Experimental Study on the Influence of LBW Process Parameters on Mechanical Properties of Dissimilar Metal Joints

Abstract

Laser Beam Welding technique is applied to conduct experiments on joining of dissimilar metals, AISI 4130 and AISI 310 steels so as to study the influence of process parameters on mechanical properties of joints. Taguchi L25 Orthogonal Array is selected to join 2mm thick dissimilar steels by varying Laser Power, Welding Speed, Beam Incident Angle, Focal Point Position and Focal Length. Output results of Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) and Impact Strength (IS) are measured. ANOVA is carried out to obtain the levels of influence of process parameters and statistical evolution of the results. TOPSIS optimization is applied to transmogrify a multi-criteria optimization problem into a single-criterion problem, so as to obtain optimal combination of process parameters of Laser Beam Welding. Then UTS and IS are maximised. Results have revealed that the proposed method is appropriate for solving multi-criteria optimization of process parameters.