Gas Metal Arc Welding Process Modeling and Prediction of Weld Microstructure in MIL A46100 Armor-Grade Martensitic Steel

Optimization of Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) Process for Maximum Ballistic Limit in MIL A46100 Steel Welded All-Metal Armor

“…In general, these modeling and simulation efforts focus only on some aspects of the GMAW process, while the other aspects of this process are either not considered or their treatment is over simplified. Closer examination of these efforts suggested that they all could be divided into three categories: (a) GMAW models in the first category focus on the dynamics of the electric arc (Ref 10), and on the various aspects of heat and mass transfer from the arc/electrode to the weld pool (e.g., ; (b) within the second category of GMAW models, various aspects of the heat and mass flow within the weld pool (Ref 20-23) as well as the heat transfer across the FZ/HAZ boundaries (including the accompanying FZ solidification process) (e.g., Ref 24,25); and (c) within the third category of the GMAW process models, emphasis is placed on predicting microstructure and property evolution within the FZ and HAZ as a function of the base metal chemistry, initial microstructure of the base metal (typically assumed), initial temperature and flow fields in the weld pool, and the thermal history at various locations within the FZ and HAZ (e.g., Ref 1,2,26,27). As mentioned above, these three categories of GMAW process models neglect the fact that GMAW is a complex process and that its adequate modeling entails a multiphysics (i.e., multi-disciplinary) approach.…”

“…These deficiencies of the public-domain GMAW process models have been addressed in our recently developed multiphysics GMAW process model (Ref [1][2][3][4][5]. A brief description of the basic structure of this model and the defining features of its six modules will be provided in section 2.…”

“…Our recently proposed multi-physics computational model for the conventional gas metal arc welding (GMAW) joining process (Ref [1][2][3][4][5] has been extended in the present work with respect to its predictive capabilities regarding the process optimization for the attainment of maximum ballistic limit within the weld. The original GMAW process model was already capable of correlating the welding process parameters with the spatial distribution of the ballistic limit within the weld (consisting of the solidified weld pool, also referred to as the fusion zone, FZ, and the adjacent heat-affected zone, HAZ).…”

“…Based on the overview presented above, the concepts most relevant to the present work are (a) the basics of GMAW; (b) weld zones; (c) weld microstructure evolution in steels; (d) welding of MIL A46100 steel; (e) GMAW process modeling; and (f) GMAW process optimization. Since the concepts (a)-(c) were covered in great detail in (Ref [1][2][3][4][5], the same will not be reviewed here. On the other hand, in the remainder of this section, a brief description is provided for concepts (d)-(f).…”

A novel approach for monitoring and improving the quality of welded joint in gas metal arc welding process using adaptive neuro-fuzzy systems

“…The microstructure of welded joint affects the overall quality and strength of the joint. In this regard, Grujicic et al 16,17 have proposed thermal–mechanical coupled model combined with the physical–metallurgy concepts to predict the distribution of crystalline phases within the as-welded microstructure. This procedure has been applied to the low-carbon steel AISI1005 and high-hardness armor-grade MIL A46100 martensitic steel.…”