LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Composition of Flux

Table 3.2 Responses
Table 4.1 ANOVA for Surface Mean Model for Vickers Hardness
Table 4.2 Final equation in terms of Coded Factors for Vickers Hardness
Table 4.3 Final equation in terms of Actual Factors for Vickers Hardness
Table 4.4 ANOVA for Surface Mean Model for Impact Strength
Table 4.5 Final equation in terms of Coded Factors for Impact Strength
Table 4.6 Final equation in terms of Actual Factors for Impact Strength

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig 1.1 Submerged Arc Welding Process

Fig 1.2 SAW Machine
Fig 1.3 Basic ANN Structure
Fig 1.4 Network Architecture
Fig 4.1 Regression Plot
Fig 4.2 Performance Plot
Fig 4.3 Training State
Fig 4.4 Neural network Training
Fig 4.5 Function Fitting Neural Network
Fig 4.6 Weight and Biases
Fig 4.7 Design Layout
Fig 4.8 Summary of Design Layout
Fig 4.9 Graph Columns
Fig 4.10 Fit Summary
Fig 4.11 FDS Graph
Fig 4.12 One Factor Graph
Fig 4.13 Perturbation
Fig 4.14 Interaction
Fig 4.15 Contour
Fig 4.16 3D Surface
Fig 4.17 Normal plot-Vickers Hardness
Fig 4.18 Predicted vs actual

ABSTRACT
Neural Network Modelling of Submerged Arc Welding of Mild Steel

In any fabrication industry, Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) is used as a heavy

metal deposition rate welding process. The process is characterized by the use
of granular flux blanket that covers the molten weld pool during operation.
Welding input parameters play a very significant role in determining the quality
of weld joint. The joint quality can be defined in terms of properties such as
weld bead geometry, mechanical properties and distortion. Generally all
welding processes are used with the aim of obtaining a weld joint with the
desired weld bead parameters, excellent mechanical properties with minimum
distortion.
Artificial neural network (ANN) is widely established in the artificial
intelligence (AI) research where a nonlinear mapping between input and output
parameters is required for a function approximation. The backpropogation
algorithm is used in layered feed forward ANNs. The backpropagation neural
network (BPNN) has three layers: input layer, hidden layer, and output layer.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Submerged Arc Welding

1.2

Advantages of SAW

1.3

Limitations of SAW

1.4

SAW Fluxes

1.5

Effect of flux composition on SAW

1.6

Artificial Neural Network

1.7

Taguchi

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE SURVEY

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 6

REFERENCES

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1

THE SUBMERGED ARC WELDING PROCESS

Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) is a method in which the heat required to fuse
the metal is generated by an arc formed by an electric current passing between
the electrode and workpiece.
A layer of granulated mineral material known as submerged arc welding flux
covers the tip of welding wire, the arc and the workpiece. There is no visible arc
and no sparks, spatter or fume. The electrode may be a solid or cored wire or a
strip.
SAW is normally a mechanised process. The welding current, arc voltage and
level speed all affect the bead shape, depth of penetration and chemical
composition of the deposited weld metal. Since the operator cannot observe
weld pool, great reliance is placed on parameter setting and positioning of the
electrode.

General Scope:
Current: 100-3600 A
Wires in one molten pool: from 1 to 6
Voltage: 20-50 V
Speed: 300-3500 mm/min
Deposition rate: 2-100 kg/hr

When the apparatus is set into operation, several things occur in the following
sequence:
The submerged arc welding flux feeds through the hopper tube and
continuously distributes itself over the seem a short distance ahead of the
welding zone
Wire feed mechanism begin to feed the welding wire into the joint data
at a controlled rate
Electric arc is established as the current flows between the electrode and
the work
The carriage is started (manually or automatically) to travel around the
seam
The tremendous heat evolved by the passage of the electric current
through the welding zone melts the end of the wire and the adjacent edges
of the workpiece, creating a pool of molten metal
The submerged arc welding flux completely shields the welding zone
from contact with the atmosphere
As the welding zone moves along the joint, the fused submerged arc
welding flux cools and hardens into a brittle, glass-like material which
protects the weld until cool, then usually detaches itself completely from
the weld.

1.2

ADVANTAGES

High quality
Little risk of undercut and porosity
No spatter
Very little risk of lack of fusion due to deep and safe penetration
High deposition rate
High thermal efficiency
No radiation
No need for fuel extraction

1.3

LIMITATIONS

Precise joint preparation required

No observation of arc and process during welding possible
High operational effort

The high welding speeds and deposition rates which are characteristics of
submerged arc welding require automatic control of the motor that feeds the
welding wire into the weld into the weld. No manual welder could smoothly
comparable to those of a submerged arc welding parameters. The automatic

control and power supply system used in submerged arc welding operates to
maintain a constant voltage and current.

1.4 SAW FLUXES

The main task of SAW fluxes is to protect the arc, the molten pool and the
solidifing weld metal from the atmosphere. Moreover fluxes have the following
tasks:
creation of ions to increase arc conductivity
Arc stabilizing
Creation of a slag which forms a cavity
Influence bead shape and surface finish
Deoxidation of molten pool
Alloying of weld metal
Influence the weld cooling rate

1.5 EFFECT OF FLUX COMPOSITION ON SUBMERGED

ARC WELDING
Submerged arc welding is widely used in the fabrication of pressure vessels,
pipe lines and offshore structures because of its higher metal deposition rate,
good strength of the joint and good surface appearance. The properties of the
welded joint such as strength, toughness can be improved by controlling the
microstructure of the welded joint. The element transfer from the flux has major
influence on weld metal composition and weld metal properties. To predict
weld metal properties, it is necessary to determine the weld composition, which
primarily depends upon wire, flux, parent metal, slag metal reactions, process
parameters, dilution and electrochemical reactions. Numerous investigators
have attempted to determine, which flux components are of most importance in
establishing the final weld chemistry. The weld chemistry is decided by the
metallurgical reactions in SAW but to decide the extent of metallurgical
reaction in saw is very difficult because of large variations in cycle temperature,
reaction time, high heat input. In SAW due to short reaction time during SAW
the reaction is not reached to its thermodynamic equilibrium, so the exact
prediction of weld metal chemistry is difficult. The purpose of this literature
review is to focus on an innovative approach which is needed while deciding
weld chemistry. It would be worthwhile if one could develop a frame work to
predict the Mn, Si, carbon, oxygen and other elements in the final weld

metal, from a given combination of electrode, flux and base metal. The work
done so far on Element transfer study is very limited. Much published
information is not available about fluxes made by Industry professionals as they
do not disclose the composition of the flux for which they claim higher
strength and better mechanical properties.

1.6 Artificial Neural Network (ANN)

An ANN is composed of simple elements operating in parallel. These elements
are inspired by biological nervous systems. As in nature, the connections
between elements largely determine the network function. You can train a
neural network to perform a particular function by adjusting the values of the
connections (weights) between elements.
Typically, neural networks are adjusted, or trained, so that a particular input
leads to a specific target output. The network is adjusted, based on a
comparison of the output and the target, until the network output matches the
target. Typically, many such input/target pairs are needed to train a network.

The Backpropagation Algorithm

The backpropogation algorithm is used in layered feed forward ANNs. This
means that the artificial neurons are organized in layers, and send their signals
forward, and then the errors are propagated backwards. The network receives
inputs by neurons in the input layer and the output of the network is given by
neurons in the output layer. There may be one or more intermediate hidden
layers. The backpropagation algorithm uses supervised learning which means
that we provide the algorithm with examples of the inputs and outputs we want
the network to compute, and then the error (difference between actual and
expected results) is calculated. The idea of backpropagation algorithm is to
reduce the error, until the ANN learns the training data. The training begins
with random weights, and the goal is to adjust them so that the error will be
minimal.

Advantages of ANN
Massive parallelism
Distributed representation and computation
Learning ability
Generalization ability
Adaptivity
Fault tolerance
Low energy consumption

Problems of interest
Pattern Classification
Clustering/Categorization
Function approximation
Prediction/Forecasting
Optimization
Content-addressable memory
Control

1.7 TAGUCHI
Taguchi experimental design methods are very complicated and difficult to use.
Additionally, these methods require a large number of experiments when the
number of process parameters increases. In order to minimize the number of test
required. Taguchi experimental design method, a powerful tool for designing
high quality system, was developed by Taguchi. This method uses a special
design of orthogonal arrays to study the entire parameter space with small
number of experiments only. Experiments were designed using Taguchi method
so that effect of all the parameters could be studied with minimum possible
number of experiments .Using Taguchi method, Appropriate Orthogonal Array
has been chosen and experiments have been performed as per the set of
experiments designed in the orthogonal array. Signal to Noise ratios are also
calculated to analyse the effect of parameters more accurately
Taguchi recommends analyzing the mean response for each run in the inner
array, and he also suggest analyzing variation using an appropriately chosen
signal to noise ratio (S/N)
Regardless of category of the performance characteristics, the lower S/N ratio
corresponds to a better performance .Therefore ,the optimal level of the process
parameters in the level with the lowest S/N value. The statistical analysis of the
data was performed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) to study the contribution

of the factor and interactions and to explore the effects of each process on the
observed value.
Results of the experiments were analyzed analytically as well as graphically
using ANOVA. ANOVA has determined the percentage contribution of all
factors upon each response factor individually

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE SURVEY

A research article on Effect of Flux Composition on Element Transfer during

Submerged Arc Welding was published by Mr. Brijpal Singh, Mr. Z.A. Khan
and Mr. A.N.Siddiquee in the International Journal of Current Research.
A research article on Optimization of submerged arc welding process
parameters in hardfacing was published by Dr. H. L. Tsai, Y. S. Tarng, C. M.
Tseng in the International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology,
1996, Volume 12, Issue 6
Davis and Bailey (1978, 1980) reveled in their research that element transfer in
SAW depends not only on its concentration in the flux but also depends upon
the other substances, which are present in the flux e.g. Si transfer from the flux
depends upon Al, Ti, Zr, which act as a network former and replace Si in a
network leaving Si free to transfer. Palm (1972) studied the effect of flux
composition in element transfer study and found that various elements like Ca,
Mg, Al,etc. do not directly affect the weld composition. Kubli and Sharav
(1961) found that less oxygen was transferred to weld while reducing the
amount of SiO2 and this again was confirmed by Tulianiet al. (1969), who
showed that oxygen content in the weld metal decreases as the BI is increased

CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY

The objective is to analyse the effect of different flux compositions on the

mechanical properties of the weld joint. The weights of NiO, MnO and MgO
were varied while the rest of the composition was kept constant. The
composition of the flux is shown in the table:

Type of flux
111

Al2O3(70%)
297

SiO2(70%)
560

CaO(70%)
543

CaCO3(70%)
970

NiO(12.5%)
60

MnO(12.5%)
50

MgO(12.5%)
85

CaF2(7.5%)
150

122

297

560

543

970

60

50

95

150

133

297

560

543

970

60

50

105

150

212

297

560

543

970

80

70

95

150

223

297

560

543

970

80

70

105

150

231

297

560

543

970

80

70

85

150

313

297

560

543

970

100

90

105

150

321

297

560

543

970

100

90

85

150

332

297

560

543

970

100

90

95

150

Response Factors
The mechanical properties considered were Vickers Hardness and Impact
strength.
Impact Strength
The impact strength describes the ability of a material to absorb shock and
impact energy without breaking. The impact strength is calculated as the ratio of
impact absorption to test specimen cross-section. Toughness is dependent upon
temperature and the shape of the test specimen.

Vickers Hardness
Hardness is defined as the resistance to indentation, and it is determined by
measuring the permanent depth of the indentation. The Vickers hardness test
method, also referred to as a microhardness test method, is mostly used for
small parts, thin sections, or case depth work. The Vickers method is based on
an optical measurement system.
S.NO

DESIGN MATRIX A FOR

HARDNESS

SIO2 32V
HRB

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

S.NO

1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3

1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3

1
2
3
2
3
1
3
1
2

DESIGN MATRIX FOR IMPACT

STRENGTH

S/N
35
38.33
48
45
50
50
47.33
40
53.66

SIO2 32V
Impact
Strength

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3

1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3

30.88
31.67
33.62
33.06
33.97
33.97
33.50
32.04
34.59

1
2
3
2
3
1
3
1
2

S/N
52.75
54
73.25
80
62.5
51
65.66
30.75
64

34.44
34.64
37.29
38.06
35.91
34.15
36.34
29.75
36.12

The inputs and responses found out in the experiments are used for NEURAL
NETWORK MODELLING using MATLAB software.
DESIGN EXPERT was used to evaluate, analyze and optimize the data using
Taguchi Orthoganl Array.

CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Responses found out using ANN in MATLAB:

Fig. 4.1. Regression Plot

Fig 4.2 Performance Plot

Fig 4.3 Training State

MATLAB CODE
function net = create_fit_net(inputs,targets);
numHiddenNeurons = 20;
net = newfit(inputs,targets,numHiddenNeurons);
net.divideParam.trainRatio = 70/100;
net.divideParam.valRatio = 15/100;
net.divideParam.testRatio = 15/100;

[net,tr] = train(net,inputs,targets);
outputs = sim(net,inputs);

plotperf(tr)
plotfit(net,inputs,targets)
plotregression(targets,outputs)

>>inputs = [ 60 50 85; 60 50 95; 60 50 105; 80 70 95; 80 70 105; 80 70 85; 100

90 105; 100 90 85; 100 90 95];
>>targets = [ 35 52.75; 38.33 54; 48 73.25; 45 80; 50 62.5; 50 51; 47.33 65.66;
40 30.75; 53.66 64];
>>nftool

>>adscript
performance = 5.8057e-23
trainPerformance = 5.8057e-23
valPerformance = NaN
testPerformance = NaN
>>adscript
Error using network/train (line 272)
Inputs and targets have different numbers of samples.
Error in adscript (line 46)
[net,tr] = train(net,inputs,targets);
>>adscript
performance = 103.4625
trainPerformance = 9.6340e-24
valPerformance = 176.9567
testPerformance = 754.2061
>>getwb(net)
>>size(getwb(net))

Fig 4.4 Neural Network Training

Fig 4.5 Function Fitting Neural Network

Fig 4.6 Weights and Biases

DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS
In this study, three parameters were selected as control parameters and each
parameter was designed to have three levels. The experimental design was
according to an L9 array based on Taguchi method, while using the Taguchi
orthogonal array would markedly reduce the number of experiments. A set of
experiments designed using the Taguchi method was conducted to investigate
the relation between the parameters and delamination factor. DESIGN EXPERT
software was used for regression and graphical analysis of the obtained data.

DEVELOPMENT OF MODEL
Taguchi design and ANOVA consisting of 9 experiments was conducted to
develop model showing the relationship between the flux compositions and
response (impact strength, Vickers Hardness) for coded values of -1 to +1 for
each of flux constituents.

Fig 4.7 Design Layout

Fig 4.8 Summary

Fig 4.9 Graph Columns

a) NiO vs Vickers Hardness

b) MnO vs Vickers Hardness

c) MgO vs Vickers Hardness

d) NiO vs Impact Strength

e) MnO vs Impact Strength

f) MgO vs Impact Strength

Fig 4.10 Fit Summary

Table 4.1
Vickers hardness

Response 1

ANOVA for Response Surface Mean model

Analysis of variance table [Partial sum of squares - Type III]
Sum of
Source

Squares df

Model

p-value

Square

Value

Prob > F

0.000 0

Residual

307.76 8

Cor Total

307.76 8

Std. Dev.

Mean

38.47

6.20 R-Squared

0.0000

Mean

45.26 Adj R-Squared 0.0000

C.V. %

13.70 Pred R-Squared -0.2656

PRESS

389.51 Adeq Precision

Coefficient
Factor
Intercept

Standard 95% CI 95% CI

Estimate Df

Error

Low

High

45.26 1

2.07

40.49

50.03

Table 4.2
Final Equation in Terms of Coded Factors:
Vickers hardness =
+45.26
Table 4.3
Final Equation in Terms of Actual Factors:
Vickers hardness =
+45.26222

Table 4.4
Response 2 impact strength

ANOVA for Response Surface 2FI model

Analysis of variance table [Partial sum of squares - Type III]
Sum of

Mean

p-value

Source

Squares df Square Value Prob > F

Model

1303.46 6 217.24

A-nio

26.36 1

B-mno

5.66 1

1.33

0.4878 not significant

0.16

0.7263

5.66 0.035

0.8693

26.36

C-mgo

229.62 1 229.62

1.41

0.3569

AB

653.96 1 653.96

4.02

0.1829

6.08 0.037

0.8646

AC

6.08 1

BC

278.54 1 278.54

Residual

325.60 2 162.80

1.71

0.3210

Cor Total 1629.06 8

Std. Dev.

12.76 R-Squared

0.8001

Mean

59.10 Adj R-Squared

0.2005

C.V. %

21.59 Pred R-Squared -11.3952

PRESS

20192.57 Adeq Precision

3.984

Coefficient
Factor
Intercept

Standard 95% CI 95% CI

Estimate df

Error

Low

59.10 1

4.25

40.80

High VIF
77.40

A-nio

3.17 1

7.88 -30.72

37.05 2.29

B-mno

-1.47 1

7.88 -35.35

32.42 2.29

C-mgo

-9.35 1

7.88 -43.24

24.53 2.29

AB

-23.68 1

11.81

-74.50

27.15 3.43

AC

2.28 1

11.81

-48.54

53.11 3.43

BC

15.45 1

11.81

-35.38

66.28 3.43

Table 4.5
Final Equation in Terms of Coded Factors:
impact strength =
+59.10
+3.17 * A
-1.47 * B
-9.35 * C
-23.68 * AB
+2.28 * AC
+15.45 * BC
Table 4.6
Final Equation in Terms of Actual Factors:
impact strength =
+409.46563
+3.21735 * nio
-2.67771 * mno
-7.25643 * mgo
-0.059189 * nio * mno
+0.011414 * nio * mgo
+0.077257 * mno * mgo

Fig 4.11 FDS Graph

Fig . 4.12. One Factor Graph

Fig 4.13 Perturbation

Fig 4.14 Interaction

Fig 4.15 Contour

Fig 4.16 3D surface

Fig 4.17 Normal plot Vickers hardness

Fig 4.18 Predicted vs Actual

REFERENCES

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY

RESEARCH VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1, JANUARY 2014
EFFECT OF FLUX COMPOSITION ON ELEMENT TRANSFER DURING
SUBMERGED ARC WELDING (SAW): A LITERATURE REVIEW
Optimization of Neural Networks: A Comparative Analysis
The ANN Book by R.M.Hristev
Neural Network Toolbox Users Guide R2012a by Mark Hudson Beagle
Design and Analysis of Experiments by Douglas.C.Montgomery