‫‪Uğur Eşme‬‬

‫‪APPLICATION OF TAGUCHI METHOD FOR THE‬‬

‫‪OPTIMIZATION OF RESISTANCE SPOT WELDING‬‬
‫‪PROCESS‬‬

‫*‪Uğur Eşme‬‬
‫‪Mersin University, Tarsus Technical Education, Faculty Department of Machine‬‬
‫‪Education‬‬
‫‪33400 Tarsus/Mersin, Turkey‬‬

‫اﻟﺨﻼﺻـﺔ‪:‬‬
‫ﻲ ﺑﺎﻟﻤُﻘﺎو َﻣ ﺔ )‪ .(RSW‬وﻗ ﺪ ﺗ ّﻢ‬ ‫ﺺ ﺑﺎﻟ ﺸ ّﺪ ﻓ ﻲ ﻋﻤﻠّﻴ ﺔ اﻟﻠّﺤ ﺎم اﻟﻨُﻘﻄ ّ‬
‫ﺗُــﻘـّـﺪم هﺬﻩ اﻟﻮرﻗﺔ اﻟﺒﺤﺜﻴﺔ دراﺳﺔ ﺣﻮل اﺳﺘﻤﺜﺎل وﺗﺄﺛﻴﺮ ﻋﻮاﻣﻞ اﻟﺘﻠﺤﻴﻢ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻣُﻘﺎوﻣﺔ اﻟﻘ ّ‬
‫إﺟ ﺮاء اﻟﺪراﺳ ﺎت اﻟﻤِﺨﺒﺮّﻳ ﺔ ﺗﺤ ﺖ أوﺿ ﺎع ﻣُﺨﺘﻠﻔ ﺔ وذﻟ ﻚ ﺑﺘﻐﻴﻴ ﺮ ﻗ ُـﻮّة ﻗ ﻀﻴﺐ اﻟﻠّﺤ ﺎم‪ ،‬وﺗﻴ ﺎر اﻟﻠّﺤ ﺎم‪ ،‬وﻗﻄ ﺮ ﻗ ﻀﻴﺐ اﻟﻠّﺤ ﺎم‪ ،‬وﻓﺘ ﺮة ﻋﻤﻠّﻴ ﺔ اﻟﻠّﺤ ﺎم‪ .‬وﺗ ّﻢ ﺗﺤﺪﻳ ﺪ‬
‫ﺺ ﺑﺎﻟ ﺸﺪ ﻓ ﺘ ّﻢ ﺗﺤﺪﻳ ﺪهﺎ ﺑﻮﺳ ﺎﻃﺔ ﺗﺤﻠﻴ ﻞ اﻟﺘﺒ ﺎﻳﻦ‬ ‫ﻋﻮاﻣﻞ اﻟﻠّﺤﺎم ﺑﻮﺳﺎﻃﺔ ﻃﺮﻳﻘﺔ ﺗﺎﻏﻮﺗﺸﻲ ﻟﻠﺘﺼﻤﻴﻢ اﻟﻤِﺨﺒﺮ ّ‬
‫ي‪ .‬أ ّﻣ ﺎ درﺟ ﺔ أهﻤّﻴ ﺔ ﻋﻮاﻣ ﻞ اﻟﻠّﺤ ﺎم ﻋﻠ ﻰ ﻣُﻘﺎوﻣ ﺔ اﻟﻘ ّ‬
‫)‪ .(ANOVA‬أﻣّﺎ اﻟﺘﻮﻟﻴﻔﺔ اﻟﻤُﺜﻠﻰ ﻟﻌﻮاﻣﻞ اﻟﺘﻠﺤﻴﻢ ﻓﺘ ّﻢ إﻳﺠﺎدهﺎ ﺑﻮﺳﺎﻃﺔ ﺗﺤﻠﻴﻞ ﻧﺴﺒﺔ اﻹﺷﺎرة إﻟﻰ اﻟﻀﺠﻴﺞ )‪ .(S/N‬وﻗﺪ أﻇﻬﺮت ﺗﺠﺎرب اﻟﺘﺜﺒﻴﺖ إﻣﻜﺎﻧّﻴ ﺔ زﻳ ﺎدة‬
‫ﺺ ﺑﺎﻟﺸﺪ ﺑﺸﻜﻞ ﻣﻠﺤﻮظ ﺑﻮﺳ ﺎﻃﺔ ﻃﺮﻳﻘ ﺔ ﺗﺎﻏﻮﺗ ﺸﻲ‪ .‬وأآ ّـﺪت اﻟﻨﺘ ﺎﺋﺞ اﻟﻤِﺨﺒﺮّﻳ ﺔ ﺻ ﻼﺣﻴّﺔ ﻃﺮﻳﻘ ﺔ ﺗﺎﻏﻮﺗ ﺸﻲ اﻟ ُﻤ ﺴﺘﻌﻤﻠﺔ ﻟﺘﺤ ﺴﻴﻦ أداء ﻋﻤﻠّﻴ ﺔ اﻟﺘﻠﺤ ﻴﻢ‬ ‫ﻣُﻘﺎوﻣﺔ اﻟﻘ ّ‬
‫واﺳﺘﻤﺜﺎل ﻋﻮاﻣﻞ اﻟﻠّﺤﺎم ﻓﻲ ﻋﻤﻠﻴّﺔ اﻟﻠّﺤﺎم اﻟﻨُﻘﻄﻲّ ﺑﺎﻟﻤُﻘﺎوﻣَﺔ‪.‬‬

‫‪Corresponding author:‬‬
‫‪E-mail: uesme2003@hotmail.com‬‬

‫‪Paper Received April 14, 2008; Paper Revised March 18, 2009; Paper Accepted May 27, 2009‬‬

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ABSTRACT
This paper reports on an investigation of the effect and optimization of welding parameters on the tensile shear
strength in the resistance spot welding (RSW) process. The experimental studies were conducted under varying
electrode forces, welding currents, electrode diameters, and welding times. The settings of welding parameters were
determined by using the Taguchi experimental design method. The level of importance of the welding parameters on
the tensile shear strength is determined by using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The optimum welding parameter
combination was obtained by using the analysis of signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. The confirmation tests indicated that it
is possible to increase tensile shear strength significantly by using the Taguchi method. The experimental results
confirmed the validity of the used Taguchi method for enhancing the welding performance and optimizing the
welding parameters in the resistance spot welding process.
Key words: resistance spot welding (RSW), tensile shear strength, Taguchi method, optimization

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APPLICATION OF TAGUCHI METHOD FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF

RESISTANCE SPOT WELDING PROCESS

1. INTRODUCTION
Resistance spot welding (RSW) has an important place in manufacturing and it is the simplest and most widely
used form of the electric resistance welding process in which faying surfaces are joined in one or more spots. As
shown in Figure 1, coalescence is produced in a relatively small area by the heat obtained from the resistance to the
flow of electric current through the workpieces held together under pressure by electrodes. The amount of heat
produced is a function of current, time, and resistance between the workpieces [1]. It is desirable to have the
maximum temperature at the interface of the parts to be joined. Therefore, the resistance of the workpieces and the
contact resistance between the electrodes and work should be kept as low as possible with respect to the resistance
between the faying surfaces. This could be achieved by controlling the contact area, electrode materials, and
dimensions, applied pressure, and surface quality of the workpieces [2].

Figure 1. Resistance spot welding process [3]

Heat obtained at the end of the welding also raises the temperature of both electrodes and workpieces.
Consequently, micro-structural change might be seen around the welding zone due to the distributed heat. The heat
affected zone (HAZ) should be as small as possible in a well-qualified weld [4,5]. On the other hand, excessive heat
in the electrodes reduces the electrode cap life and deteriorates the weld quality. Hence, the electrodes are cooled via
water circulation through channels opened inside them. The related studies have shown that both water temperature
and flow rate affect the electrode life and weld quality [6]. Also, the applied pressure and timing are important for
the weld quality and electrode life [7,8].
The qualities of the spot welded joints are defined by the mechanical properties and size of the heat affected
zone. The weld strength is measured by a number of standardized destructive tests, which subject the weld to
different types of loading. Some of these are tension-shear, tension, torsion, impact, fatigue, and hardness.
Controlling the welding parameters plays an important role on the quality of the weld. The stiffness and the
operating strength of sheet metal parts are strongly influenced by the welding parameters and location of the spot
welding [9].Therefore, it is very important to select the welding process parameters for obtaining optimal weld
strength. Usually, the desired welding process parameters are determined based on experience or from a handbook.
However, this does not ensure that the selected welding process parameters can produce the optimal or near optimal
weld strength for that particular welding machine and environment.
Literature reports that work has been done on various aspects of modeling, simulation, and process optimization
in the resistance spot welding process. Detailed analysis has been made to establish relationships between welding
parameters, weld strength, weld quality, and productivity to select welding parameters leading to an optimal process.
Martin et al. [10] proposed Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for quality control by ultrasonic testing in resistance
spot welding; Mukhopadhyay et al. [11] investigated the effect of pre-strain on the strength of spot welded joints;
Kong et al. [12] developed a 3D model based on the predicted constitutive material laws coupled with a Gurson
fracture model to simulate the deformation of spot welded joints; Martin et al. [13] developed a tool capable of
reliably predicting the tensile shear load bearing capacity (TSLBC) in spot welding of 304 austenitic stainless steels;
Yoon et al. [14] investigated optimal welding conditions in resistance spot welding of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy
sheets by the tensile-shear strength tests and the Taguchi method; and Esme et al.[15] reported the selection of
process parameters for spot welding of steel sheets using the Taguchi method.

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In this paper, the use of the Taguchi method to determine the welding process parameters with the optimal tensile
shear strength is reported. This is because the Taguchi method is a systematic application of design and analysis of
experiments for the purpose of designing and improving product quality at the design stage [16,17]. In recent years,
the Taguchi method has become a powerful tool for improving productivity during research and development so that
high quality products can be produced quickly and at low cost [18].
2. TAGUCHI METHOD FOR OPTIMIZATION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS
Optimization of process parameters is the key step in the Taguchi method to achieving high quality without
increasing cost. This is because optimization of process parameters can improve quality and the optimal process
parameters obtained from the Taguchi method are insensitive to the variation of environmental conditions and other
noise factors. Basically, classical process parameter design is complex and not easy to use [19].
An advantage of the Taguchi method is that it emphasizes a mean performance characteristic value close to the
target value rather than a value within certain specification limits, thus improving the product quality. Additionally,
Taguchi's method for experimental design is straightforward and easy to apply to many engineering situations,
making it a powerful yet simple tool. It can be used to quickly narrow the scope of a research project or to identify
problems in a manufacturing process from data already in existence [20].
The main disadvantage of the Taguchi method is that the results obtained are only relative and do not exactly
indicate what parameter has the highest effect on the performance characteristic value. Also, since orthogonal arrays
do not test all variable combinations, this method should not be used with all relationships between all variables. The
Taguchi method has been criticized in the literature for its difficulty in accounting for interactions between
parameters. Another limitation is that the Taguchi methods are offline, and therefore inappropriate for a dynamically
changing process such as a simulation study. Furthermore, since the Taguchi methods deal with designing quality
rather than correcting for poor quality, they are applied most effectively at early stages of process development [21].
A large number of experiments have to be carried out when the number of the process parameters increases. To
solve this task, the Taguchi method uses a special design of orthogonal arrays to study the entire process parameter
space with only a small number of experiments. Using an orthogonal array to design the experiment could help the
designers to study the influence of multiple controllable factors on the average of quality characteristics and the
variations in a fast and economic way, while using a signal-to-noise ratio to analyze the experimental data could help
the designers of the product or the manufacturer to easily find out the optimal parametric combinations.
A loss function is then defined to calculate the deviation between the experimental value and the desired value.
Taguchi recommends the use of the loss function to measure the deviation of the quality characteristic from the
desired value. The value of the overall loss function is further transformed into a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. Usually,
there are three categories of the quality characteristic in the analysis of the S/N ratio, i.e. the lower-the-better, the
larger-the-better, and the more-nominal-the-better. The S/N ratio for each level of process parameters is computed
based on the S/N analysis. Regardless of the category of the quality characteristic, a larger S/N ratio corresponds to a
better quality characteristic. Therefore, the optimal level of the process parameters is the level with the highest S/N
ratio. Furthermore, a statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) is performed to see which process parameters are
statistically significant. The optimal combination of the process parameters can then be predicted.
Finally, a confirmation experiment is conducted to verify the optimal process parameters obtained from the
process parameter design.
3. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
Low carbon steel is extensively used for deep drawing of motor car bodies, motor cycle parts, and other domestic
applications. Therefore, the present work was planned to optimize the resistance spot welding parameters of SAE
1010 steel sheets with different thicknesses. The specimens were prepared by cutting the workpiece material into the
suitable dimensions and then cleaned and abraded to prevent high contact resistance which is created due to an oxide
layer [22]. The chemical composition (percent by weight), and the mechanical properties of the workpiece material
is given in Table 1.
Table 1. Chemical Analysis and Mechanical Properties of Workpiece Materials
C Mn Si P S
Percent
composition (%) 0.0823 0.621 0.181 0.0129 0.0162

% %
Yield strength Tensile strength Hardness
Mechanical Elongation Reduction in
(Mpa) (Mpa) (HB)
properties area
327 418 33.5 63 78

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The tension shear test experiments were performed on the specimens according to welding standards of the
Resistance Welders Manufacturer Association (RWMA) [23]. The configuration and dimensions of the specimens
used throughout the work are given in Figure 2 and Table 2 respectively.
Table 2. Dimensions of the Workpieces
Thickness Width Length Contacting
(t) (W) (L) Overlap
mm mm mm mm
1 19.05 76 19.05
2 25.4 101.6 25.4

Figure 2. Shape and loading condition of the test samples

In this study, copper was used as an electrode material and it was kept constant during the experiment. The
electrode was changed with a non-used one for each experiment run to prevent the effect of electrode damage on the
nugget formed. The shape and corresponding dimensions of the electrodes used in this work are shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Electrode shape and dimensions

4. OPTIMAL SELECTION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS
In this section, the use of the Taguchi method to determine the process parameters in the spot welding of SAE
1010 steel sheets is reported step-by-step. Welding process parameters with the optimal tensile shear strength are
determined and verified.
4.1. Orthogonal Array Experiment
In the present study, four three-level process parameters, i.e. electrode force, welding current, electrode diameter,
and welding time, are considered. The value of the welding process parameter at the different levels is listed in
Table 3.
Table 3. Process Parameters and Their Levels
Thickness Symbol Process Unit Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
mm Parameter
A Electrode Force kN 1.5 2.9 3.2
B Welding Current kA 6.2 8.2 10.8
1 mm
C Electrode Diameter mm 3.5 6.5 8.0
D Welding Time cycle 10 14 18
A Electrode Force kN 3.5 4.5 4.9
B Welding Current A 11 13.5 14.4
2 mm
C Electrode Diameter mm 8.0 9.5 11.0
D Welding Time cycle 20 25 30
a
Initial process parameters

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In complex manufacturing systems and nonlinear processes, the interaction effects of the process parameters
become significant. However, in the present study, since orthogonal arrays do not test all variable combinations, the
interaction effect of the welding parameters could not be taken into optimization process. As a result, the main
effect of each welding parameter on the tensile strength response was merely taken. There are thus eight degrees of
freedom owing to the four sets of three-level welding process parameters. The degrees of freedom for the orthogonal
array should be greater than or at least equal to those for the process parameters. In this study, an L18(34) orthogonal
array which has 17 degrees of freedom was used. Eighteen experiments are required to study the entire welding
parameter space when the L18 orthogonal array is used. The experimental layout for the welding process parameters
using the L18(34) orthogonal array is shown in Table 4 and the experimental results for tensile shear strength for each
thickness using the L18 orthogonal array are shown in Table 5.

Table 4. Experimental Layout Using an L18(34) Orthogonal Array

Process Parameter Level
Experiment
A B C D
number
Electrode Force Welding Current Electrode Diameter Welding Time
1 1 1 1 1
2 1 2 2 2
3 1 3 3 3
4 2 1 1 3
5 2 2 2 1
6 2 3 3 2
7 3 1 2 3
8 3 2 3 1
9 3 3 1 2
10 1 1 3 1
11 1 2 1 2
12 1 3 2 3
13 2 1 2 2
14 2 2 3 3
15 2 3 1 1
16 3 1 3 2
17 3 2 1 3
18 3 3 2 1

Table 5. Experimental Results for the Tensile Shear Strength

Tensile shear strength per spot
Experiment
kN
number
1 mm 2 mm
1 2.0 9.0
2 3.0 9.7
3 3.2 10.2
4 2.5 9.0
5 4.0 10.6
6 3.4 9.2
7 1.8 7.4
8 2.7 8.5
9 2.4 8.9
10 1.5 8.1
11 3.1 9.8
12 2.6 9.3
13 2.0 8.5
14 3.4 10.2
15 2.8 9.5
16 1.7 8.2
17 2.5 9.4
18 1.8 7.7

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4.2. Overall Loss Function and its S/N ratio

Tensile shear strength of the welded structures belongs to the larger-the-better quality characteristics. The loss
function of the larger-the-better quality characteristics can be expressed as [19]
1 n 1
Lj = ( ∑ )
n k =1 yi2
(1)

η j = −10 log L j (2)

where n is the number of tests, and yi the experimental value of the ith quality characteristic, Lj overall loss function,
and η j is the S/N ratio. By applying Equations (1)–(2), the η corresponding to the overall loss function for each
experiment of L18 was calculated and given in Table 6.
The effect of each welding process parameter on the S/N ratio at different levels can be separated out because the
experimental design is orthogonal. The S/N ratio for each level of the welding process parameters is summarized in
Table 7. In addition, the total mean of the S/N ratio for the 18 experiments is also calculated and listed in Table7.
Table 6. S/N Ratios for the Tensile Shear Strength Measurements
S/N ratio
Experiment
dB
number
1 mm 2 mm
1 6.02 19.08
2 9.54 19.74
3 10.10 20.17
4 7.96 19.08
5 12.04 20.51
6 10.63 19.28
7 5.11 17.38
8 8.63 18.59
9 7.60 18.99
10 3.52 18.17
11 9.83 19.82
12 8.30 19.37
13 6.02 18.59
14 10.63 20.17
15 8.94 19.55
16 4.61 18.28
17 7.96 19.46
18 5.11 17.73
Table 7. S/N Responses for the Tensile Shear Strength
S/N Ratio Total
Maximum-
Thickness Symbol Process parameter dB mean
minimum
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 S/N
a
A Electrode force 7.89 9.37 6.50 2.87
B Welding current 5.54 9.77a 8.45 4.23
1mm 7.90
C Electrode diameter 8.05a 7.69 8.02 0.36
a
D Welding time 7.89 8.00 7.87 0.13
A Electrode force 19.39 19.53a 18.40 1.13
B Welding current 18.43 19.71a 19.18 1.28
2 mm a 19.10
C Electrode diameter 19.33 18.89 19.11 0.44
a
D Welding time 18.91 19.10 19.31 0.40
a
Optimum level

Figure 4 shows the S/N ratio graph where the dashed line is the value of the total mean of the S/N ratio.
Basically, the larger the S/N ratio, the better is the quality characteristic for the tensile shear strength.

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Figure 4. S/N graph for tensile shear strength

4.3. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
A better feel for the relative effect of the different welding parameters on the tensile shear strength (TS) was
obtained by decomposition of variance, which is called analysis of variance (ANOVA) [20-22]. The relative
importance of the welding parameters with respect to the TS was investigated to determine more accurately the
optimum combinations of the welding parameters by using ANOVA.
The results of ANOVA for the welding outputs are presented in Tables 8 and 9. Statistically, F-test provides a
decision at some confidence level as to whether these estimates are significantly different [21-26]. Larger F-value
indicates that the variation of the process parameter makes a big change on the performance.
According to this analysis, the most effective parameters with respect to tensile shear strength is welding current,
electrode force, electrode diameter, and welding time. Percent contribution indicates the relative power of a factor to
reduce variation. For a factor with a high percent contribution, a small variation will have a great influence on the
performance. The percent contributions of the welding parameters on the tensile shear strength are shown in Tables 8
and 9. According to Tables 8 and 9, welding current was found to be the major factor affecting the tensile strength
(57.80% for 1mm and 40.56% for 2mm), whereas electrode force was found to be the second ranking factor (29.22%
for 1mm and 35.42% for 2mm). The percent contribution of electrode diameter and welding time are much lower,
being 1.56% for 1mm, 3.62% for 2mm and 0.70% for 1mm, 2.79% for 2mm, respectively.
Table 8. Results of ANOVA for 1 mm Steel Sheet
Process Degree of Sum of Contribution
Parameter Variance F
Parameters Freedom Square percentage
A Electrode force 2 2.25 1.12 6.77a 29.22
B Welding current 2 4.45 2.22 13.38a 57.80
C Electrode diameter 2 0.12 0.06 0.360 1.56
D Welding time 2 0.054 0.02 0.160 0.70
Error 5 0.83 0.16 - 10.70
Total 13 7.70 - - 100
a
At least 99% confidence
Table 9. Results of ANOVA for 2 mm Steel Sheet
Process Degree of Sum of Contribution
Parameter Variance F
Parameters Freedom Square Percentage
A Electrode force 2 4.69 2.23 9.07a 35.42
B Welding current 2 5.37 2.68 10.39a 40.56
C Electrode diameter 2 0.48 0.24 0.93 3.62
D Welding time 2 0.37 0.18 0.72 2.79
Error 9 2.33 0.26 - 17.60
Total 17 13.24 - - 100
a
At least 99% confidence

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4.4. Confirmation Tests

The confirmation experiment is the final step in the first iteration of the design of the experiment process. The
purpose of the confirmation experiment is to validate the conclusions drawn during the analysis phase. The
confirmation experiment is performed by conducting a test with a specific combination of the factors and levels
previously evaluated. In this study, after determining the optimum conditions and predicting the response under
these conditions, a new experiment was designed and conducted with the optimum levels of the welding parameters.
^
The final step is to predict and verify the improvement of the performance characteristic. The predicted S/N ratio η
using the optimal levels of the welding parameters can be calculated as
^ n −
η = η m + ∑ (η i − η m ) (3)
i =1
−
where η m is total mean of S/N ratio, ηi is the mean of S/N ratio at the optimal level, and n is the number of main
welding parameters that significantly affect the performance. The results of experimental confirmation using optimal
welding parameters and comparison of the predicted tensile shear strength with the actual tensile shear strength using
the optimal welding parameters are shown in Table 10. The improvement in S/N ratio from the starting welding
parameters to the level of optimal welding parameters is 4.69 dB and 1.77 dB for 1mm and 2mm steel sheets,
respectively. The tensile shear strength is increased by 2.03 and 1.20 times for 1 mm and 2 mm, respectively.
Therefore, the tensile shear strength is greatly improved by using the Taguchi method.
Table 10. Results of the Confirmation Experiment
Initial Optimal process parameters Improvement
Thickness process
Prediction Experiment in S/N ratio
parameters
Level A2B1C2D3 A2B2C1D2 A2B2C1D2
Tensile shear strength
1 mm 2.30 3.50 3.70 4.69
(kN)
S/N (dB) 6.71 11.43 11.40
Level A2B1C2D3 A2B2C1D3 A2B2C1D3
Tensile shear strength
2 mm 8.82 10.55 10.60 1.77
(kN)
S/N (dB) 18.83 20.56 20.60
5. CONCLUSIONS
This paper has presented an investigation on the optimization and the effect of welding parameters on the tensile
shear strength of spot welded SAE 1010 steel sheets. The level of importance of the welding parameters on the
tensile shear strength is determined by using ANOVA. Based on the ANOVA method, the highly effective
parameters on tensile shear strength were found as welding current and electrode force, whereas electrode diameter
and welding time were less effective factors. The results showed that welding current was about two times more
important than the second ranking factor (electrode force) for controlling the tensile shear strength. An optimum
parameter combination for the maximum tensile shear strength was obtained by using the analysis of signal-to-noise
(S/N) ratio. The confirmation tests indicated that it is possible to increase tensile shear strength significantly by using
the proposed statistical technique. The experimental results confirmed the validity of the used Taguchi method for
enhancing the welding performance and optimizing the welding parameters in resistance spot welding operations.
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[3] B. Tandogan, “Determination of Spot Welding Parameters of Thick, Heat Treated SAE 4140 Steel Parts”, PhD
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[7] M. Jou, “Experimental Investigation of Resistance Spot Welding for Sheet Metals Used in Automotive Industry”,
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528 The Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, Volume 34, Number 2B October 2009