• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.57-65
• /
• 1997

A study was undertaken to determine the influence of welding variables such as shielding and plasma gases, torch standoff, travel speed and heat input, etc. on the quality of plasma arc welds in Zircaloy-4 sheet, 2mm thick. Effect of shielding gases and their flow rates on the mechanical properties of Zircaloy-4 welds by plasma arc welding were determined in terms of tensile, bardness and bend tests. The microstructure and fracture surface of Zircaloy-4 welds were investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopies. In addition, the causes of porosity and undercut in plasma arc welds of Zircaloy-4 were also investigated. Zircaloy-4 weld bead width and depth by helium shielding gas showed a wider and deeper than those by argon. It was found that Zircaloy-4 welds with shielding gas of helium did dxhibit a little smoother and uniform weld beads than those with shielding gas of argon. It was also found that the optimum gas flow rates for Zircaloy-4 welding were 0.45l/min for plasma gas with Ar and 4.5 - 6 l/min for shielding gas with He. In addition, there was no big difference in the microstructure and fracture surface of the weld metals made by either Ar shielding gas or He shielding gas.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.2701-2706
• /
• 2003

This paper describes weld seam tracking and error compensation methods of automatic plasma arc welding system designed for the corrugation panel that consists of a linear section and a curved section with various curvatures. Realizing automatic welding system, we are faced with two problems. One is a precise seam tracking and the other is an arc length control. Due to the complexity of the panel shape, it is difficult to find a seam and operate a torch manually in the welding process. So, laser vision sensor for seam tracking is equipped for sensing the seam position and controlling the height of a torch automatically. To attain more precise measurement of an arc length, we measure the 3D shape of the panel and analyze error factors according to the various panel states and caused errors are predicted through the welding process. Using that result, compensation algorithm is added to that of arc length control and real time error compensation is achieved. The result shows that these two methods work effectively.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.54-58
• /
• 2012

Al-coated steel sheets with excellent heat and corrosion resistance are widely used in various applications. In welding of thin plate, some defects such as unmelted zone and metal-through occur easily in the beginning and ending of welding line. In the study, the welding defects in Al-coated steel sheets were investigated with respect to plasma arc current, height between Cu block and base metals, and using a roller to align the height of the base metal. Full penetration and voids free welds were obtained with a plasma arc current 52A and weld speed 2.3m/min. An unmelted zone increased and Ericshen rate decreased as the height between Cu block and base metal increased from 0 to 0.6mm. Using a roller moving ahead of the plasma arc, the length of unmelted zone decreased from 1.7mm to 0.5mm.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.25 no.9
• /
• pp.27-31
• /
• 2008

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.28-33
• /
• 2014

In this paper, I-butt welding with 6mm thickness using Plasma-GMA welding was carried out. And weld characteristics of the Al-5083 aluminium alloy for Plasma-GMA hybrid welding was evaluated. The orthogonal experimental design was used to investigate the influence of plasma-MIG welding parameters such as plasma current, wire feeding rate, MIG-welding voltage and welding speed on the weld bead geometry and tensile strength using the ANOVA(Analysis of Variation). Then we conducted evaluation of contribution for process parameters. ANOVA results show that bead dimensions are affected by wire feeding speed, welding voltage and welding speed and tensile strength is mainly affected by welding speed and plasma arc current. Tensile strength was decreased by rise in plasma welding current because GMA welding current was decreased by plasma arc.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.36 no.8
• /
• pp.1076-1082
• /
• 2012

Today the welding for LNG carrier is known to be possible using arc and plasma arc welding process. But because of the lower energy density, arc welding is inevitable to multi-pass welding for thick plate and has a limit of welding speed compared to laser which is high energy density heat source. When thick plate is welded, weld defect by multi-pass welding and heat-affected zone by high heat-input were formed. Therefore one-pass welding by key-hole has been considered to work out the problems. It is possible for Laser, electron beam, plasma process to do key-hole welding. Nowadays, plasma process has been used for welding membrane of cargo tank for LNG carrier instead of arc process. Recently, many studies have examined to apply laser process to welding of membrane. In this paper, weldability, microstructure and mechanical properties of stainless steel for LNG carrier welded by fiber laser were compared to those by plasma. As a result, although the laser welding has several times faster speed, similar properties and smaller weld and heat affected zone were obtained. Consequently, this study proves the superiority of fiber laser welding for LNG carrier.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.67-72
• /
• 2010

The purpose of this paper is to understand the behavior of GHTAW process under the space environment with the experimental and numerical analysis. Gas Hollow Tungsten Arc Welding (GHTAW) using a hollow tungsten electrode was adopted, since the ignition and discharge of a conventional GTAW process is not appropriate to the space environment due to low pressure in space. In order to clarify the phenomena of GHTAW under space environment, an investigation of thermal and physical properties of the GHTAW arc plasma was experimentally performed under low pressure conditions. Furthermore, the molten pool behavior and weldment of GHTAW were understood by CFD-based numerical analysis, based on the models of GHTA heat source, arc pressure and electromagnetic force induced by arc plasma, the characteristics of which were obtained by the captured images of a CCD camera.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.30-35
• /
• 2004

Laser welding is obviously an attractive method to join small, thin parts such as small stainless steel tubes, but it is very sensitive to the joint clearance and tolerance, and this makes laser welding difficult to obtain consistent welding qualities over time. Recently, Plasma Augmented Laser Welding(PALW) is being developed to solve these problems. In this study, plasma arc welding(PAW) was introduced to join conventional V-grooved butt joint of thin stainless steel strips using single laser heat source in manufacturing small stainless steel tubes. The effect of the welding speed enhancement is investigated by the experiments. Effects of welding directions, distance between the heat sources and intensity of arc heat source on the optimal welding speed was investigated. Through this research, it was confirmed that PALW process has higher welding speed and robustness than laser welding process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
• /
• 1996.11a
• /
• pp.27-41
• /
• 1996

In this study the heat transfer and fluid flow of the molten pool in stationary gas tungsten arc welding using argon shielding gas were investigated. Transporting phenomena from the welding arc to the base material surface, such as current density, heat flux, arc pressure and shear stress acting on the weld pool surface, were taken from the simulation results of the corresponding welding arc. Various driving forces for the weld pool convection were considered, self-induced electromagnetic, surface tension, buoyancy, and impinging plasma arc forces. Furthermore, the effect of surface depression due to the arc pressure acting on the molten pool surface was considered. Because fusion boundary has a curved and unknown shape during welding, a boundary-fitted coordinate system was adopted to precisely describe the boundary for the momentum equation. The numerical model was applied to AISI 304 stainless steel and compared with the experimental results.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
• /
• 2005.11a
• /
• pp.138-140
• /
• 2005

Plasma arc welding(PAW) technology is a proven process that has already been adopted by other industrial fields and recently has been considered to join the tank structure of LNG carrier. The purpose of this study is to introduce PAW process for the root welding of stainless steel pipes instead of TIG welding. There are distinctive features of the PAW compared to TIG welding; higher energy density that can increase welding speed by more than twofold, and longer arc length that can be controlled to trace seam line easily because of allowable gap between workpiece and torch. However, PAW process is also very sensitive to the root gap and misalignment due to the characteristics of long and narrow arc shape. So, we have done various experiments to establish the allowable fit-up condition by changing welding parameters including arc length, with or without filler metal, groove shape, and obtained satisfactory result.