) and speed was kept constant through out the experiments. The values of CTWD and speed used for all the experiments were 20 mm and 4 mm/s. Table 1 shows the setting conditions of pulsing parameters used for the experimentation. The experimental setup used in Q3 this study is shown in Fig. 2. It consists of a pulsed type inverter Q4 controlled GMAW power source with constant current characteristics, automated welding system with 3-axis servo motors and controllers, sensors for measuring actual welding current and voltage signals, A/D converter, high speed camera with 10,000 frames/s performance and xenon lamp along with set of lenses and lters was used as light source to provide back light for high-speed lming.

(2) (3)

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W (t) =

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W (t) dt cycle = (WP TP + WB TB ) F

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2 2 W = (IP TP + IB TB ) + l F (IP TP + IB TB )

(4)

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Several waveform factors can be extracted from the above wire melting rate equations. Waveform factors used in this study are: (1) pulse characteristics shape factors: peak current (IP ), base current (IB ), peak time (TP ), frequency (F), base time (TB ), unit peak current (IP F), and unit base current (IB F); (2) pulse area characteristics shape factors: peak time arc heating (IP TP ), base time arc heating (IB TB ), peak time arc heating fraction (IP TP F), base time arc heating fraction (IB TB F), square of peak time arc heating (IP TP )2 , square of base time arc heating (IB TB )2 , square of peak time arc heating fraction (IP TP F)2 , square of base time arc heating fraction 2 T F) and base (IB TB F)2 , peak time resistive heating (IP P 2 time resistive heating (IB TB F).

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5. Statistical models for quantitative estimation of drop transfer mode in GMAW-P

Multiple linear regression model
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Multiple linear regression model was composed of an experimental design to nd a statistical model for quantitative estimate in the form of number of drops per pulse in GMAWP. The input variables of the GMAW-P process were different waveform factors (explained earlier in Section 4). The output variables were number of drops per pulse (DM ). Statistical model, similar to Eq. (5), was composed between the input and output variables. Y = a + b WFR + cIP + dIB + eTP + fTB + gF + h(IP TP ) +i(IB TB ) + j(IP F) + k(IB F) + l(IP TP F)
2 +m(IB TB F) + n(IP TP ) + o(IB TB ) + p(IP TP F) 2 +q(IB TB F) + r(IP TP F) + s(IB TB F) 2 2 2 2

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3. Quantication of drop transfer mode in GMAW-P

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(5)

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Using the signal processing and image processing techniques, short circuit data was separated from the conditions under which drop transfer mode was observed. Total 187 experiments resulted in short circuit out of 786 experiments performed. Short circuit data was removed and not utilized for drop transfer mode model formulation. Depending upon the pulsing parameters, drop transfer mode varies resulting in different number of drops transferred per pulse which has

where a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r and s are the linear coefcients to be estimated for the model. Statistical method chosen in this study was multiple regression analysis performed on experimental design space. This is done by analyzing the results of different quantitative estimates of the arc state in the experimental design space (composed of wire feed rate 4 and 6 m/min data only) to verify the signicance

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Please cite this article in press as: Praveen, P., et al., Drop transfer mode prediction in pulse GMAW of aluminum using statistical model, J. Mater. PROTEC 11666 15 Process. Tech. (2007), doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.11.226

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Table 2 Analysis of variance tests for multiple linear regression model developed Multiple linear regression for
Drop transfer mode (DM )

Standard error of estimate

0.4899

Coefcient of multiple correlation

0.8695

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of each factor and to detect any interaction effects among the factors. DM = 3.8147 + 0.95818 WFR + 0.015982IP + 0.26799TP +0.04642F 0.00135(IB TB ) 0.2545(IP F) 0.03267(IP TP F) (6) Fig. 4 Average rms error between the predicted result by proposed linear regression estimation model developed and the number of drops per pulse observed at different wire feed rates of wire feed rates of 4, 5 and 6 m/min.

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Multiple correlation coefcient was used to gauge the goodness of t with the experimental results. The analysis was carried out using SPSS, a statistical optimization software, with analysis of variance based on minimization of least square error from the experimental errors. Based on the regression analysis using the least squares method from experimental results and at the 5% signicance level, Eq. (6) was formulated for number of drops per pulse. The variance technique was employed to analyse and to check the adequacy of the developed empirical model. The standard error of estimate and coefcient of multiple correlation for Eq. (6) is given in Table 2. According to Table 2, Eq. (6) is useful for prediction due to smaller error in estimation and higher value of coefcient of multiple correlation.

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5.2. Estimation performance and tness of multiple linear regression model for number of drops per pulse
To ensure the accuracy of the developed model described above and to survey the spread of the model predictions, the experimental and theoretical predictions were compared in Fig. 3 for both datasets used for model development (wire feed rate of 4 and 6 m/min) and validation (wire feed rate of 5 m/min). According to Fig. 3, the estimation performance of these models has a linear relationship with the number of drops per pulse as determined by the experiment. It is also evident from Fig. 3 that reasonable agreement between the experimental and predicted number of drops per pulse is

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Fig. 3 Comparison between predicted results by proposed linear regression estimation model and the number of drops per pulse for: (a) wire feed rate of 4 m/min; (b) wire feed rate of 5 m/min; and (c) wire feed rate of 6 m/min.
Please cite this article in press as: Praveen, P., et al., Drop transfer mode prediction in pulse GMAW of aluminum using statistical model, J. Mater. PROTEC 11666 15 Process. Tech. (2007), doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.11.226

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shown, even when the scatter about the calculated results is considerable. The model showed over and under estimation around the experimental results as shown in Fig. 3. Based on Fig. 4 it can be concluded that that for lower number of drops per pulse between 1 and 2.5 drops per pulse, average rms error in prediction of number of drops per pulse was less than 1 drop per pulse for all the wire feed rates. As number of drops per pulse is increased beyond 2.5, a larger error but still less than 1.5 drops per pulse was observed. As the average rms error of prediction for the proposed linear regression model for the number of drops per pulse at different possible individual values of the number of drops per pulse was small, it can be concluded that the proposed model is useful for prediction of the number of drops per pulse that can be used to assess the arc state in GMAW-P.

land University of Technology (Australia), Korean Institute of Industrial Technology (South Korea), Australian Research Council and Queensland Governments Growing the Smart State program for supporting the experiments. The authors also wish to gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Dr. Sehun Rhee and members of the Intelligent Monitoring and Control laboratory of Hanyang University, South Korea. Especially Mr. Hyungjin Park for helping in the experimental work described here. The authors are grateful to the high performance computing group for helping with the graphical data representation presented in this paper.

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references

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Conclusion

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Improper selection of pulsing parameters can result in varying number of drops per pulse and result in poor weld quality in GMAW-P system. So if the number of drops transferred during GMAW-P is not accessed precisely during welding, it becomes very difcult to comprehend whether welding is performed under proper conditions. Hence statistical models for estimating the drop transfer mode in the form of the number of drops per pulse has been proposed in this work. This approach can be used online to detect drop transfer mode which is useful for automating the weld process. In order to estimate the number of drops per pulse in GMAW-P, linear regression model of drop transfer mode was made and the estimation performance of the model was found to be reasonably good at different wire feed rates.

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Acknowledgements
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The authors gratefully acknowledge nancial support from the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering of Queens-

Allum, C.J., 1965. Metal transfer in arc welding as a varicose instability. II. Development of model for arc welding. J. Appl. Phys. D 18, 14471468. Allum, C.J., Quintino, L., 1985. Control of fusion characteristics in pulsed current MIG welding. Met. Constr. -Brit. Weld. 4, 242R245R. Amin, M., 1981. Synergic pulse MIG welding. Met. Constr. -Brit. Weld. 6, 349353. Praveen, P., Yarlagadda, P.K.D.V., Kang, M.J., 2005. Meeting challenges in welding of aluminum alloys through pulse gas metal arc welding. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 164/165, 11061112. Praveen, P., Yarlagadda, P.K.D.V., 2005. Advancements in pulse gas metal arc welding. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 164/165, 11131119. Rajasekaran, S., 1999. Weld bead characteristics in pulse GMA welding of AlMg alloys. Weld J. 78, 397s407s. Smati, Z., 1994. Automatic pulsed GMA welding. Met. Constr. -Brit. Weld. 6, 3844. S. Subramaniam, Process modelling and analysis for pulsed gas metal arc welding of an aluminium automotive spaceframe. Ph.D. Thesis. West Virginia University, 1996.

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Please cite this article in press as: Praveen, P., et al., Drop transfer mode prediction in pulse GMAW of aluminum using statistical model, J. Mater. PROTEC 11666 15 Process. Tech. (2007), doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.11.226

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