The activity examined used the principles and the tools of the Experimental Design to optimise the welding parameters of a motor vehicle steering tube. In particular the purpose was to ascertain which parameters were rnore influential regarding the phenomenon in object. The study was developed in four different phases to define also the specific values of these factors and to validate by means of the experimental runs our results. At the end we evaluated the optimal combination of factors in play able to provide the best response (in terms of penetration depth of the welded joint) of the welding process. Within the range of values considered, the most significant parameters were voltage and the voltage- torch speed interaction. In particular the optimal voltage was 18V and the optimal robot torch speed was 29 mm/s. The runs conducted demonstrated that the amperage was of little significance compared with the other 'Control Factors'. The compression tests showed that even when minimum penetration depth falls below the limit set by Honda, the welded joint does not reach yield point, before the shearing stress limit of the thin plate is exceeded. The run results were very positive and in the future it may be possible to apply the methodology described in this paper to all welding processes in the scooter manufacturing. This methodology allows the process to be optimised in less time, with very low costs. Thereby the innovation introduced by this new type of approach regards the optimisation of the welding process, up to now carried out only in terms of Macro-test without considering problems related to such aspects as time and cost; by using Experimental Design, however, it is possible to limit the number of runs and, as a consequence the relative costs and time involved, whilst still guaranteeing qualitatively improved products.
Optimisation of welding parameters in a motor vehicle steering tube using experimental design methodology
Optimierung der Schweißparameter im Lenkungsschlauch eines Motorrads mit Hilfe einer experimentellen Entwurfsmethode
2001
9 Seiten, 11 Bilder, 1 Tabelle, 6 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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