OPTIMIZATION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS TO MINIMIZE ANGULAR DISTORTION IN GAS TUNGSTEN ARC WELDED STAINLESS STEEL 202 GRADE PLATES USING PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION

This paper presents a study on optimization of process parameters using particle swarm optimization to minimize angular distortion in 202 grade stainless steel gas tungsten arc welded plates. Angular distortion is a major problem and most pronounced among different types of distortion in butt welded plates. The process control parameters chosen for the study are welding gun angle, welding speed, plate length, welding current and gas flow rate. The experiments were conducted using design of experiments technique with five factor five level central composite rotatable design with full replication technique. A mathematical model was developed correlating the process parameters with angular distortion. A source code was developed in MATLAB 7.6 to do the optimization. The optimal process parameters gave a value of 0.0305° for angular distortion which demonstrates the accuracy of the model developed. The results indicate that the optimized values for the process parameters are capable of producing weld with minimum distortion.