Parametric Optimization for Gas Metal Arc Welding Process of SS316L and AISI D2 Steels by Grey-Taguchi Method

The current research work is to optimize the gas metal arc welding parameters on the impact strength, hardness and flexural strength of dissimilar weld joints of SS316L and AISI D2 steels by using Taguchi based grey relational method. The experiments were planned as per Taguchi L8 orthogonal array by considering four input parameters like current (amps), voltage (volt), speed (cm/min) and root gap (mm). The experimental results shows that, the maximum impact strength of 4.36 J/mm2, maximum hardness of 49.5 HRC and maximum flexural strength of 583.3 MPa was obtained for the weld joints fabricated under the optimum welding conditions of current 80 amps, voltage 15 volt, speed 45 cm/min and root gap 2.0 mm. Analysis of variance was used to determine the significant contribution of each welding parameter on the output characteristics. The percentage contribution graph shows that, root gap was the most significant parameter on multiple output responses that contributes P-54.64% followed by welding speed of P- 20.26% and voltage of P- 11.94%.