ABSTRACT Industries are focusing on various cost reduction initiatives by choosing alternative material without compromising quality. The main aim of this paper is to identify such an alternate material for Duplex Stainless Steel/Duplex Stainless Steel (DSS/DSS) similar metal weld joint. Similar and various dissimilar metal weld joints like DSS/DSS, DSS/Corten-A, DSS/Cold Rolled Steel and DSS/Hot Rolled Steel were assessed in this paper and the results have been compared to find out the superior dissimilar metal in terms of Tensile strength. Objective of this work is to optimize the process parameters for the best superior dissimilar metal weld joint by using Taguchi method. Voltage, Current and filler feed rate were chosen as a control factors considering the impact on the input variables. Ultimate tensile strength has been taken as response variable to calculate the signal-to-noise ratio. Analysis of variance (Anova) was used in order to identify the percentage contribution for all the factors as well as high significant factor which is contributing for the optimum resul

D B Jabaraj

D Devakumar

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Copyright © 2015, American-Eurasian Network for Scientific Information publisher 
 
 
JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCES RESEARCH 
 
ISSN: 1819-544X       EISSN: 1816-157X 
 
 
JOURNAL home page: http://www.aensiweb.com/JASR                                                                       2015  September; 11(14): pages 133-137.  
Published Online 10 September 2015                                                                                                         Research Article 
 
Corresponding Author: D. Devakumar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, St Peters University, Avadi, Chennai,  
India  
E-mail: dasa_deva1971@yahoo.com 
Comparative Study and Optimization of Process Parameters of Dissimilar metal 
Weld Joints by GTAW Process 
 
1D. Devakumar and 2D.B Jabaraj 
 
¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, St Peters University, Avadi, Chennai, India 
²Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr.MGR Educational and Research Institute University, Chennai, India 
 
Received: 12 May 2015; Accepted: 18 July 2015; Available online: 30 July 2015 
 
© 2015 AENSI PUBLISHER All rights reserved 
 
ABSTRACT 
 
 Industries are focusing on various cost reduction initiatives by choosing alternative material without compromising quality. The 
main aim of this paper is to identify such an alternate material for Duplex Stainless Steel/Duplex Stainless Steel (DSS/DSS) similar metal 
weld joint. Similar and various dissimilar metal weld joints like DSS/DSS, DSS/Corten-A, DSS/Cold Rolled Steel and DSS/Hot Rolled 
Steel were assessed in this paper and the results have been compared to find out the superior dissimilar metal in terms of Tensile strength. 
Objective of this work is to optimize the process parameters for the best superior dissimilar metal weld joint by using Taguchi method. 
Voltage, Current and filler feed rate were chosen as a control factors considering the impact on the input variables. Ultimate tensile 
strength has been taken as response variable to calculate the signal-to-noise ratio. Analysis of variance (Anova) was used in order to 
identify the percentage contribution for all the factors as well as high significant factor which is contributing for the optimum result  
 
Keywords: Comparative study, Process Optimization, Dissimilar Welding, Corten-A, Gas Tungsten Arc Welding. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Gas Tungsten Arc Welding(GTAW),gives good 
quality for welding a variety of metals and alloys to 
make sure weld joints are free from any defects since 
the electrode, molten metal and arc are confined by 
argon as shielding gas [1]. GTAW is extensively 
being used since it has ability of welding 
complicated shapes with large sequence of 
dimensions, aesthetics and low cost [2].  
 GTAW method is widely being used for joining 
thin materials in manufacturing sectors and has got 
its restrictions of lesser joint diffusion and 
incapability to welding wide materials [3].  Duplex 
stainless steel consists of both high strength of 
ferritic steels and the corrosion-resistance of 
austenitic steels. These steels are used in corrosive 
environment applications where reliability of the 
weldment is significant, mainly in offshore and 
petrochemical plants. The duplex stainless steel has 
the huge benefit of contributing a grouping of high 
strength and outstanding corrosion resistance which 
allows plate thickness to be reduced by as much as 
30% [4].  
 Corten-A  steel belongs to the family of high 
strength low alloy steel (HSLA) and is also known as 
weathering steel. These steels can provide corrosion 
protection without any additional protective coating. 
The increase in the percentage of copper content as 
the alloying elements, acts as an arresting mechanism 
to atmospheric corrosion in the material itself with 
the help of a rust (oxide) layer. Corten-A steel is 
superior to low carbon steel especially in strength 
and corrosion resistance aspects [5]. 
 Cold reduced steel(CRS) sheets offers a variety 
of outstanding properties including easy formability, 
clean, smooth surface and mainly used for 
manufacturing automobile parts. Superior 
workability and dimensional accuracy is one of the 
key characteristics of CR steel [6]. 
 Hot rolled steels (HRS) can be used to produce 
parts containing simple bends as well as drawn parts. 
HRS is used especially in high strength applications 
and good formability is required. Some of the 
134                            D. Devakumar, 2015 /Journal Of Applied Sciences Research 11(14), September, Pages:133-137 
 
structural applications exist by using HRS in 
automotive industries which include frame 
components, Panels, brackets, brake components, 
wheels, clutch plates, construction, industrial 
machinery and agricultural equipment’s. 
 Quality of dissimilar metal weld joint is very 
significant for the functioning of whole unit. In 
general dissimilar metal weld joining requires more 
attention than that of similar metals since it differs in 
physical, mechanical and metallurgical properties of 
the base metals to be joined. 
 
Experiment procedure:  
 The work piece sheets were made from 2205 
duplex stainless steel and dissimilar metal of Corten-
A,CRS and HRS sheets of thickness 2mm. Test 
specimens of both DSS and dissimilar metal sheets 
were cut in to the size of 2mmx150mmx250mm and 
welded with GTAW process. 309L filler rod was 
used as the welding materials in all the experiments. 
 In this experiment, TRIDENT 4009 make 
GTAW machine was used. During welding, welding 
gun was controlled manually and the filler rod was 
fed manually into the welding area [7]. 
 2mmx150mmx250mm sizes of both similar and 
dissimilar metal plates were kept together separately 
with 1.2 mm root gap and the plates were tack 
welded followed by run weld. Clamps were used to 
align and hold the plates together in order to avoid 
misalignment and distortion. Welding was carried 
out by means of GTAW with argon as shielding gas. 
After welding, specimens were cooled in the air. 10 
samples were made on each similar and dissimilar 
metal welds and finally 2 samples on each method 
selected based on the visual inspection parameters 
like uniform bead width and weld appearance [8]. 
Process parameters used for similar and all dissimilar 
metals are given in Table 1. Welded joints were then 
cut in to sections of required size, using band saw for 
making tensile test specimens 
 
Table 1: Process Parameters 
Thickness of 
specimen 
Joint Design Flow rate Welding 
position 
Current Voltage Filler feed rate 
2.0mm Butt Joint 7 Lts/minute Down hand 55 Amp 16V 0.5mm/sec 
 
Comparison of Mechanical properties of DSS/DSS, 
DSS/Corten-A, DSS/CRS, DSS/HRS:  
 In this paper mechanical properties of each of 
the joints mentioned above have been compared to 
choose the superior metal among the dissimilar 
group. Average values of results of tensile test 
performed from the similar and dissimilar metal 
joints have been tabulated in table 2.  
 
Table 2: Mechanical Properties comparison for Similar and Dissimilar weld joints. 
Sl 
No 
Mechanical 
Properties 
DSS/DSS DSS/Corten-A DSS/CRS DSS/HRS Ranking in high order 
1 Ultimate tensile 
strength in Mpa 
659 466 299 340 1.DSS/DSS 
2.DSS/Corten-A 
3.DSS/HRS 
4.DSS/CRS 
2 Yield strength in 
Mpa 
596 365 217 240 1.DSS/DSS 
2.DSS/Corten-A  
3.DSS/HRS 
4.DSS/CRS 
 
 Based on the ranking of mechanical properties 
tabulated above, inference is DSS/DSS is superior 
metal in terms of mechanical properties and 
DSS/Corten-A is next superior metal among the 
dissimilar metal group based on the tensile test 
values. Different amount of variation in the values of 
Tensile strength were observed for all the joints in 
which DSS/CRS having the maximum variation 
followed by DSS/Corten-A and DSS/HRS. 
DSS/Corten-A has been chosen for process 
optimization since the tensile strength is high 
compared to other dissimilar metal weld joint. 
Individual value plot of Ultimate Tensile strength 
based on 95% Confident interval for the mean and 
multi vari chart for Ultimate tensile strength have 
been plotted for identifying the next superior 
dissimilar metal which is DSS/Corten-A.
 
 
135                            D. Devakumar, 2015 /Journal Of Applied Sciences Research 11(14), September, Pages:133-137 
 
 
 
 One way Anova for Ultimate tensile strength 
summary report derived from Minitab conclude that 
there is difference among the means at the 0.5 level 
of significance. Red intervals that do not overlap 
indicate that differ from each other shown below. 
 
Optimization of process parameter by using Taguchi 
method for DSS/Corten-A metal weld joints by 
GTAW process: 
 Taguchi method is a very successful tool for 
process optimization under limited number of 
experimental runs. Optimization of process 
parameters is the important step in the Taguchi 
method for achieving high quality without cost 
increase. Optimization of process parameters can 
improve quality characteristics and the optimal 
process parameters obtained from the Taguchi 
method are insensitive to the variation of 
environmental conditions and other significant 
factors. Mainly, standard process constraint design is 
complex and cumbersome to apply. Number of 
experiments will be increased when the number of 
factors and levels increases. In order to overcome 
this task, the Taguchi technique uses a special design 
of orthogonal arrays to study the entire process 
parameter space with a small number of experiments 
[9].Impact factors with 3 level proposals have been 
mentioned in Table.3 
 
Table 3: Factors and Levels 
Factors Code Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 
Voltage (V) A 16 15 13 
Current (Amp) B 55 65 80 
Filler Feed  rate(mm/sec) C 0.5 0.4 0.7 
 
L 9-3 
3
 Level Taguchi Orthogonal Array:
 
Experiments 
Experiment 
Control Factors 
 A B C 
1 L1 L1 L1 
2 L1 L2 L2 
3 L1 L3 L3 
4 L2 L1 L2 
5 L2 L2 L3 
6 L2 L3 L1 
7 L3 L1 L3 
8 L3 L2 L1 
9 L3 L3 L2 
 
Experimental Design and the Response Values: 
Run Voltage(Volt) Current(Amp) Filler feed rate(mm/sec) Ultimate tensile strength 
in Mpa 
1 16 55 0.5 466 
2 16 65 0.4 470 
3 16 80 0.7 451 
136                            D. Devakumar, 2015 /Journal Of Applied Sciences Research 11(14), September, Pages:133-137 
 
4 15 55 0.4 467 
5 15 65 0.7 445 
6 15 80 0.5 452 
7 13 55 0.7 448 
8 13 65 0.5 463 
9 13 80 0.4 454 
 
 In order to study the significant process 
parameters which affects the quality characteristics, 
ANOVA method was used. The purpose of ANOVA 
is to investigate which welding process parameters 
significantly affect the quality performance. The 
percentage contribution by each of the welding 
process parameters in the total sum of the squared 
deviations can be used to evaluate the importance of 
the process parameter change on the quality 
characteristic. 
 
Anova Table:  
Factor DOF Sum of squares Mean squares F ratio Contribution % 
A 2 0.040390516 0.020195258 2.476413 16.49 
B 2 0.040297679 0.020148839 2.47072 16.46 
C 2 0.147880323 0.073940161 9.066799 60.39 
Error 2 0.016310092 0.008155046  6.66 
Total 8 0.24487861   100.00 
 
 Result of the ANOVA indicates that the Filler 
feed rate (60.39 % contribution) is the most effective 
parameter on the responses under the multi criteria 
optimization (higher tensile load). The percentage 
contributions of other parameters are Voltage (16.49 
%), Current (16.46 %) and the error factor (6.66 %) 
 
Signal to Noise (S/N) Ratio:  
 Analysing the response variation using the 
signal-to-noise ratio is important as per Taguchi 
method which helps to identify the effect of quality 
characteristic variation due to uncontrollable 
parameter [10].3 Signal-to-Noise ratios is being used 
as a common interest for optimization  
 
(I) Smaller-The-Better:  
n = -10 Log10 [mean of sum of squares of measured 
data]  
 
 
 
(II) Larger-The-Better:  
n = -10 Log10 [mean of sum squares of reciprocal of 
measured data]  
 
(III) Nominal-The-Best:  
n = 10 Log10 (square of mean)/ Variance [11] 
 The signal-to-noise ratio measures how the 
response varies relative to the nominal or target value 
under different noise conditions. We can choose 
from different signal-to-noise ratios, depending on 
the goal of our experiment.  
 The term ‘signal’ indicates the required value 
(mean) for the output characteristic and the term 
‘noise’ indicates the undesirable value (standard 
Deviation) for the output characteristic as per 
Taguchi Method.  
 To obtain optimal welding condition, higher-the 
improved quality characteristic for Tensile strength 
have to be taken. The Mean S/N ratios have been 
tabulated below from which the higher value needs 
to be taken from all the factors against the 3 levels. 
 
Mean S/N ratio: 
Level Factor A Factor B Factor C 
1 0.097774 0.059910239 0.060740447 
2 -0.04786 0.04029723 0.123175439 
3 -0.04053 -0.090822973 -0.174531391 
 
Optimum Process Parameters: 
SL No Factors Code Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Optimum 
Parameters 
1 Voltage A 16 15 13 16 V 
2 Current B 55 65 80 55 Amp 
3 Filler Feed rate C 0.5 0.4 0.7 0.4mm/sec 
 
Optimum combination levels: 
A1 B1 C2 
 
Confirmatory Test: 
 Confirmatory Test has been conducted by 
following optimum combination levels and found 
higher tensile strength 475Mpa as mentioned below.
 
 
137                            D. Devakumar, 2015 /Journal Of Applied Sciences Research 11(14), September, Pages:133-137 
 
 
Run Voltage(Volt) Current(Amp) Filler feed rate(mm/sec) Ultimate tensile strength in Mpa 
1 16 55 0.4 473 
 
Conclusion: 
 Experimental results have shown that the tensile 
load, in the GTAW of Dissimilar metal DSS/Corten-
A steel are greatly improved by using Taguchi 
method. Variation in Filler feed rate resulted in 
significant changes in the mechanical properties of 
the weld.  
 Results show that higher Filler feed rate resulted 
in lower tensile strength and high current also 
resulted in reduced tensile strength. A lower value of 
filler feed rate 0.4mm/sec gave the highest tensile 
strength.  
 Filler feed rate is the factor that significantly 
contributed to a higher percentage and has greater 
influence on the tensile strength followed by 
contributions from current and voltage. 
 The optimum range includes current of 55 
amperes, Voltage of 16volt and Filler feed rate 
0.4mm/sec.  
 DSS/Corten-A metal joint shows tensile strength 
(466Mpa) before process optimization and shows 
results of tensile strength (473Mpa) after process 
optimization witnessed during confirmatory test.  
 DSS/CRS dissimilar metal weld joint shows 
lower tensile (299Mpa) and yield strength (217Mpa) 
compared with DSS/Corten-A and DSS/HRS 
dissimilar metal weld joint. 
 Higher tensile strength (470Mpa) obtained after 
Process optimization of DSS/Corten-A dissimilar 
metal weld joint experiment. 
 Process optimization results indicates that 
DSS/Corten-A dissimilar metal can be a best option 
in place of DSS/DSS considering the cost impact and 
without compromising quality. 
 
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Comparative Study and Optimization of Process Parameters of Dissimilar metal Weld Joints by GTAW Process

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Comparative Study and Optimization of Process Parameters of Dissimilar metal Weld Joints by GTAW Process

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