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Application of Taguchi method for resistance spot welding of galvanized steel

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 VOL. 5, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2010 ISSN 1819-6608
ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2010 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.

www.arpnjournals.com

APPLICATION OF TAGUCHI METHOD FOR

RESISTANCE SPOT WELDING OF GALVANIZED STEEL
A. G. Thakur1, T. E. Rao1, M. S. Mukhedkar2 and V. M. Nandedkar3
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, SRES College of Engineering, Kopargaon, India
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, KBP Polytechnic, Kopargaon, India
3
Department of Production Engineering, SGGS Institute of Engineering and Technology, Nanded, India
Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) is a process that is being used in industry for sheet joining purposes especially in
the Automobile and Aerospace industry. The problems associated with RSW are tendency of alloying with the electrode
resulting in increased tool wear, and subsequent deterioration of weld quality. More current and time lead to expulsion and
over heating of the electrode affecting the weld quality and less value result in insufficient weld strength. The complicated
behavior of this process must be analyzed to set the optimum parameters to get good quality weld. This paper presents an
experimental investigation for optimization of Tensile Shear (T-S) strength of RSW for Galvanized steel by using Taguchi
method. RSW of galvanized steel is always difficult due to tendency of zinc coating alloying with electrode. The
experimental studies were conducted under varying welding current, welding time, electrode diameter and electrode force.
Taguchi quality design concepts of L27 orthogonal array has been used to determine Strength to Noise(S/N ratio), Analysis
of Variance (ANOVA) and F test value for determining most significant parameters affecting the spot weld performance.
The experimental results confirmed the validity of used Taguchi method for enhancing welding performance and
optimizing the welding parameter in RSW process. The confirmation test indicated that it is possible to increase tensile
shear strength significantly.

Keywords: resistance spot welding, galvanized steel, taguchi method, sheet joining, S/N ratio, weld performance.

INTRODUCTION effectively used for optimization of spot welding

Spot, seam and projection welding are three parameters.
resistance welding processes in which coalescence of M. Zhou et al. [5] have done a computer
metal is produced at the faying surface by the heat simulation by using Design of Experiments (DOE)
generated at the joint by the contact resistance to the flow concept and quantitative relationships were established to
of electric current. Force is always applied before, during link a weld’s geometric and mechanical attributes to its
and after the application of current to prevent arcing at the strength under tensile-shear loading.
faying surfaces and in some applications to forge the weld G. Mukhopadhyaya et al. [6] have studied the
metal during post heating. The process is completed within effects of nugget diameter, mode of loading and alloy
a specified cycle time. Generally, melting occurs at the chemistry on the strength of spot welds in thin sheets of
faying surface during welding. The Resistance Spot interstitial free steels. The results unambiguously infer that
Welding (RSW) is getting significant importance in the strength values of spot welds remain same in a specific
manufacturing car, bus and railway bodies etc. due to mode of loading, while the load-bearing capacity increases
automatic and fast process. with increasing nugget size. The strength of the spot weld
Preheating current is always applied before has been found higher than that of the base metal with an
welding current to break the coating. Major factors interesting observation that the former bears a constant
controlling this process are current, time, electrode force, ratio with the latter.
contact resistance, properties of electrode material and S. Aslanlar [7] in his study has done the
sheet material, surface condition etc.[1-2]. The quality is characterization ,understanding the effect of welding
best judged by nugget size, Heat affected zone (HAZ) and current and welding time on tensile shear strength and
joint strength. tensile peel strength of RSW of chromided micro-alloyed
Luo yi, et al. [3] have developed a mathematical steel sheets having 0.8 mm thickness and galvanized
model for predicting the nugget diameter and tensile shear chromided micro-alloyed steel sheets having 1.0 mm
strength of galvanized steel. The input parameters are thickness. The optimum parameters are suggested to get
preheating current, weld current, weld time and welding appropriate Tensile strength.
pressure. The non linear regression model shows the M. Vural et al. [8] have done study on the fatigue
complexity of the welding of Galvanized sheet. strength of resistance spot welded galvanized steel sheets
Ugur Esme [4] has studied optimization of RSW and AISI 304 sheets. The results show that galvanized
process parameters for SAE 1010 steel using Taguchi steel sheet combination has the highest fatigue limit. The
method. He investigated that increasing welding current sheet combination which has minimum fatigue limit is
and electrode force are prime factors controlling the weld galvanized-AISI 304 sheet combination.
strength. He concluded that Taguchi method can be

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 VOL. 5, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2010 ISSN 1819-6608
ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2010 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.

www.arpnjournals.com

Min Jou [9] in his research explored how a Table-1. Process parameters with their values at
change in controllable parameter (i.e., percentage heat three levels.
input) affects a measurable output signal indicative of
Welding Weld Electrode Welding
strength and weld quality (i.e., electrode displacement) for
Level current time diameter force
various steel sheets used in automotive industry.
(kA) (Cycle) (mm) (kN)
Spot welding parameters and heat generation (A) (B) (C) (D)
The three main parameters in spot welding are 1 8 8 4 2
current, contact resistance and weld time. In order to 2 10 12 6 3.5
produce good quality weld the above parameters must be 3 12 16 8 5
controlled properly. The amount of heat generated in this
process is governed by the formula, Selection of orthogonal array
Q = I R T [1]
2 Any nonlinear relationship among the process
Where parameters, if it exists can only be revealed if more than
Q = heat generated, Joules two levels of parameters are considered [10]. Thus each
I = current, Amperes parameter is selected at three levels. According to Taguchi
R = resistance of the work piece, Ohms method based on robust design, a L27 orthogonal array is
T = time of current flow, second employed for the experimentation.

Introduction to Taguchi approach to quality Experimentation

The quality engineering methods of Dr. Taguchi Experimentation is the important step in the total
is one of the important statistical tools of total quality analysis. Total 27 runs of experiments based on
management for designing high quality systems at reduced randomized OA were done. Current, weld time, electrode
cost. Taguchi recommends a three stage process to achieve diameter and force are varied as per values for each level
desirable product quality by system design, parameter mentioned in Table-1. Three responses are taken for each
design and tolerance design. While system design helps to setting. The experimental data is given in Table-2.
identify working levels of the design parameters,
parameter design seeks to determine levels of parameter ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS BASED
that provide the best performance of product or process ON TAGUCHI METHOD
under study. The optimum condition is selected so that the
influence of uncontrollable factors (noise factors) causes Analysis of S/N ratio
minimum variation to system performance. Orthogonal According to Taguchi method, S/N ratio is the
arrays, ANOVA, S/N ratio analysis and F-test are the ratio of “Signal” representing desirable value, i.e. mean of
essential tools for parameter design. Tolerance design is a output characteristics and the “noise” representing the
step to fine-tune the results of parameter design [10]. undesirable value i.e., squared deviation of the output
characteristics. It is denoted by η and the unit is dB. The
MATERIALS AND METHODS S/N ratio is used to measure quality characteristic and it is
also used to measure significant welding parameters [10].
Materials According to quality engineering the
Galvanized steel sheet having chemical characteristics are classified as Higher the best (HB) and
composition of (wt %) 0.065 C, 0.095 Si, 0.017 Cr 0.032 lower the best (LB). HB includes T-S strength and Nugget
Ni, 0.053 Cu, 0.404 Mn, 0.34 Si, 0.017 S, 0.018 P, diameter which desires higher values. Similarly LB
(balance) Fe was used. A batch of sheet samples in includes Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) for which lower value
dimensions of 100mm × 30mm × 1mm were used for spot is preferred [4, 10].
welding in order to determine weld quality. Electrode used The summary statistics the S/N ratio η (dB) is given by
was Cu Cr alloy having varying diameters.

Methods
Following input and output parameters are
considered: Higher the best performance
Input parameters selected are welding current,
weld time, electrode diameter and welding force. Output
parameter predicting strength of weld joint is Tensile-
shear strength. The input parameters are shown in Table-1.
Lower the best performance
Mean and S/N ratio are shown in Table-2.

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 VOL. 5, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2010 ISSN 1819-6608
ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2010 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.

www.arpnjournals.com

Table-2. Experimental data for tensile shear strength

Electrode Electrode T-S S/N ratio
Current Weld time
diameter force strength for T-S
Run No. (kA) (Cycle)
(mm) (kN) (kN) strength in
(A) (B) (C) (D) (mean) db
1 1 1 1 1 3.83 11.66
2 1 1 2 2 4.6 13.25
3 1 1 3 3 3.6 11.12
4 1 2 1 2 5.43 14.69
5 1 2 2 3 4.86 13.74
6 1 2 3 1 4.47 12.99
7 1 3 1 3 5.23 14.37
8 1 3 2 1 5.43 14.69
9 1 3 3 2 5.67 15.06
10 2 1 1 1 5.63 15
11 2 1 2 2 6.57 16.34
12 2 1 3 3 5.64 15.01
13 2 2 1 2 6.94 16.81
14 2 2 2 3 6.43 16.16
15 2 2 3 1 6.17 15.8
16 2 3 1 3 6.93 16.81
17 2 3 2 1 7.03 16.94
18 2 3 3 2 7.53 17.54
19 3 1 1 1 6.27 15.94
20 3 1 2 2 6.9 16.78
21 3 1 3 3 6.03 15.61
22 3 2 1 2 7.56 17.57
23 3 2 2 3 6.93 16.82
24 3 2 3 1 6.6 16.38
25 3 3 1 3 7.03 16.94
26 3 3 2 1 7.06 16.98
27 3 3 3 2 7.56 17.57

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) F-test value at 95 % confidence level is used to decide the
The main aim of ANOVA is to investigate the significant factors affecting the process and percentage
design parameters and to indicate which parameters are contribution is calculated. The ANOVA analysis for T-S
significantly affecting the output parameters. In the strength is shown in Table-3. The S/N ratio analysis of
analysis, the sum of squares and variance are calculated. rank of various parameters is shown in Table-4.

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 VOL. 5, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2010 ISSN 1819-6608
ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2010 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.

www.arpnjournals.com

Table-3. ANOVA, F test value and % contribution (% C) for T-S strength.

CF DOF SS V F Ratio %C
A 2 67.98 33.991 1545.04* 68.93
B 2 18.41 9.209 418.59* 18.66
C 2 1.12 0.560 25.45* 01.14
D 2 8.45 4.229 192.23* 08.57
A*B 4 1.12 0.281 12.77* 01.14
Error 68 1.51 0.022 01.53
Total 80 98.62 100
R-Sq = 98.46 % R-Sq(adj) = 98.19% * Significant at 95 % confidence

Table-4. Response Table for S/N ratios for T-S strength.

Level A B C D
1 13.51 14.52 15.53 15.15
2 16.27 15.66 15.74 16.18
3 16.73 16.32 15.23 15.17
Delta 3.22 1.80 0.51 1.02
Rank 1 2 4 3

Table-5. Results of confirmation experiment.

Initial process Improvement
Optimal process parameters
parameter in S/N ratio(%)
Predicted Experimental
Level A2B2C2D2 A3B3C2D2 A3B3C2D2
T-S strength (kN) 7.07 7.91 8.02 13.43
S/N (dB) 16.96 18.46 18.59

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS to be set for getting optimum value of T-S strength are
Figure-1 shows the S/N ratio graph where the A3B3C2D2.
horizontal line is the value of the total mean of the S/N According to ANOVA analysis as shown in
ratio. Basically, the larger the S/N ratio, the better is the Table-3, the most effective parameters with respect to
quality characteristic for the tensile shear strength. As per tensile shear strength is welding current, welding time,
the S/N ratio analysis from graph the levels of parameters electrode force and electrode diameter. Percent

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 VOL. 5, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2010 ISSN 1819-6608
ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2010 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.

www.arpnjournals.com

contribution indicates the relative power of a factor to controlling the tensile shear strength. An optimum
reduce variation. For a factor with a higher percent parameter combination for the maximum tensile shear
contribution, a small variation will have a great influence strength was obtained by using the analysis of S/N ratio.
on the performance. The percent contributions of the The confirmation tests indicated that it is possible to
welding parameters on the tensile shear strength are shown increase tensile shear strength significantly (13.43 %) by
in Table-3 According to this, welding current was found to using the proposed statistical technique. The experimental
be the major factor affecting the tensile strength (68.93%), results confirmed the validity of Taguchi method for
whereas welding time was found to be the second factor enhancing the welding performance and optimizing the
(18.66 %). The percent contributions of electrode force welding parameters in resistance spot welding operations.
and electrode diameter are much lower, being 8.57 % and
1.14 %, respectively. Welding current and welding time ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
interaction is also having influence of 1.14% on T-S The authors gratefully appreciate the Board of
strength. College and University Development (BCUD), University
of Pune, Pune for financial help and Management,
CONFIRMATION EXPERIMENT Principal of SRES College of Engineering Kopargaon for
The confirmation experiment is the final step in timely help and motivation.
the first iteration of the design of the experiment process.
The purpose of the confirmation experiment is to validate REFERENCES
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