Original article

Proc IMechE Part L:

J Materials: Design and Applications
Investigating the effect of electrode 2019, Vol. 233(10) 2015–2029
! IMechE 2018
preheating in novel water-cooled Article reuse guidelines:
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advanced submerged arc welding process DOI: 10.1177/1464420718810962

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Ankush Choudhary1 , Munish Kumar Gupta2,3 and

Manoj Kumar1

Abstract
In this paper, a novel developed water-cooled advanced submerged arc welding (WASAW) process has been designed
and established. The developed WASAW process can be utilized for higher preheating currents at 100% duty cycle.
Subsequently, a multi-pass welding investigation has been carried out on AISI 1023 steel plates as per the L8 Taguchi
orthogonal array by varying WASAW input factors namely voltage (V), wire feed rate (WFR), welding speed (WS),
nozzle to plate distance (NPD), and preheat current (I), respectively. The relationships between selected WASAW
process parameters and responses namely tensile strength (TS), yield strength (YS), percentage elongation (E), and weld
metal hardness (H) has been established with statistical regression analysis and ANOVA method. Then, the effect of each
input factor and their interactions on selected responses was analyzed using single effect and 3D surface plots. Lately, the
fractography analysis of tensile fractured surfaces has been carried out to study the failure in all weld metals. Finally,
Jaya and genetic algorithms have been applied to optimize the WASAW performance. Overall, the outcomes reveal that
developed WASAW process yields a substantial enhancement in the mechanical behavior of all weld metals.

Keywords
Advanced submerged arc welding, steel, ANOVA, fractography, mechanical, strength, hardness, optimization

Date received: 31 May 2018; accepted: 14 October 2018

weld pass. Therefore, the submerged arc welding

Introduction
As welding has significant industrial values in the con-
struction of various structural members, still there is a
requirement of the proper research efforts that will
focus on the prominent aspects (such as mechanical
properties evaluation and performance optimization)
of weld metal.1,2 In general, the welded joint perform-
ance depends upon many factors such as type of weld-
ing used, welding processes used, process parameters
involved, base material used, etc. Due to the involve-
ment of large process variables in welding operations,
it is quite difficult to obtain the ideal welding system,
which fulfills all the requirements and produces the
stronger joint.3–5 As per the definition of Babu
et al.,6 ‘‘there is still requirement of improvements in
welding systems, even after 100 years of arc welding
invention’’. Hence, in view of the above problems
associated with the welding, the first commercially
successful welding process, i.e. shielded metal arc
welding (SMAW) was developed. SMAW is a versa-
tile process that can be used for joining of different
metals. However, the productivity of SMAW is quite
low due to the frequent requirements of changing the
consumable electrodes and slag removal after each
(SAW) was introduced to overcome the productiv-
ity-related issues in SMAW process. SAW process is
mainly used for joining of thick sections and finds
immense applications in the field of pressure vessels,
line pipes, ship building, structural shapes, etc. The
major reasons of these immense applications are
their excellent characteristics such as high deposition
rate and good surface appearance. Nonetheless, the
high heat-input generation is the main concern of
SAW process, which hinders its application in various
manufacturing sectors.
Recently, the effect of heat-input per unit length
over the welded metal was investigated by various
1
Department of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering, The LNMIIT,
Jaipur, India
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chandigarh University,
Gharuan, India
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT Hamirpur, Hamirpur,
India
Corresponding author:
Ankush Choudhary, Department of Mechanical & Mechatronics
Engineering, The LNMIIT, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
Email: ankushmasand@gmail.com
2016
former researchers. They discussed the influence of
high heat-input on grain size, heat-affected-zone
(HAZ), toughness as well as the strength of weld
metal.7–9 Additionally, the researchers of late reported
that the high heat-input yield in increased dilution of
the base metal and weld metal, which often affects the
weld metal properties due to uneven transferring of
alloying elements in weld metal. Zhang et al.10 inves-
tigated the consequence of heat-input on X100 pipe-
line steel in the double wire SAW process. They
reported that the rise in heat-input results in the
reduction of weld metal strength and toughness.
In the same context, Ishigami et al.11 developed a
new multiple electrode SAW process and investigated
the effect of heat-input on API X70 steel. They
reported that the developed process reduces the
heat-input to weld metal and leading to the significant
improvement in the mechanical properties of weld
metal while reducing the HAZ size. In another work
of Kumar and Sathiya,12 an investigation on gas tung-
sten arc welding at different arc energy input levels has
been performed. They reported that low heat-input is
highly suitable for superior mechanical properties and
reduced HAZ in metal weld. The above mentioned
published work clearly reveals that the high heat-
input is the prominent factor, which directly affects
the properties of weld metal. Hence, the control of
heat-input in welded structure is required in the
perspective of sound weld characteristics.
In order to control the heat-input in SAW process,
Pandey developed the new advanced submerged arc
welding (ASAW) setup that preheats the consumable
electrode with secondary constant voltage power
source before being fed towards arc zone. Besides,
they reported that the higher value preheating current
can reduce the intensity of heat-input in weld metal.
Further, Shukla and Pandey13 investigated the effect
of the ASAW parameters on percentage admixture for
surfacing application and the results paralleled with
the traditional SAW setup.13 They revealed that the
ASAW process expressively reduced the percentage
dilution as compared with SAW. Om and Pandey14
also performed the optimization of the SAW process
parameters for percentage dilution. They suggested
that the percentage dilution is reduced with the aux-
iliary heating of welding wire and increased with the
welding-speed as well as voltage, respectively. Besides,
some other former researchers reported that as the
value of preheat-current increases the intensity of
heat-input to weld metal decreases abruptly.15
However, these researchers were not able to use the
higher preheating current values due to some limita-
tions of the ASAW process.11 For instance, as the
level of the preheat current rises the welding wire
starts losing its rigidity and inclines towards buckling
within the welding torch. The buckling makes it diffi-
cult to pass the welding wire from the welding torch
towards the arc zone that halts the welding operation.
In addition to that, the contact tip of ASAW welding
Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 233(10)
torch becomes too hot during the welding operations
by absorbing the heat from the preheated welding
wire and radiate heat from the arc zone that causes
contact tip failure. Due to these limitations, ASAW
researchers mainly carried out their work on surfacing
applications instead of welding.7,10,11
To overcome the limitations of the existing ASAW
process and use it for welding applications, in the pre-
sent research an innovative water-cooled advanced
submerged arc welding (WASAW) process was
designed and established. The present work has been
divided into five steps. In the first step, complete
working, design, and development of a novel
WASAW setup for continuous welding applications
is discussed. In next step, multi-pass welding has been
carried out over AISI 1023 steel to investigate the
effect of novel WASAW input factors (V, WFR,
WS, NPD, I) on the mechanical properties (TS, YS,
E, H) of weld metal by the use of statistical analysis,
single effect, and 3D surface plots. In step three, the
fractography analysis of fracture tensile specimens by
using scanning electron microscopy has been done to
study the fracture mode. In next step, the microstruc-
ture study of welded joints has been done. In the last
step, genetic algorithm (GA) and Jaya algorithm have
been used for the optimization of WASAW input fac-
tors. One of the purpose of optimization techniques is
to increase efficiency as well as effectiveness of welding
operations, as now days most of the industries are
using automated welding operations.16–18 Also, the
control and optimization of process parameters in
automated welding operation are intricate tasks in
view to obtain the best quality of welded joints.
Diverse researchers all over the world suggested and
applied numerous optimization techniques to obtain
optimal welding conditions.19–21 Albeit each of the
aforementioned methods has their own pros and
cons, recently the algorithms-based optimization
methods are studied extensively in assessing its viabil-
ity in commercial applications.22,23 Thus, for maxi-
mizing the mechanical properties of all weld metals,
in present work GA and Jaya algorithm are applied to
the WASAW process parameters. The complete pro-
cedure is presented in the subsequent sections.
Materials and methods
WASAW process principle
WASAW is a process variant of conventional SAW.
WASAW process uses two power sources (auxiliary
power source and main welding power source) for
welding operation. The auxiliary power source ter-
minals are connected with two copper contact tubes
(upper and lower) that are separated with a dielectric
gap. A welding wire is preheated in the dielectric gap
due to resistance heating before being fed to an arc
zone as shown in Figure 1. The main welding power
source terminals are connected to the base metal and
Choudhary et al.
Figure 1. Schematic arrangement of WASAW process.
lower copper contact tube. Main power source creates
a separate electrical circuit from auxiliary power
source to provide the necessary welding current
for the melting of welding wire in the arc zone.
As both the power sources deliver current to the
welding wire simultaneously, the requirement of
main current for sustaining stability among the weld-
ing wire feed rate and burning rate is reduced.
Further, a continuous supply of coolant is pumped
around the welding torch that controlled the contact
tip temperature.
Fabrication of novel WASAW torch
In the present work, for the improvement of the exist-
ing ASAW process, a new water-cooled welding torch
was developed and fabricated. The steps involved in
the fabrication of water-cooled torch are shown in
Figure 2. Firstly, the copper tellurium (C145) was
chosen to produce welding torch due to its good
machinability property. Then, the welding torch was
modeled and designed in SolidWorksÕ environment.
Over the contact tip, fins were mounted for the
enhancement of heat transfer rate among the flowing
water and the contact tip. The rectangular cross sec-
tion was cut on each fin alternatively for the passage
of water. Finally, the contact tip was positioned inside
the hollow cylinder through which water circulates in
welding torch. After that, the thermal analysis of
welding torch was carried out in ANSYSÕ by circu-
lating water into the annular cylinder with 20-W cap-
acity water pump. The final working prototype of
WASAW welding torch was attached to the ESAB
CPRA 800S semi-automatic SAW welding machine,
2017
whereas ESAB WARRIOR 400 I was used for the
preheating of welding wire.
Materials
The structural steel AISI 1023 was used as the base
metal (dimensions 400  150  12 mm3) and a mild
steel welding wire (Ø4 mm) coated with copper was
used for carrying out the multi-pass ASAW welding
experimentations. The compositions of the work-piece
and electrode are presented in Table 1.
Experimentation
Water-cooled welding torch was attached to the
ESAB CPRA 800S semi-automatic SAW welding
machine, whereas ESAB WARRIOR 400 I was used
for the preheating of welding wire. Taguchi L8
orthogonal array with three replications was used
for the designing of experimental runs at two levels
for 5 input parameters i.e. V, WFR, WS, NPD, and I.
The selected input process parameters of WASAW
are shown in Table 2.
Measurement of mechanical properties
The welding tests were performed as per the Taguchi
L8 orthogonal array design of experiment on AISI
1023 steel plate (see Figure 3(a)). The layers were
deposited in the longitudinal direction with a bead
on plate technique under the shielding of agglomer-
ated flux.
Then, the inter-pass temperature between each
weld bead was kept at 200  C in order to prevent
deterioration of mechanical properties and resist
cracking as reported by Ramjaun et al.24 In multi-
pass welding, distortion ascends due to sudden
contraction and expansion of the molten weld
metal. The distortion in welded plates was prevented
by using necessary clamping arrangement (refer to
Figure 3(b)). After carrying out the multi-pass
experiments over AISI 1023 plates, the welded test
coupon from each welded plate was machined from
the deposited weld metal. For that, the base metal of
12 mm thickness with bottom four layers of deposit
weld metal was removed by using vertical CNC
machine to prevent the dilution effect in welding
test coupon. Then, the top layer of the deposited
weld metal was again machined by vertical CNC
machine for achieving the uniform thickness for
welding test coupon. A schematic diagram of tensile
test coupon is displayed in Figure 3. From each weld
metal plate, one tensile sample was sectioned accord-
ing to standard ASTM E8 with 50 mm gage length.
Finally, tensile test was performed in the uniaxial
direction at room temperature and response param-
eters i.e. tensile strength (TS), yield strength (YS),
and percentage elongation (E) mean value for three
replications were recorded as shown in Table 3.
2018 Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 233(10)

Figure 2. Steps involved in welding torch development.

Table 1. The composition of work-piece and electrode. according to ASTM E10. The high load i.e. 3000 kgf
was applied with a 10 mm ball as an indenter. The
Chemical composition (wt%)
Brinell hardness number (BHN) was calculated for
Material C Si Mn S P Cr Cu each replicate sample by using the following equation,
and the calculated mean values are given in Table 3
Base metal 0.20 0.2 0.45 0.043 0.045 0.082 0.13
Electrode 0.08 0.05 0.5 0.018 0.018 – 0.25 2F
BHN ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð1Þ
DðD  D2  d2 Þ

Stress–strain curve for tensile tested specimens is where F is the load in kg, D signifies the diameter of
shown in Figure 4. indenter sphere, and d signifies the diameter of depres-
Similarly, the bulk hardness of all weld metals was sion on weld metal. The fracture mode in fractured ten-
measured on Brinell hardness testing machine sile samples was studied with fractography technique.
Choudhary et al. 2019

Table 2. WASAW parameters with their working ranges. Results and discussions
Limits Establishment of mathematical models
Variable process Lower Higher The mathematical relationship between WASAW
parameters Units Symbol level (1) level (þ1) input factors (V, WFR, WS, NPD, I), and response
variables (TS, YS, E, H) were established with least-
Voltage Volts V 35 50
square regression technique. Subsequently, the predic-
Wire feed rate mm/s WFR 19 25 tion mathematical models of the responses developed
Welding speed mm/s WS 6 10 with the statistical approach in design expert software
Nozzle to plate mm NPD 20 30 are presented in Table 4.
distance
Preheat current Ampere I 0 320
Analysis of variance
Fixed parameters The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for test-
ing the statistical significance of generated mathemat-
Parameter Value
ical models at 95% confidence level. In ANOVA, the
Base metal AISI 1023 model will be substantial if the obtained p-value is
Welding wire Copper-coated mild lower than 0.05. In the present case, all developed
steel Ø4 mm models have a p-value less than 0.05. Moreover, the
Main power source ESAB CPRA 800S prediction strength of regression models depends on
Auxiliary power source ESAB warrior 400 I the level of coefficient of determination (R2) that lies
between 0 and 1. It is shown in Table 4 that the R2
V: voltage; WFR: wire feed rate; WS: welding speed; NPD: nozzle to
values for all developed models are close to 1 suggest-
plate distance; I: preheat current.
ing a high degree of fit.

Figure 3. (a) Schematic representation for multi-pass welding and all weld metal tensile specimens. (b) Clamping arrangement used
to hold the workpiece.
2020 Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 233(10)

Effect of WASAW input factors on the mechanical In single-effect plots, the effect of input factors has
been plotted by taking origin at the center (coded
properties of weld metal
value zero) for the remaining parameters.
In this section, the effect of WASAW input factors on
the mechanical properties (TS, YS, E, and H) have Effect of WASAW input factors on tensile and yield
been discussed by using single and interaction plots. strength. Both the tensile (TS) and yield strength
(TS) of a weld metal increase with a rise in V and
WS, while both strengths reduce with the rise in
Table 3. Experimental design with obtained mechanical WFR as illustrated in Figures 5 and 6, respectively.
properties. In enlightening the outcome of voltage on tensile
strength and yield strength, the alloying elements
Welding parameters Responses
transfer behavior from flux can be considered. In
V WFR WS NPD TS YS E H the welding process, an arc voltage varies linearly
S. no. (V) (mm/s) (mm/s) (mm) I (A) (MPa) (MPa) (%) (BHN) with arc gap. As the arc gap increases, the arc cone
becomes wider that increases the interaction between
1 35 19 6 20 0 490 356 24 138
the flux layer and molten weld pool, which in turn
2 35 19 6 30 320 457 330 26 128 increases the flux consumption. As the flux consump-
3 35 25 10 20 0 476 355 20 132 tion increases, the transfer of alloying elements (alu-
4 35 25 10 30 320 476 358 18 133 minum, calcium, chromium, silicon, manganese, and
5 50 19 10 20 320 537 392 22 151 magnesium) from the flux towards weld metal
6 50 19 10 30 0 569 425 18 162 increases. These alloying elements are added in the
7 50 25 6 20 320 501 368 20 137 SAW fluxes to improve the strength of weld metal,
8 50 25 6 30 0 481 351 22 134 and therefore TS and YS are increased.
The effects of WFR on TS and YS are elucidated
V: voltage; WFR: wire feed rate; WS: welding speed; NPD: nozzle to
by the concept of heat-input to weld metal. The wire-
plate distance; I: preheat current; TS: tensile strength; YS: yield
strength; E: percentage elongation; H: hardess. feed-rate varies linearly with the value of welding cur-
rent. As the intensity of welding current rises, the
heat-input to the weld metal augments since both
vary proportionally with each other. High heat-
input reduces the cooling rate of weld metal and trig-
gers the mechanism of recrystallization and grain
growth that leads to grain coarsening. Grain coarsen-
ing favors bigger size grains in weld metal that leads
to the reduction of the strength of weld metal. The rise
in the welding speed favors both tensile and yield
strength of weld metal. With the increase in the weld-
ing speed, the cooling rate of the weld metal also
increases since the welding speed and heat input
varies inversely with each other. The increase in the
cooling rate favors grain refinement in weld metal,
whereas grain refinement is a technique that is used
to increase both the tensile and yield strength of weld
metal and, hence, both strengths improved with the
welding speed.
The interaction effects of the preheat current and
Figure 4. Stress–strain curve for tensile specimens. wire feed rate on the tensile strength and yield

Table 4. Developed equations for responses.

Response Sum of
S. no. variables squares R2 Adjusted R2 p-value Prediction equation in coded form

1 TS 9517.29 0.9900 0.9652 0.024 498.82 þ 23.69 * V  14.91 * WFR þ 16.17 * WS  5.62 *
I þ 10.62 * WFR * I
2 YS 5899.63 0.9897 0.9640 0.025 366.88 þ 17.12 * V  8.88 * WFR þ 15.62 * WS  4.88 *
I þ 9.88 * WFR * I
3 E 54.50 0.9634 0.9369 0.044 21.25  0.75 * V  1.25 * WFR  1.75 * WS þ 0.25 * I  1.25 * WFR * I
4 H 906.63 0.9986 0.9952 0.003 0.021 þ 0.0026 * WFR  0.0031 * I  0.0028 * WFR * I
V: voltage; WFR: wire feed rate; WS: welding speed; I: preheat current.
Choudhary et al. 2021

Figure 5. Individual plot for tensile strength: (a) effect of V; (b) effect of WFR; (c) effect of WS; (d) interaction plot for tensile
strength.

Figure 6. Individual plot for yield strength: (a) effect of V; (b) effect of WFR; (c) effect of WS; (d) interaction plot for yield strength.
2022
strength are illustrated in Figures 5(d) and 6(d),
respectively. It can be observed that both the
strengths (tensile and yield) have higher values at
lesser level of WFR and upper level of I. The high
level of WFR reduces TS and YS owing to grain
coarsening as the heat-input to weld metal rises,
whereas the higher level of preheat current favors
TS and YS by reducing the welding current require-
ment that promotes the grain refinement in weld metal
and improve strengths.
Effect of WASAW input factors on percentage elongation. It
is perceived in Figure 7 that the percentage elongation
Figure 7. Individual plot for percentage elongation: (a) effect of WFR; (b) effect of WS; (c) interaction plot for percentage
elongation.
Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 233(10)
decreases abruptly with the rise in WFR and WS. The
rise in WFR value results in the amplified heat-input
to weld metal owing to the increase in the welding
current. This is attributed to the fact that WFR is
proportional to the welding current, and so as the
WFR rises, simultaneously welding current increases
the heat-input. Amplified heat-input favors grain
coarsening that results in the increase in the percent-
age elongation. However, in multi-pass welding, per-
centage elongation reduces with the rise in heat-input
since in each pass heat-input increases. In multi-pass
welding, heat addition to weld metal occurs in each
pass that reduces the average cooling rate of weld
Choudhary et al.
metal and as the heat-input crosses a certain limit the
coarse grains in weld metal tends towards the brittle
nature thus reducing the percentage elongation.
Figure 7(b) shows that the percentage elongation
reduces with the upsurge in the welding speed. The
relation among the WS and heat-input is inverse in
nature. So, as the WS rises the total heat-input
reduces. The reduction in heat-input results in an
increase in the average cooling time that favors the
fine grain structure in weld metal. The fine grain struc-
ture produces hindrance in the dislocation movements
and hence reduces the percentage elongation.
The collective effect of WFR and I on the percent-
age elongation is displayed in Figure 7(c). The percent-
age elongation has higher values at lower level of WFR
and higher level of I. The rise in WFR increases total
heat-input that promotes brittleness and reduces duc-
tility. Percentage elongation is the method for the
measurement of ductility, so as the ductility reduces
with the heat-input, the percentage elongation also
decreases. The preheat current reduces the welding cur-
rent requirement and therefore total heat-input also
reduces. Reduction in heat-input improves toughness
that increases the percentage elongation.
Effect of WASAW input factors on weld metal
hardness. Figure 8 illustrates that the hardness of all
weld metal surges with the rise in V and WS and
Figure 8. Individual plot for hardness: (a) effect of V; (b) effect of WFR; (c) effect of WS; (d) effect of I; (e) interaction plot for
hardness.
2023
declines with the rise in WFR and I. The reason for
the rise in hardness with the rise in V is heat-input and
transfer of alloying elements from the flux to weld
metal. The heat-input is directly proportional to the
voltage such that the voltage increases the heat-input
in each pass accumulated. The accumulated heat-input
increases the total heat-input in weld metal that favors
coarse grain structure and as the heat-input crosses its
certain limit the coarse grain structure starts behaving
like brittle material and hence hardness increases.
In addition, as the voltage increases the arc cone
becomes wider and there is a rise in weld bead width
and flux consumption. The rise in flux favors the trans-
fer of alloying elements (mainly carbon) towards weld
metal that has the tendency to increase the hardness of
weld metal.25 The increase in hardness with WS is
mainly due to reduction in the total heat-input, since
WS and heat-input varies inversely. The reduction in
the total heat-input significantly improves the average
cooling rate. The rise in the average cooling rate favors
the grain refinement and increases the hardness of weld
metal.
The rise in WFR reduces the hardness of weld
metal. With the rise in WFR, welding current surges
that further increases the heat-input. The intensifica-
tion in total heat-input increases the average cooling
rate and produces some soft phases inside weld metal
having a large grain size microstructure. As the grain
2024
size increases, there would be a decrease in the grain
boundary density that reduces the indentation resist-
ance capability of weld metal, therefore reducing the
hardness of weld metal. The preheating of welding
wire with secondary power source reduces the require-
ment of main welding current that is mandatory to
sustain steadiness between WFR and burn-off rate.
The drop in the main welding current decreases the
total amount of heat-input to weld metal. The reduc-
tion in heat-input improves the toughness that reduces
the hardness. The interaction between WFR and I on
H is shown in Figure 8(e). H possesses higher value at
lower level of WFR and I. However, as the level of
WFR or I rise the weld metal hardness starts to
decrease since higher WFR produces some softer
region in weld metal due to rise in the heat-input.
Therefore, preheating improves ductility on the
expense of hardness by dropping the total heat-input
to weld metal.
Failure analysis with fractography
Failure analysis is quite important for welding engin-
eers, since the knowledge of welding failure opens a
window for an improvement in welding procedures
and designs that assure structural reliability.
Fractography is a technique that helps in identifying
the type of failures by analyzing the fractured sur-
faces.26 In the present work, images have been cap-
tured with the field-emission gun scanning electron
microscope (Nova Nano FE-SEM 450 (FEI)) with a
magnification of 20,000  at 20 kV. The images have
been taken from the top surface of fractured tensile
specimens. The observed fractured faces of the tensile
samples are shown in Figure 9(a) to (h). All the frac-
tured tensile samples displayed a peak and valley-type
structure i.e. dimpled structure of varying sizes that
indicates the ductile failure. The specimen number 2
in Figure 9(b) displayed coarse, elongated, and sharp
edge conical dimples that showed large plastic
deformation before failure due to which it possesses
the highest value of percentage elongation, and smal-
lest tensile strength and yield strength values. It also
displayed inclusions that provided nucleating spots
for the micro-voids during overloading. On the
other hand, specimen number 6 in Figure 9(f) dis-
played fine network of smooth ellipse-shaped dimples,
which indicates a lesser amount of plastic deformation
and got highest tensile and yield strength values with
lower percentage elongation value. It has been
observed that at higher level of preheat current i.e.
320 A, the fractured dimple size is fine in comparison
to the lower level of preheat current i.e. 0 A.
Effect of electrode preheating on microstructure
of weld metal
For microstructure examinations, two samples have
been selected such that the effect of preheat current
Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 233(10)
can be analyzed by keeping similar settings of other
input welding parameters. The process parameters
settings for two experiments are V ¼ 35 V,
WFR ¼ 19 mm/s, WS ¼ 6 mm/s, NPD ¼ 20 mm
except for preheat current. Preheat current value for
experiment 1 and experiment 2 was 0 A and 320 A,
respectively. The microstructure specimens were pre-
pared with manually grinding and polishing followed
by 2% Nital etching. The microstructures have been
observed with optical reflective-type microscope
(Leica, made). In experiment number 1, the welding
setup works similar to the SAW process as no pre-
heating of welding wire occurs, whereas for experi-
ment number 2, the welding setup is a water-cooled
ASAW process since water-cooling and preheating of
welding with the preheat-current of 320 A occurs sim-
ultaneously. Figure 10 shows the microstructure (at
200  magnification) of weld metal for experiment 1
and experiment 2. It has been found that the weld
metal in experiment 2 has fine grain size structure in
comparison to weld metal sample in experiment 1.
The reason for fine grain size in experiment 2 is the
preheating of the welding wire, which lessens the
requisite of the main welding current while sustaining
steadiness between WFR and burn-off rate. The
reduction in the main welding current is resulted in
lower heat-input that increases the cooling rate and
favors fine grain size microstructure. The fine grain
size microstructure provides better mechanical prop-
erties as compared to coarse grain microstructure.
Multiresponse optimization using GA and Jaya
algorithm
In this work, the GA and Jaya algorithm were used to
accomplish the multiobjective optimization. The pur-
pose of this work was to maximize TS, YS, and E, and
minimize H. The data generated for the mechanical
properties after carrying out experiments on the
diverse combinations of input factors were used to
train the mathematical models for the optimization.
The complete methodology of GA and Jaya algorithm
are presented in the subsequent sections:
Genetic algorithm. It is nature-inspired well-efficient
algorithm generally used for solving constrained and
un-constrained optimization issues. In this method,
only healthier species are selected from the specified
set of populations and with the help of reproduction
their genes are transferred to the next iteration. Then,
these healthier species become prominent for long
terms and the ideal solutions are generated based on
the fitness value.27 Hence in the current work, the
multiobjective optimization has been performed with
the combination of GA and Pareto approach because
they do not confirm the clashes of responses. For this,
the ‘‘ga-multiobj’’ optimization tool in MATLAB
R2015B has been used. The basic steps of GA fol-
lowed by optimization are discussed below:
Choudhary et al. 2025

Figure 9. SEM images of tensile fractured surfaces: (a) Specimen 1 (b) Specimen 2 (c) Specimen 3 (d) Specimen 4 (e) Specimen 5 (f)
Specimen 6 (g) Specimen 7 and (h) Specimen 8.

Figure 10. Microstructure for: (a) SAW weld metal; (b) water-cooled ASAW weld metal.
2026
Stage 1. Initialization: Random populations are
initialized.
Stage 2. Calculation: Fitness function is calculated
from the generated populations.
Stage 3. Parameters: Selection, crossover, and muta-
tion are used to develop the new populations.
Stage 4. Calculation: Fitness function is again calcu-
lated from these developed populations.
Stage 5. Running: The program is run until the ideal
solution is achieved, otherwise step 2 is repeated.
Jaya algorithm. It is a latest method introduced by
Rao.28 It works on a similar approach as teaching–
learning-based optimization (TLBO) but it does not
include a learner phase into it. Both the Jaya algo-
rithm and TLBO are parameterless algorithms,
which find global optimization by moving towards
the best solution in each iteration, while rejecting
the worst solution. There is no need for proper
tuning of algorithm parameters as in the case of
other evolutionary techniques like GA, particle
swarm optimization, artificial bee colony, etc. that
makes Jaya algorithm simpler in use. The functioning
process of Jaya technique is deliberated below:
Step 1. Definition: The subjected parameters such
as the value of population, responses, and ter-
mination criteria are specified as per the
requirement.
Step 2. Solution: Fitness function is decided whether
to minimize or maximize it.
Step 3. Repetition: The program is run until the ideal
solution is achieved
Step 4. Evaluation of ideal f(Y)best and f(Y)worst non-
ideal solution.
Step 5. The ideal solution is updated for the next iter-
ation as
  
Y0a, b, c ¼ Yb, c þ r1,a, c Ya,best, c  Yb, c 
   ð2Þ
 r2,a, c Ya,worst, c  Ya,b, c 
Ya,b,c represents the value of the ath variable for
the bth candidate during the cth iteration. Y0a, b, c is
the updated value of Ya,b,c. r1,a,c, r2,a,c represents
randomized values ranges between [0, 1].
Step 6. If updated value is greater than the previous
value then update the previous solution
(Y0a, b, c 4 Ya, b, c ). Else no modernization in the pre-
ceding values.
Step 7. Calculate the global optimized solution.
Parameters initialization and procedure of GA and Jaya
algorithm. Some initial learning parameters like size
of population, crossover fraction, and migration
fraction are required for smooth running of the GA
algorithm. In the present working methodology,
Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 233(10)
Table 5. Input parameters for genetic algorithm.
Lower bound 32 19 6 24 0
Upper bound 48 27 10 32 320
Population size 200
Creation function Feasible population
Selection function Tournament
Crossover fraction Single point
Crossover fraction 0.9
Mutation function Adaptive feasible
Migration forward
Migration fraction 0.2
the selections of these parameters are based upon
the user’s experience. For instance, the selected par-
ameters are varied again and again, until the ideal
results are not achieved. The initial parameters
selected are furnished in Table 5.
The 2D Pareto front between TS and H is shown in
Figure 11(a), each point on front represents a specific
optimal solution. The generated solution of input fac-
tors for responses after optimization process is given
in Table 6.
The input variables for Jaya were: design param-
eters, size of selected population, and the max-
imum generations with values of 5, 20, and 20,
respectively. The working zones of input variables
were V ¼ [35, 50], WFR ¼ [19, 25], WS ¼ [6, 10],
NPD ¼ [20, 30], I ¼ [0, 320].
For the implementation of Jaya algorithm, initially
the weighted sum method is applied on the given set
of parameters and a single objective is defined. The
weights are assigned to each objective function in such
a manner that summation of weights should be equal
to 1. In the present case, 0.25 (weight) was allotted to
every single objective function. The combined object-
ive function with the assigned weights is given in the
following equation
Max:Y ¼ Z1 ðTS=Max:TSÞ þ Z2 ðYS=Max: YSÞ
þ Z3 ðE=Max:EÞZ4 ðH=Min:HÞ
ð3Þ
where Y represents the combined objective function.
Z1, Z2, Z3, and Z4 are the allotted weights to TS, YS,
E, and H, respectively. Max. TS, Max. YS, Max. E,
and Min. H are the optimized values of each objective
optimization. The established combined function is
used as a fitness function in Jaya algorithm using
MATLAB R2015B software. The optimized results
are presented in Table 6. It was observed from this
table that results obtained from Jaya algorithm were
better than GA and desirability approach, as it pro-
vided high elongation (E) and low hardness (H) values
with enough strength that are desirable for weld
toughness. The convergence plot for the optimization
Choudhary et al. 2027

Figure 11. Plot for: (a) Pareto front; (b) convergence using Jaya algorithm.

Table 6. Optimized results for multi objective function.

V WFR WS NPD TS YS E H No. of Success Time

Results (V) (mm/s) (mm/s) (mm) I (A) (MPa) (MPa) (%) (BHN) generations rate (%) consumption (s)

Jaya 35 19 6 30 320 457 328 26.49 127 20 95 15.34 s

Genetic 35 19 6 29 319 457 328 26.48 127 170 80 4s
Experimental 35 19 6 30 320 456 330 26.00 128 – – –

of combined function using Jaya is displayed in

Figure 11(b).
Comparisons of GA and Jaya. The comparisons between
both algorithms have been made based upon the
number of generations, success rate, and time-con-
suming method. The optimized results obtained by
the two methods are similar as shown in Table 6.
Genetic algorithm converged the solution in 170 gen-
erations after correct tuning of algorithm-specific
parameter, which is quite a difficult task, whereas
Jaya algorithm converged the solution within
20 generations without requiring any algorithm-
specific parameters, which showed that the conver-
gence rate of Jaya was faster than GA. In addition,
the time consumed for each generation in GA was
15.34 s with the success rate of 80%. Similarly, the
Jaya algorithm converges within 4 s and success rate
of 95% efficiency was obtained. The efficiency of Jaya
algorithm is more since there is no requirement for the
controlling and tuning of any particular algorithm
parameter. In the case of GA, the whole cluster or
group shifts toward an optimum solution with correct
tuning of algorithm parameters, and therefore the
convergence rate is lesser in comparison with Jaya
algorithm.
Conclusions
The current work discussed the effect of novel
WASAW parameters over mechanical properties of
all weld metals. Based upon these investigations, the
following conclusions were summarized:
1. For tensile and yield strength, the effect of
voltage, welding speed, and wire feed rate was sig-
nificant. Tensile strength and yield strength were
enhanced at the higher levels of voltage and weld-
ing speed, and declined at the upper level of wire
feed rate.
2. The upper level of wire feed rate and preheat cur-
rent reduces hardness, whereas the higher level of
voltage and welding speed enhances the hardness
of weld metal. The percentage elongation of weld
metal deteriorates at higher values of wire feed
rate and welding speed.
3. Fractography of tensile fractured faces revealed
that all samples fractured in a ductile manner,
and fine dimpled structure possessed greater
strength than the coarse one.
4. In multiobjective optimization, similar results
were obtained by using genetic algorithm and
Jaya algorithm. The optimization results showed
2028
that the tensile strength was 456 MPa, yield
strength was 330 MPa, percentage elongation
was 26%, and hardness was 128 BHN.
5. Both genetic and Jaya algorithms are advanced
optimization techniques that work on meta-
heuristic approaches, but it has been observed
that the efficiency of Jaya algorithm is more
(95%) since there is no requirement for the con-
trolling and tuning of any particular algorithm
parameter in Jaya algorithm.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
ORCID iD
Ankush Choudhary http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5655-
4270
Munish Kumar Gupta http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0777-
1559
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