Meysam Beytolamani - M.Sc. Graduate, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran;
Farhad Kolahan - Associate Professor, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
Zahra Barakchi - B.Sc. Candidate, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran;

To tackle the problem of stainless steel parts welding, gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process also known as tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding, widely used for joining thin sheet metals due to its high quality joint (spatter free) has been introduced. In this study, the effects of welding process adjusting/input parameters on the joint quality of thin sheet metals (AISI304 austenite stainless steel sheets, extensively used for corrosive areas such as marine structures) have been investigated. To study the corrosion resistance and strength of the weldments, heat affected zone (HAZ) width has been considered as the process output characteristics. Conducting modeling procedure (regression modeling), orthogonal array (OA) Taguchi based design of experiments (DOE) technique has been used to design an experimental matrix to gather data needed for the procedure. Next, the proposed models (linear, curvilinear and logarithmic) has been verified employing analysis of variance (ANOVA) approach. Then, the proper and most fitted models have been selected. Furthermore, opted models have been used carrying out optimization of the process in such a way that HAZ width minimized using simulated annealing (SA) algorithm.

GTAW process, orthogonal array (OA) Taguchi technique, Simulated annealing (SA) algorithm.