Barriers for industrial implementation of in-process monitoring of weld penetration for quality control
Journal article, 2017

The research conducted sheds a light on the question why robust in-process monitoring and adaptive control are not fully implemented in the welding industry. In the research project FaRoMonitA, the possibilities to monitor the weld quality during welding have been investigated. Research conducted in this area has merely focused on technical issues investigated in a laboratory environment. To advance the research front and release some barriers related to industrial acceptance, the studies conducted in this paper have been both quantitative and qualitative in form of experiments combined with an interview study. The quality property weld penetration depth was chosen for in-process monitoring to evaluate the industrial relevance and applicability. A guaranteed weld penetration depth is critical for companies producing parts influenced by fatigue. The parts studied were fillet welds produced by gas metal arc welding. The experiments show that there is a relationship between final penetration depth and monitored arc voltage signals and images captured by CMOS vision and infrared cameras during welding. There are still technical issues to be solved to reach a robust solution. The interview study indicates that soft issues, like competence and financial aspects, are just as critical.

Quality assurance

Weld penetration

Manufacturing

Process monitoring

Gas metal arc welding

Non-destructive testing

Fillet weld

Author

Anna Öberg

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Supply and Operations Management

Volvo Group

Fredrik Sikström

University West

International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

0268-3768 (ISSN) 1433-3015 (eISSN)

Vol. 91 5-8 2427-2434

Subject Categories

Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Areas of Advance

Production

DOI

10.1007/s00170-016-9894-4

More information

Latest update

11/7/2022