Modelling and Predicting the Effects of Process Parameters on Weldment Characteristics in Shielded Metal Arc Welding

Weldment characteristics like penetration, bead geometry and depth of HAZ are extremely important characteristics for structural integrity. SMAW welding process is used throughout the world for its simplicity and versality. Electrode diameter, current, voltage, arc travel speed, electrode feed rate, arc length and arc spread are influential factors in deciding the weldment characteristics. In this present works the effects of these process parameters on weldment characteristics in case of SMAW process was studied. Bead-on-plate experiments was conducted using a preset feed based SMAW machine. Weldment characteristics like depth of penetration, depth of HAZ and number of undercuts, were examined. An artificial neural network based modeling of the experiments was sucessfully done to predict the patterns of results obtained from the experiments.