Gas Metal Arc Welding Input Parameters Impacts on Weld Quality Characteristics of Steel Materials a Comprehensive Exploration

Abstract

To be competitive, present-day manufacturing industries strive to optimize input process parameters to produce their products with the desired quality characteristics. From various manufacturing processes, metal joining is one of the key methods for joining a large variety of indispensable products including the production of an automotive body in white structures, assembly of heavy metal civil structures, nuclear installations, pressure vessels, aircraft, and spacecraft materials, etc. In order to get the level of quality requirement of welded components an optimized combination of welding parameters plays a significant role. However, the realizations of this optimum combination of welding input parameters for all processes in diverse conditions are a big challenge for the manufacturing industry. The current study presents a critical assessment of the various researches in the fields of gas metal arc welding (GMAW) of steel to create a descriptive picture of the effect of process variables and input parameters on weld quality characteristics. To realize this, intensive literature reviews and comparisons of different results have been made, and findings have been incorporated. Where there are differences in trends of parameter effects, proper explanations, and justifications have been drawn. As a result, it was found that arc voltage, welding current, wire feed rate, and travel speed affect the quality of the weld (mainly penetration, bead height, bead width, and heat-affected zone) significantly compared with other parameters considered in the context of this paper. This shows that the proper setting of the optimum combination of welding parameters specifically, arc voltage, welding current, wire feed rate, and travel speed yield the desired quality level of the weldment.