Author(s)

Nweze Stephanie¹, Achebo Joseph Ifeanyi²

¹Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, AE-FUNAI University, Ikwo, Nigeria.
²Department of Production Engineering, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria.

Predicting weld responses is a very important but difficult area in the field of welding which can greatly reduce the overall cost of try and error method for any fabrication industry. Fuzzy logic expert tool was used to predict the weld penetration size factor of a weld. The aim of this study is to predict the weld penetration size factor (WPSF) of TIG mild steel welds using fuzzy logic. In this study, the weld specimens were produced using the TIG welding process guided by the central composite experimental design, and thereafter the weld penetration size factor (WPSF) was measured. The process parameters include the voltage, current, gas flow rate and welding speed. The model’s significance, strength and adequacy were checked; for fuzzy logic, fuzzification was done using fuzzy linguistic variable, fuzzy linguistic terms and membership function after which an inference was made based on a set of rules and the output result was defuzzified to a crisp output. Fuzzy logic predicted beyond the boundaries of the given range of parameters. The model developed has proven to be very effective in predicting responses even before actual weld is initiated.

WPSF, Fuzzy Logic, Weld Penetration, Defuzzified

Stephanie, N. and Ifeanyi, A. (2019) Prediction of Weld Penetration Size Factor (WPSF) of TIG Mild Steel Weldment Using Fuzzy Logic. Engineering, 11, 119-130. doi: 10.4236/eng.2019.112010.