Modeling, Simulation and Control of Pulsed DE-GMA Welding Process for Joining of Aluminum to Steel

• Published in: Chinese journal of mechanical engineering 2014-09, Vol.27 (5), p.978-985
• Main Authors: Zhang, Gang, Shi, Yu, Li, Jie, Huang, Jiankang, Fan, Ding
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aluminum; Aluminum base alloys; Arc welding; Automobile industry; Automotive engineering; Bead on plate welding; Beads; Computer simulation; Control simulation; Electric contacts; Electric potential; Electric wire; Electrical Machines and Networks; Electronics and Microelectronics; Engineering; Engineering Thermodynamics; Feasibility; Gas metal arc welding; Heat and Mass Transfer; Instrumentation; Intermetallic compounds; Joining; Machines; Manufacturing; Mathematical analysis; Mathematical models; Mechanical Engineering; Model accuracy; Power Electronics; Processes; Proportional integral derivative; Rail transportation; Rapid prototyping; Simulation; Structural steels; Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Weight reduction; Welded joints; Welding; Wire; Workpieces; 仿真结果; 控制方案; 数学模型; 焊接工艺; 熔化极气体保护焊; 脉冲; 金属间化合物层; 铝钢
• ISSN: 1000-9345; 2192-8258
• DOI: 10.3901/CJME.2014.0529.104

Joining of aluminum to steel has attracted significant attention from the welding research community,automotive and rail transportation industries.Many current welding methods have been developed and applied,however,they can not precisely control the heat input to work-piece,they are high costs,low efficiency and consist lots of complex welding devices,and the generated intermetallic compound layer in weld bead interface is thicker.A novel pulsed double electrode gas metal arc welding（Pulsed DE-GMAW）method is developed.To achieve a stable welding process for joining of aluminum to steel,a mathematical model of coupled arc is established,and a new control scheme that uses the average feedback arc voltage of main loop to adjust the wire feed speed to control coupled arc length is proposed and developed.Then,the impulse control simulation of coupled arc length,wire feed speed and wire extension is conducted to demonstrate the mathematical model and predict the stability of welding process by changing the distance of contact tip to work-piece（CTWD）.To prove the proposed PSO based PID control scheme’s feasibility,the rapid prototyping experimental system is setup and the bead-on-plate control experiments are conducted to join aluminum to steel.The impulse control simulation shows that the established model can accurately represent the variation of coupled arc length,wire feed speed and the average main arc voltage when the welding process is disturbed,and the developed controller has a faster response and adjustment,only runs about 0.1 s.The captured electric signals show the main arc voltage gradually closes to the supposed arc voltage by adjusting the wire feed speed in 0.8 s.The obtained typical current waveform demonstrates that the main current can be reduced by controlling the bypass current under maintaining a relative large total current.The control experiment proves the accuracy of proposed model and feasibility of new control scheme further.The beautiful and smooth weld beads are also obtained by this method.Pulsed DE-GMAW can thus be considered as an alternative method for low cost,high efficiency joining of aluminum to steel.