Investigation into the Impact of Groove Shape on the Tensile Strength of Commercial Steel

Abstract

In the industrial landscape, welding holds a prominent position, with a significant demand for both effective and high-quality welding processes. Manufacturers, striving to maintain competitiveness, rely on their manufacturing engineers and production personnel to swiftly and efficiently establish manufacturing processes for new products. Among the various welding methods employed, Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) stands out as one of the most widely utilized processes. Several input factors, including welding current, welding voltage, gas flow rate, wire feed speed (WFS), wire size, and welding speed, play a crucial role in determining the quality of welding outcomes. Taguchi's design, recognized for its effectiveness, serves as a powerful optimization tool for enhancing the quality and performance output of manufacturing processes. In this particular study, GMAW was employed to weld commercial steel under predetermined factors of welding voltage, WFS, and groove shape. The X-groove welding exhibited lower tensile strength and hardness compared to V-groove weldments. Utilizing Taguchi's design, the objective was to identify the optimal process factors that would result in higher tensile strength and hardness. The analysis revealed that welding groove shape had the most significant impact on both tensile strength and hardness, followed by voltage. In contrast, WFS exerted the least influence on tensile strength and hardness. The optimized combination of welding factors identified was a V-groove shape, 20 V welding voltage, and a 5.9 m/min WFS.