Optimising the quality of several welds in a metal-inert gas arc joining of AA6082 and AA7075 using the grey-based Taguchi technique

Abstract

In recent times, welding procedures have become increasingly crucial for fabrication and manufacturing businesses. Gas metal arc welding, also known as metal inert gas (MIG) welding, has attracted much attention because of its versatility. Its benefits include low capital needs, high deposition rates, high productivity, and simplicity in adjusting to automation. It has drawn much interest because of its versatility in welding metallic materials and ease of automation. This work's objective is to maximise the multi-performance properties of the aluminium alloys AA6082 and AA7075's MIG-welded butt junction by using a hybrid grey-based Taguchi technique. During MIG welding, With the L9 Taguchi orthogonal array, the welding speed, gas flow rate, and current were optimised. Weld joint integrity has been evaluated using the fusion zone's Vickers microhardness, per cent elongation, tensile strength, and yield strength. The ideal welding current for the MIG process is 140 A, the perfect welding speed is 10 mm/min, and the excellent gas flow rate is 18 lit/min. The material showed 159.68 MPa of tensile strength, 112.79 MPa of yield strength, 16.79% of percentage elongation, and 70.95 HV of hardness under optimal conditions. With a 63.99% contribution to the process, welding speed greatly affected the weldments' overall performance. The confirmatory test confirmed the optimisation procedure also demonstrated that optimising numerous welded joint performance factors may be achieved effectively with the grey-based Taguchi approach.