Welding

Type of welding joints

Butt joint geometries

Description of joints
The square-groove is a butt welding joint with the two pieces being flat and parallel to each other. This joint is simple to prepare, economical to use, and provides satisfactory strength, but is limited by joint thickness. The closed square butt weld joint type is common with gas and arc welding Bevel butt joints Single-bevel butt welds are welds where one piece in the joint is beveled and the other surface is perpendicular to the plane of the surface. These types of joints are used where adequate penetration cannot be achieved with a square-groove and the metals are to be welded in the horizontal position [4]. Double-bevel butt welds are common in arc and gas welding processes V-joints In single V joint both sides of the weld joint are beveled. In thick metals, and when welding can be performed from both sides of the work piece, a double-V joint is used. When welding thicker metals, a double-V joint requires less filler material. Also the double-V joint helps compensate for warping forces. With a single-V joint, stress tends to warp the piece in one direction when the V-joint is filled, but with a double-V-joint, there are welds on both sides of the material, having opposing stresses, straightening the material.

Description of joints
J-joints Single-J butt welds are when one piece of the weld is in the shape of a J that easily accepts filler material and the other piece is square. U-joints Single-U butt welds are welds that have both edges of the weld surface shaped like a J, but once they come together, they form a U. They are usually used on thick base metals where a V-groove would be at such a extreme angle, that it would cost too much to fill.

Welding processes
Welding processes can be classified based on following criteria; Welding with or without filler material. Source of energy of welding. Arc and Non-arc welding. Fusion and Pressure welding. Welding can be carried out with or without the application of filler material. Earlier only gas welding was the fusion process in which joining could be achieved with or without filler material. When welding was done without filler material it was called autogenous welding'. However, with the development of TIG, electron beam and other welding processes such classification created confusion as many processes shall be falling in both the categories. Various sources of energies are used such as chemical, electrical, light, sound, mechanical energies, but except for chemical energy all other forms of energies are generated from electrical energy for welding. So this criterion does not justify proper classification. Arc and Non-arc welding processes classification embraces all the arc welding processes in one class and all other processes in other class. In such classification it is difficult to assign either of the class to processes such as electroslag welding and flash butt welding, as in electroslag welding the process starts with arcing and with the melting of sufficient flux the arc extinguishes while in flash butt welding tiny arcs i.e. sparks are established during the process and then components are pressed against each other. Therefore, such classification is also not perfect. Fusion welding and pressure welding is most widely used classification as it covers all processes in both the categories irrespective of heat source and welding with or without filler material. In fusion welding all those processes are included where molten metal solidifies freely while in pressure welding molten metal if any is retained in confined space under pressure (as may be in case of resistance spot welding or arc stud welding) solidifies under pressure or semisolid metal cools under pressure. This type of classification poses no problems so it is considered as the best criterion

Friction welding
What is Friction Welding? Friction welding is a solid-state process that is achieved through frictional heat. This heat is generated by controlled contact of two components until material reaches its plastic state, at which time plasticised material begins to form layers that intertwin with one another. The friction welding machine controls this contact through a series of unique parameters for rotational speed (rpms), axial force and time. Once these parameters are established, they are recorded, stored and then repeated with each cycle of the machine.

Why Friction Welding? No filler material, flux or shield gas Environmentally clean; no arcs, sparks, smoke or flame Surface impurities burn through during process Narrow heat affected zones Ability to weld dissimilar metals Weld strength usually as strong or stronger than the weaker material being joined Operators do not require manual operating skills Simple integration into the manufacturing area Easily automated for mass production Minimal plant requirements to install

How friction welding is done

Resistance welding
Resistance welding is the science of joining two or more metal parts together in a localised area by the application of heat and pressure. The heat is produced by the resistance of the material to carry a high amperage current. The greater the path of resistance is, the higher the heat intensity. This heat is controlled via time application and level of current applied. The pressure is applied to forge the joint and consolidate the nugget to provide the weld strength. No extraneous materials such as rods, fluxes, inert gasses, oxygen, or acetylene are required

Resistance welding

Advantages
Advantages Suitable for welding dissimilar metals Capability of multiple welding High volume work at high speeds Short (millisecond) weld times Quality of process monitoring Low voltage safe process without fumes Readily automated, versatile process Suitable for welding multiple thicknesses thin to thick Unskilled operators welding process is fully automated Clean welding process without gas, filler wire or fluxes Highly industrialised and well proven process Many components can be resistance welded without any design changes Efficient energy use

Ultrasonic welding
Process overview Ultrasonic welding is a process that uses mechanical vibrations above the audible range. The vibrations, produced by a welding sonotrode or horn are used to soften or melt the thermoplastic material at the joint line. The components to be joined are held together under pressure and subjected to vibrations, usually at a frequency of 20 or 40kHz. The ability to weld a component successfully is governed by the design of the equipment, the mechanical properties of the material to be welded and the design of the components and joint. Ultrasonic welding times are short (typically less than one second), which makes the process ideal for mass production. The process is widely accepted in many applications ranging from automotive light clusters to consumer electronics products, such as mobile telephone casings.

Ultrasonic welding

Fusion welding

Electron beam welding

Plasma arc welding: the plasma process produces exceptionally high quality welds. Like gas tungsten arc welding, the plasma arc welding process can be used to weld most commercial metals, and it can be used for a wide variety of metal thicknesses.

Gas metal arc welding : MIG(Metal inert gas)/MAG (Metal active gas)welding is used on all thicknesses of steels, aluminium, nickel, stainless steels etc. The MAG process is suitable both for steel and unalloyed, low-alloy and high-alloy based materials. The MIG process, on the other hand, is used for welding aluminium and copper materials.

Shielded metal arc welding: High quality welds at low costs

Submerged Arc Welding: The submerged arc welding process utilizes the heat of an arc between a continuously fed electrode and the work. The heat of the arc melts the surface of the base metal and the end of the electrode. The metal melted off the electrode is transferred through the arc to the workpiece, where it becomes the deposited weld metal.

Relations between control functions and sensors in robotic arc welding systems

General structure of a sensor based robotic arc welding system with support for coordinating control actions with respect to the welding process

Distortion during welding: Butt weld and fillet weld, Angular distortion