There is a continuous development of the most common welding processes like MMA, MIG/MAG, PAW and SAW. At the same time there is a conversion from stick electrodes to solid and cored wires with an increased productivity as a result. In parallel with these changes new processes are introduced and implemented. The number of Friction Stir Welding installations is starting to grow fast Hybrid laser welding has probably made a technical break through. The Magnetic Pulse Welding process is taking off. The different mechanical joining methods; clinching and self-piercing riveting; must not be forgotten. Structural adhesive is another method to consider.

The modern welding technology hue more then 100 years history, and during that period, the welding has been playing an important role in the development of the manufacturing processes/systems as a key technology. In the time we enter the 21st century, it is question how to develop the innovative and attractive welding technology, in particular by the younger generation. The present report discussed the future trend of welding engineering mainly in Japan after reviewing the previous growth of welding engineering.

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High alloyed stainless steels stand out for a high corrosion resistance due to a protective passive layer which is formed when the content of chromium exceeds 13%. When welding these steels, heat tints arise in the area of the weldment. They may occur from flint yellow to intensive blue in the spectrum depending on the applied welding process and the quality of the backing gas used. Due to their structures, they partly drastically reduce the corrosion resistance of stainless steels so that they may lead to damages of the technical application of welded components. In the following the pitting resistance by different backing gases and the chemical composition of the stainless steel itself are described.

HAZ(Heat Affected Zone of weldm ents) properties were investigated for a high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel with a chemical composition of Fe-0.02C-0.15Si-6.00Mn-10.0Ni-23.0Cr-2.00Mo-0.48N-0.14V. Thermal cycle of HAZ was simulated by the thermal cycle simulator (Gleeble 1500). The heat treatment was applied to the Charpy test size sample without notch under various peak temperatures and/or the holding times condition. V-notch Charpy test was performed at the temperature range of 273~77 K. Metallographic examination also was carried out by using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The simulated specimens revealed a slight embrittlement compared with the base materials. The impact toughness of the specimens deteriorated with the decreasing test temperature. The results from Charpy V-notch test, however, showed that significant degradation of absorbed energy caused by brittle fracture was not observed for the specimen tested in the test temperature range.

$\textbullet$ The modern duplex steel 2205 can be a cost effective solution compared to standard austenitic stainless steels. $\textbullet$ 2205 offers a welded construction with very high corrosion resistance as well as high strength. $\textbullet$ The steel can be welded with high productivity welding procedures. $\textbullet$ Due to the possibility of reduced weld preparation and welding associated with reduced wall thickness, the total welding costs co be decreased further.

From virtually no steel production after the Koran war, steel industry in Korea had a phenomenal growth to reach crude steel production of 40 million tons level in 1997 and became the 6th largest steel producer in the world. The growth owes to steel technologies developed elsewhere over centuries and decisive management decisions to adopt new technologies as quickly as possible. Steel technologies are reviewed and brief overviews of welding research in Korea are presented.

Electrical insulation and mechanical properties of the plasma sprayed oxide ceramic coatings were studied before and after the sealing treatment of the ceramic coatings. Plasma sprayed A1$_2$O$_3$-TiO$_2$ coating as the reference coating was sealed using three commercial sealants based on polymer. Penetration depth of the sealants to the ceramic coating was evaluated directly from the optical microscope using a fluorescent dye. It is estimated that the penetration depth of the sealants to the ceramic coating is from 0.2 to 0.5 mm depending on the sealants used. The preliminary test results with a DC puncture tester imply that the dielectric breakdown voltage mechanism of plasma sprayed ceramic coatings has been determined to be a corona mechanism. Dielectric breakdown voltage of the as-sprayed and as-ground samples have shown a linear trend with regard to the thickness showing an average dielectric strength of 20 kV/mm for the thickness scale studied. It is also shown that grinding the coating before sealing and adding fluorescent dye do not agent the penetration depth of sealants. All of the microhardness, two-body abrasive wear resistance, bond strength, and surface roughness of the ceramic coating after the sealing treatment are improved. The extent of improvement is different from the sealants used. However, three-point bending stress of the ceramic coating after the sealing treatment is decreased. This is attributed to the reduced micro-crack toughening effect since the cracks propagate easily through the lamellar of the coating without crack deflection and/or branching after the sealing treatment.

Effects of the aging treatments on the microstructure and strength of heat affected zone(HAZ) in the welds of a age-hardened Al-Mg-Si alloy, 5N01-T5, were investigated. The base metal aging treatments before MIG welding were conducted at 423K to 473K for 28.8ks Post weld heat treatment(PWHT) to recover the HAZ strength was performed at 448K for 28.8ks. Microstructure observations, hardness measurements and tensile tests were conducted to study properties of the MIG weld joints. The position of the softest region in HAZ where the hardness insufficiently recovered after natural aging and PWHT was at a distance of approximately 15mm from the center of the fusion zone. Hardness of the softest regions after natural aging and PWHT decreased with increase in the base metal aging temperature. TEM observation clarified that strengthening ${\beta}$"(Mg$_2$Si) precipitates and coarse ${\beta}$′ precipitates affected the hardnes of HAZ. Incomplete recover of hardness in HAZ after PWHT was caused by the precipitating of non-hardening ${\beta}$′ phase during the weld thermal cycle. In order to examine the effects of weldheat input and welding speed, the laser weld joints were also investigated and compared with the MIG weld ones. Laser welding had the narrower width of the softened regions in HAZ compared with MIG welding. The hardness of the softest regions of the laser welds after PWHT was higher than that of the MIG welds. Quantitative relations between hardness of the softest region and base metal aging temperature were obtained for both welding processes. Accordingly, the equations to estimate the strength of the weld joints after PWHT with varying base metal temperatures were proposed for MIG welding and laser welding.

An Al film deposited on the Kovar alloy substrate was anodically-bonded to the borosilicate glass, and the bond interfaces was closely investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Al oxide was found to form a layer ~l0 nm thick at the bond interface, and fibrous structure of the same oxide was found to grow epitaxially in the glass from the oxide layer. The fibrous structure grew with the bonding time. The mechanism of the formation of this fibrous structure is proposed on the basis of the migration of Al ions under the electric field. Penetration of Al into glass beyond the interfacial Al oxide was not detected. The comparison of the amount of excess oxygen ions generated in the alkali depletion layer with that incorporated in the Al oxide suggests that the growth of the alkali-ion depletion layer is controlled by the consumption of excess oxygen to form the interfacial Al oxide.

The penetration potential of TIG welding in one single run is limited, though the process itself generates high quality welds with good weld cosmetics. This is one of the main reasons, which has contributed to its development in high duty applications such as those encountered in aeronautical, aerospace, nuclear & power plant applications. For these applications, stainless steels, titanium k nickel based alloys are most often used. As these materials remain very sensible to weld heat input k atmospheric pollution, stringent processing conditions are imposed. For example welding of titanium alloys requires argon shielding of weld zone and for 5 mm thick plates multi-pass runs & filler additions are required. This multi-run operation not only raises the welding cost, but also increases defect risks. In recent years, extensive interest has been raised by the possibility to increase weld penetrations through flux applications & the process is designated ATIG-activated TIG, or FBTIG-flux bounded TIG. The improved welding performance of such flux assisted TIG is related to arc constriction and surface tension effects on weld pool. The research work by authors has lead to the formulation of welding fluxes for stainless steels k titanium alloys with TIG Process. These fluxes are now commercialized & some applications in industry have already been carried out. FBTIG for aluminum has been proposed with silica application for AC mode TIG welding. The paper highlights the fundamentals of flux role in TIG welding and illustrates some industrial applications.

The dramatic increase in the depth of a weld bead penetration has been demonstrated by welding a stainless steel in GTA (Gas-Tungsten-Arc) process with activating flux which consists of oxides and halides. However, there is no commonly agreed mechanism fer the effect of flux on the process. In order to make clear the mechanism, each behavior of the arc md the weld pool in GTA process with activating flux is observed in comparison with a conventional GTA process. A constricted anode root is shown in GTA process with the activating flux, whereas a diffuse anode root is shown in the conventional process. These anode roots are related strongly to metal vapor from the weld pool and the metal vapor is also related to temperature distributions on the weld pool surface. Furthermore, it is suggested that a balance between the Marangoni force and the drag force of the cathode jet should dominate the direction of re-circulatory flow in the weld pool. The electromagnetic force encourages the inward re-circulatory flow due to the constricted anode root in the case with flux. The difference in flow direction in the weld pool changes the geometry or depth/width ratio of weld bead penetration.

Simulation systems allow a close inspection of the relation between welding parameters and the resulting weld seam. These systems are very useful in education of weld staff as well as production and planning. In training the influence of variations of parameters can be investigated without the need for real welding experiments. In the design phase requirements of the welding process can be taken into account without several iteration cycles. By estimating a good parameter set for the given welding task the set up phase for a new production cycle can be reduced

A study of noticeable improvement in welding speed in thin-plate Type 304 stainless steels gas tungsten arc (GTA) welding was investigated. The welding speeds were increased to more than 3m/min, up to 8m/min. During the welding, Direct Current Straight Polarity (DCSP) and pulsed current GTA welding processes were carried out, respectively. The appropriate high speed welding parameters were established while achieving a high quality weld. After this, Erichsen test and tensile test were performed. The results obtained wert summarized as following: ultra high speed welding for thin-plate Type 304 could be satisfactorily welded with high speed from 3m/min to 8m/min in both DCSP and pulsed GTA welding; Increasing welding speed was found to decrease the ductility, tensile strength md elongation of welded joint; The optimal frequency would be 200Hz-500Hz for high speed welding in pulsed current welding; DCSP welding could obtain the better results of Erichsen test and tensile test than those of pulsed current welding obtained.

During the last years, great progress has been made in the fields of welding power sources and filler materials for the MIG-welding of magnesium alloys. This advice resulted in a better welding process, md, therefore, in highly improved welding results. Furthermore the gap between short-circuiting- and spray-arc-trunsfer could be closed by the triggered short-circuiting- and the short-circuiting-arc with pulse overlay. A crucial contribution to the welding process is the energy input into the filler material. Many problems result from the physical properties of magnesium, for instance its narrow interval between melting point 600$^{\circ}C$ and vaporization point 1100$^{\circ}C$. The energy input into the filler material has to be regulated in such a way that the wire will melt but not vaporize. For th is reason, special characteristics of power sources hue been examined and optimized with the help of high-speed-photographs of the welding process with particular consideration of the drop detachment. An important improvement of the weld seam profile has been achieved by using filler material of only 1.2 mm in diameter. The experiments hue been made with 2.5 mm thick extruded profiles of AZ31 and AZ6l. The results of tensile testing showed strength values of 80 to 100% of the base metal. B ending angles up to 60$^{\circ}$ have been reached. The fatigue strength under reversed bending of the examined magnesium alloys after welding reaches 50% of the strength of the base metal. When the seam reinforcement is ground of the fatigue strength can be raised up to 75% of the base metal.

Requirements to fabrication processes for arc welding of highly loaded thick-walled joint and problems of research and development in term s of the tendency for the modern aircraft structure development are outlined. A justified, choice of the development line of the new promising welding processes for solution of these problems is presented. A complex of new welding processes and technologies for making highly reliable joints with different thickness (up to 120 mm and more) and length of weld (up to 0.1 m; 0.1-0.5 m and more than 0.5 m) has bee developed. It is shown that the possibility to control the heat flow distribution over the groove surface of the welded joints provides for improved reliability. The new welding processes are equipment are effectively used in serial production of the Mykoyan md Sukhoi supersonic aircrafts as well as in AN-124 Ruslan and AN-225 Mriya wide body aircrafts.

Ferritic stainless steels would be the most important alloys under the chloride environment. They are a cheaper alternative to austenitic stainless steels [1]. The present study is related to gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) characteristics of Type 444 stainless steels. The heat of welding leads to grain coarsening in the HAZ and in the weld metal of ferritic stainless steels because they solidify directly from the liquid to the ferritc phase without any intermediate phase transformation. It is therefore recommended that these alloys be welded with a low heat input and at high welding speeds. Attempts to improve weldability were made by using of direct current straight polarity (DCSP) and pulsed current GTAW processes in this study. Measuring weld bead, grain size and Erichsen test were performed and the effects of heat input, pulse frequency on the weld metal and HAZ were studied. The main results were obtained as followings: decreasing heat input was effective to control the width of weld both in DCSP welding and in pulsed current welding; pulsed current welding was found to refine the grain size effectively and the finest grain size was found at the frequency of 150Hz in pulsed current welding; it was found that decreasing heat input also refine the HAZs effectively and the frequency had no different effect on HAZ at the same heat input; the ductility could be improved effectively in pulsed current welding.

The effect of out-of-plane loads on the fatigue strength of welded steel structures is examined through fatigue tests with weldment of two fillet weld joint types. The results of the fatigue tests are compared with those under axial loads, on the basis of the hot spot stress range at the weld toe. From the result of the comparison, a method on how to incorporate the effect of the out-of-plane bending stress is proposed using design S-N curves derived from fatigue tests under the axial load. The proposed method is useful for rational assessment of the fatigue strength of fillet-welded structures, where combined stresses of the in-plane axial stress and the out-of-plane bending stress are induced simultaneously due to the complexity of applied loads and structural geometry.

The railroad cars or the commercial vehicles are generally manufactured by the spot welding. Among various kinds of spot welded lap joints, multi-lap joints are one of popular joints in manufacturing their body structures. But, fatigue strength of these joints are lower than that of base metal due to high stress concentration at the nugget edge of the spot weld and are known to considerably be influenced by welding conditions as well as the mechanical and geometrical factors. Thus, it is necessary to establish a reasonable and systematic fatigue design criterion for spot welded multi-lap joints. In this paper, the $\Delta$P-N$_{f}$ curves has been rearranged in the $\Delta$$\sigma$-N$_{f}$ relation with the maximum stress at the nugget edge of spot welded multi-lap joints subjected to tensile shear load. Consequently, the fatigue data were evaluated in terms of fracture mechanics by plotting on the $\Delta$OP-N$_{f}$ curves. From the results obtained, both of them have been revealed to be applicable to fatigue design of spot welded multi-lap joints. However, the fracture mechanical approach is found to be more effective than the maximum stress approach in the range on N$_{f}$$\geq$2x10$^{5}$ . .

Recent deepwater offshore structures in Gulf of Mexico utilize butt welded tubular joints. Application of welded tubular joint includes tendons, production risers, and steel catenary risers. Fatigue life assessment of these joints becomes more critical because the structures to which they are attached are allowed to undergo cyclic and sometimes large displacements around an anchored position. Estimating the fatigue behavior of these tubular members in the design stage is generally conducted by using S-N curves specified in the codes and standards. Applying the stress concentration factor of the welded structure to S-N approach often results in very conservative assessment because the stress field acting on the tubular has a non-uniform distribution through the thickness. Fracture mechanics and fitness for service (FFS) technology have been applied in the design of the catenary risers. This technology enables the engineer to establish proper requirements on weld quality and inspection acceptance criteria to assure satisfactory structural integrity during its design life. It also provides guidance on proper design curves to be used and a methodology for accounting for the effects of non-uniform stress distribution through the wall thickness. An attempt was made to develop set of S-N curves based on fracture mechanics approach by considering non-uniform stress distribution and a threshold stress intensity factor. Series of S-N curves generated from this approach were compared to the existing S-N curves. For flat plate butt joint, the S-N curve generated from fracture mechanics matches with the IIW class 100 curve when initial crack depth was 0.5 mm (0.02"). Similar comparison with API X′ was made for tubular joint.. These initial crack depths are larger than the limits of inspection by current Non-destructive examination (NDE) means, such as Automatic Ultrasonic Inspection (AUT). Thus a safe approach can be taken by specifying acceptance criteria that are close to limits of sizing capability of the selected NDE method. The comparison illustrates conservatism built into the S-N design curve.

Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) was suspected in a corrosion failure of cooling system of stainless piping welded joint, carrying marine water. Marine water which is used for cooling water in a plant was transferred to the laboratory and used for experiment. In the first experiment, weld metal samples were exposed to the test solution for 56 days (marine water and sterilized marine water (control)). Surface condition of experimental coupons was observed using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). In another experiment, free corrosion potential of these material was monitored for 56 days. Pitting corrosion was found in the coupons exposed to marine water. Free corrosion potential ennoblement was found to be significant compared to control. It was suspected that this corrosion case was MIC. In the second experiment, coupons were exposed to diluted nutrient medium containing single culture of microbes isolated from the MIC causing marine water sample used for the first experiment. After exposure test, surface condition of experimental coupon was observed using SEM. Pitting corrosion was found in coupons exposed to some of the isolates. The results indicate that they contribute to the corrosive effect of the SUS316L welds.

Ti-50.9at%Ni wires were welded using pulsed YAG laser. The laser welded wires were tested for investigating the shape memo교 effect and the ability of super elasticity. The fatigue properties of the welded wires were investigated using the rotary bending fatigue tester specially designed for wires. Moreover, the effect of defocusing distance during laser welding on the static and fatigue properties was investigated. The shape memory effect and super elasticity of the laser welded wires were approximately identical with that of base metal at the test temperature below 353K. However, the welded wires were broken within elastic limit at the test temperature above 353k. Under the cyclic bending loading conditions, the welded wires could be useful only below the elastic limit, while the base metal had sufficient fatigue life even the stress induced M-phase region. The fatigue strength of the welded wires was about half of that of the base metal. The deterioration of the static and fatigue properties in the welded wires was proven to be from the large difference of the transformation behavior between the base metal and welded part that is caused by vaporization of Ni-content at the welded part during the welding process. The defocusing distance below 3mm acted more largely on lowering the strength of the welded wires than that of 6mm or 8mm.

It has been well known that ductile fracture of steels is accelerated by triaxial stresses. The characteristics of ductile crack initiation in steels are evaluated quantitatively using two-parameters criterion based on equivalent plastic strain and stress triaxiality. It has been demonstrated by authors using round-bar specimens with circumferential notch in single tension that the critical strain to initiate ductile crack from specimen center depends considerably on stress triaxiality, but surface cracking of notch root is in accordance with constant strain condition. In order to evaluate the stress/strain state in the specimens, especially under dynamic loading, a thermal, elastic-plastic, dynamic finite element (FE) analysis considering the temperature rise due to plastic deformation has been carried out. This study provides the fundamental clarification of the effect of strength mismatching, which can elevate plastic constraint due to heterogeneous plastic straining, loading mode and loading rate on critical condition to initiate ductile crack from notch root using equivalent plastic strain and stress triaxiality based on the two-parameter criterion obtained on homogeneous specimens under static tension. The critical condition to initiate ductile crack from notch root for strength mismatched bend specimens under both static and dynamic loading would be almost the same as that for homogeneous tensile specimens with circumferential sharp notch under static loading.

In GMA(Gas Metal Arc)Welding, the weld size that is a locally melted area of a workpiece is one of the most important considerations in determining the strength of a welded structure. Variations in the weld power and the welding heat flux may affect the weld pool formation and ultimately the size of the weld. Therefore, an accurate prediction of the weld size requires a precise analysis of the weld thermal cycle. In this study, a model which can estimate the weld bead geometry and a method for thermal analysis, including the model, are suggested. In order to analyze the weld bead geometry, a mathematical model was developed with transformed coordinates to apply to the horizontal fillet joints. A heat flow analysis was performed with a two dimensional finite element model that was adopted for computing the base metal melting zone. The reliability of the proposed model and the thermal analysis was evaluated through experiments, and the results showed that the proposed model was very effective for predicting the weld bead shape and good correspondence in melting zone of the base metal.

It depends on the joint configuration, dimensions and constraints on the joint whether the residual stress at the root of single-sided butt weld is tensile or not. Therefore, recommendation is generally made that high R ratio should be used in the fatigue test of this type of joint in order to prevent excessively long life caused by compressive residual stress. in this research, the residual stress profile in butt weld joint was obtained through compliance method, using successive extension of a slot and measurement of the variation of strain during the slot extension. The residual stress profile was firstly assumed to be the linear summation of Legendre polynomials up to 9th order excluding 0th and 1st order. Strain variation on the surface was measured while the slot was being extended by cutting to find out the 8 unknown coefficients of each polynomial tenn. The cut was made by the electric discharge machine. It was concluded that the residual stress near the surface stayed positive, however, it turned into the negative value as soon as it passed through 2 or 3 mm depth. Several fatigue tests were also carried out under zero stress ratio. Test results showed that fatigue life coincides well with the design cuive of butt joint in British Standards, which supports that it is tensile residual stress that exists near the weld root.

Hybrid Welding means the coupling of the energy of two different energy sources in a common process zone. This paper describes prospects in laser-arc-hybrid-welding. Different kinds of lasers ($CO_2$ laser and Nd:YAG laser) and arc processes (TIG, Plasma and GMA) are considered.

World demand for natural gas has generated the need for many new land transmission pipelines to be installed in the next decade or so. Although mechanized gas metal arc welding is well developed, there are opportunities for cost savings by using alternative welding processes. Hybrid Nd:YAG laser - gas metal arc welding enables fibre optic delivery of the laser energy to a robotic welding head to be combined with the addition of extra energy and a consumable to produce good quality, deep penetration welds in a single pass. The present paper describes initial procedure development to optimize the laser and gas metal arc welding parameters for making joints in pipeline steel. Satisfactory joint quality was obtained and it is intended to develop the process to prototype field trials.

During the last two decades the laser beam has progressed from a sophisticated laboratory apparatus to an adaptable and viable industrial tool. Especially, in its welding mode, the laser offers high travel speed, low distortion, and narrow fusion and heat-affected zones (HAZ). The principal obstacle to selection of a laser processing method in production is its relatively high equipment cost and the natural unwillingness of production supervision to try something new until it is thoroughly proven. The major objective of this work is focused on the combined features of gas tungsten arc and a low-power cold laser beam. Although high-power laser beams have been combined with the plasma from a gas tungsten arc (GTA) torch for use in welding as early as 1980, recent work at the Ohio State University has employed a low power laser beam to initiate, direct, and concentrate a gas tungsten arcs. In this work, the laser beam from a 7 watts carbon monoxide laser was combined with electrical discharges from a short-pulsed capacitive discharge GTA welding power supply. When the low power CO laser beam passes through a special composition shielding gas, the CO molecules in the gas absorbs the radiation, and ionizes through a process known as non-equilibrium, vibration-vibration pumping. The resulting laser-induced plasma (LIP) was positioned between various configurations of electrodes. The high-voltage impulse applied to the electrodes forced rapid electrical breakdown between the electrodes. Electrical discharges between tungsten electrodes and aluminum sheet specimens followed the ionized path provided by LIP. The result was well focused melted spots.

Laser welding application for car body manufacturing has many advantages in the stiffness and the lightness of vehicle, the productivity of assembly line, and the degree of freedom in design. This presentation will express the innovation of car body manufacturing including parameter optimization, process modeling, and system integration. In this application the investment for systems was cut down dramatically by real time switching over the laser path between two welding stations. Points of technical discussion are as follows: optimization of parameters such as laser power, robot speed and trajectory, compact and useful design of jig & fixture to assure welding quality for 3 sheet-layer zinc-coated steel, system integration between 4kW Nd:YAG laser device and the other systems, on-line real time welding quality monitoring system, perfect safety standards for high power laser, minimization of consumption costs such as arc lamp, protective glass for optic, etc. Laser welding has found a place on Hyundai's production plant in conjunction with the startup of mass production of new sports car, and this production system is the result of a collaboration of its engineers. Outer side sheets are joined to inner side sheets by 122 stitch welds totally. And the length is about 2.4meter.

Applicability of laser micro welding process to the fabrication of medical devices was investigated. Austenitic stainless steel wire (SUS304) was spot melted and crosswise welded, which is one of the most possible welding process for the fabrication of medical devices, by using a Nd-YAG laser. Effects of welding parameters on the microstructure, tensile strength and corrosion resistance were discussed. In the spot melting, melted metal width decreased with decreasing the input energy and pulse duration. Controlling the laser wave to reduce laser noise which occurred in the early stage of laser irradiation made reasonable welding condition wider in the welding condition of small pulse duration such as 2ms. The microstructure of the melted metal was a cellular dendrite structure and the cell size of the weld metal was about 0.5~3.5 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. Tensile strength increased with the decrease of the melted metal width and reached to a maximum about 660MPa, which is comparable with that for the tempered base metal. Even by immersion test at 318K for 3600ks in quasi biological environment (0.9% NaCl), microstructure of the melted metal and tensile strength hardly changed from those for as melted material. In the crosswise welding, joints morphologies were classified into 3 types by the melting state of lower wire. Fracture load increased with input energy and melted area of lower wire, and reached to a maximum about 80N. However, when input energy was further increased and lower wire was fully melted, fracture load decreased due to the burn out of weld metal.

In 1his paper, applicability of laser welding to joining process of single crystal nickel base superalloy turbine blades was investigated. Because heat input of laser welding is more precisely controlled 1han TIG welding, it is possible to optimize solidification microstructure of the welds. Since in single crystal nickel base superalloy the crystal orientation have a significant effect on the strength, it is important to control the solidification microstructure in the fusion zone. A single crystal nickel base supera1loy, CMSX-4, plates were bead-on welded and butt welded using a $CO_2$ laser. The effects of microstructure and crystal orientation on properties of the weld joints were investigated. In bead-on weldling, welding directions were deviated from the base metal [100] direction by 0, 5, 15 and 30 degrees. The welds with deviation angles of 15 and 30 degrees showed fusion zone transverse cracks. As the deviation angles became larger, the fusion zone had more cracking. In the cross section microstructure, the fusion zone grains in 0 and 5 degrees welds grew epitaxially from the base metal spins except for the bead neck regions. The grains in the bead neck regions contained stray crystals. As deviation angles increased, number of the stray crystals increased. In butt welding, the declinations of the crystal orientation of the two base metals varied 0, 5 and 10 degrees. All beads had no cracks. In the 5 degrees bead, the cross section and surface microstructures showed that the fusion zone grains grew epitaxially from the base metal grains. However, the 10 degrees bead, the bead cross section and surface contained the stray crystals in the center of the welds. Orientations of the stray crystals accorded with the heat flow directions in the weld pool. When the welding direction was deviated from the base metal [100] direction, cracks appeared in the area including the stray crystals. The cracks developed along the grain boundaries of the stray crystals with high angles in the final solidification regions at the center of the welds. The fracture surfaces were covered with liquid film. The cracks, therefore, found to be solidification cracks due to the presence of low melting eutectic. As the results, in both bead-on welding and butt welding the deviation angles should be control within 5 degrees for preventing the fusion zone cracks. To investigate the mechanical properties of the weld joints, high temperature tensile tests for bead-on welds with deviation angles of 0 and 5 degrees and the butt welds with dec1ination angles of 0, 5 and 10 degrees were conducted at 1123K. The the tensile strength of all weld joints were more 1han 800MPa that is almost 80% of the tensile strength of the base metal. The strength of the laser weld joints were more than twice that of tue TIG weld joints with a filler metal of Inconel 625. The results reveals 1hat laser welding is more effective joining process for single crystal nickelbase superalloy turbine blades 1han TIG welding.

Extensive investigations on cast to cast variations observed in steels have underlined the role of thermocapillary or surface tension driven fluid flow in welding operations. The behavior of weld pool under the electric arc is however affected by possible arc modifications linked to microchemistry variations in materials & this limits to some extent the real contribution from surface tension effects. Thus, electron beam welding with high vacuum was used to investigate thermo-capillary effects on thin austenitic stainless steels & nickel based alloys. The weld pool was monitored by video observations to estimate the importance of fluid flow during the melting & solidification phase. The results underline the importance of fluid flow on [mal solidification.

This article presents an integrated modeling approach for coupled analysis of heat transfer and microstructure evolution in welding carbon steel. The modeling procedure utilizes commercial [mite element code ABAQUS/Standard as the platform for solving the equation of heat conduction. User subroutines that implement computational thermodynamics and kinetics models are integrated with the FEA code to compute the transient microstructure evolution. In this study, the integrated models are applied to simulate the hot-tap repair welding of carbon steel pipeline. Microstructural components are treated as user output variables. Based on the predicted microstructure and cooling rates, hardness distributions in the welds were also predicted. The predicted microstructure and hardness distribution were found in good agreement with metallographic examinations and hardness measurements. This study demonstrates the applicability of computational models for the development of welding procedure for in-service pipeline repair.

To investigate transition region in welded overlay relating to disbonding crack, the effect of vanadium addition on disbonding of Cr-Mo steels overlay welded with austenitic stainless steel was studied. V modified Cr-Mo steels have a higher resistance to disbonding than V free Cr-Mo steel. One reason is due to the fact that fine vanadium carbide precipated in base metal traps hydrogen and thus decreases the susceptibility to the disbonding. The second is related to the higher stability of the vanadium and stable carbides formed during PWHT, in which the carbon diffusion to the interface is lower than for V free Cr-Mo steel. Decreasing the carbon content at the interface of the weld overlay shows good resistance to the disbonding. Hence, it is important to control the carbon content at the interface of the weld overlay.

In the coarse grain HAZ adjacent to the fusion line, most of the TiN particles in conventional Ti added steel are dissolved and austenite grain growth is easily occupied during welding process. To avoid this difficulty, thermal stability of TiN particle is improved by increasing the nitrogen content in steel. In this study, the effect of high nitrogen TiN particle on preventing austenite grain growth in HAZ was investigated. Increased thermal stability of TiN particle is helpful for preventing the austenite grain growth by pinning effect. High nitrogen TiN particle in simulated HAZ were not dissolved even at high temperature such as 1400 C and prevented the austenite grain growth in simulated HAZ. Owing to small austenite grain size in HAZ the width of coarse grain HAZ in high nitrogen TiN steel was decreased to 1/10 of conventional TiN steel. Even high heat input welding, the microstructure of coarse grain HAZ consisted of fine polygonal ferrite and pearlite and toughness of coarse grain HAZ was significantly improved.

A comparison of the welding performance of ship hull structural steels has been made. The weldability of steels especially designed for laser processing was compared to that of conventional hull and structural steels with plate thicknesses up to 12 mm. Autogenous laser beam welding was used to weld butt joints as well as skid and stake welded T-joints. The welds were assessed in accordance with the document "The Classification Societies′ Requirements for Approval of $CO_2$ Laser Welding Procedures". Small imperfections in the weld only grew slightly in root bend tests and they only had a minor influence on the fatigue properties of laser fillet welded joints. In Charpy impact tests, the 27 J transition temperature of the weld metal and HAZ ranged from below -60 to -5$0^{\circ}C$. The amount of martensite in the weld metal depended on the carbon equivalent of the steel with the highest amounts and highest hardness levels in conventional EH 36 (389 HV 5). Thermomechanically rolled steels contained less martensite and showed a correspondingly lower maximum hardness.

The variation of HAZ toughness with nitrogen content and weld cooling rate was investigated and interpreted in terms of both microstructure and the amount of free nitrogen. The presence of free nitrogen in HAZ was investigated by internal friction measurement and its amount was measured by hydrogen hot extraction analysis. Both nitrogen content and weld cooling rate influenced HAZ microstructure and high toughness was obtained at a mixed microstructure of acicular ferrite, feffite sideplate and polygonal ferrite. If nitrogen content is too low or cooling rate is too fast, bainitic microstructure is obtained and toughness is low. On the other hand, if nitrogen content is too high or cooling rate is too slow, coarse polygonal ferritic microstructure is obtained and toughness is deteriorated again. ill addition to the microstructural change, high nitrogen content also resulted in a large amount of free nitrogen. Therefore, nitrogen content should be kept as low as possible even if the mixed micostructure is obtained. In this experimental condition, the maximum toughness was obtained at 0.006% nitrogen content when weld cooling time ($\Delta$t$_{8}$5/)) is 60s.TEX>5/)) is 60s.

Ni-base superalloys are used extensively in industry, both in aeroengines and land based turbines. About 60% by weight of most modern gas turbine engine structural components are made of Ni-base superalloys. To satisfy practical demands, the efficiency of gas turbine engines has been steadily and systematically increased by design modifications to handle higher turbine inlet or firing temperatures. However, the increase in operating temperatures has lead to a decrease in the life of components and increase in costs of replacement. Moreover, around 80% of the large frame size industrial/utility gas turbines operating in the world today were installed in the mid-sixties to early seventies and are now 25 to 30 years old. Consequently, there are greater opportunities now to repair and refurbish the older models. Basically, there are two major factors influencing the weldability of the cast alloys: strain-age cracking and liquation cracking. Susceptibility to strain-age cracking is due to the total Ti plus AI content of the alloy; Liquation cracking is due either to the presence of low melting constituents or constitutional liquation of constituents. Though Rene 41 superalloy has 4.5wt.% total Ti and Al content and falls just below the safe limit proposed by Prager et al., controlled grain size and special heat treatments are needed to obtain crack-free welds. Varying heat treatments and filler materials were used in a laboratory study, then the actual welding of service parts was carried out to verity the possibility of crack-tree weld of components fabricated from Rene 41 superalloy. The microstructural observations indicated that there were two kinds of carbides in the FCC matrix. MC carbides were located along the grain boundaries, while M$_{23}$C$_{6}$ carbide was located both inter and intra granularly. Two kinds of filler materials, Rene 41 and Hastelloy X were used to gas tungsten arc weld a patch into the sheet metal, along with varying pre-weld heat treatments. The microstructure, hardness and tensile tests were determined. The service distressed parts were categorized into three classes: with large cracks, with medium cracks and with small or no visible cracks. No significant difference in microstructure among the specimens was observed. Specimens were cut from the corner and the straight edge of the patch repair, away from the corner. The only cracks present were found to be associated with inadequate surface preparation to remove oxidation. Guidelines for oxide removal and the welding procedures developed in the research enabled crack-free welds to be produced.d.

The purpose of this study is to develope the prediction method of liquation crack initiation in HAZ of laser weldment. Thermal two dimensional strain analyses were performed by FEM for bead-on-plate welding in order to obtain the plastic strain at elevated temperature in HAZ of the laser weldment. From these results, it became clear that the plastic strain at elevated temperature affected liquation crack initiation in HAZ, and it could be proposed that the critical strain, which controlled liquation crack initiation, existed. Moreover, an attempt was made to develop thermal and dynamic three dimensional strain analysis method for the laser weldment in order to obtain the plastic strain at elevated temperature in HAZ of the laser weldment in more detail and precisely.

Intergranular corrosion of austenitic stainless steels is a conventional and momentous problem during welding and high temperature use. One of the major reasons for such intergranular corrosion is so-called sensitization, i.e., chromium depletion due to chromium carbide precipitation at grain boundaries. Conventional methods for preventing sensitization of austenitic stainless steels include reduction of carbon content in the material, stabilization of carbon atoms as non-chromium carbides by the addition of titanium, niobium or zirconium, local solution-heat-treatment by laser beam, etc. These methods, however, are not without drawbacks. Recent grain boundary structure studies have demonstrated that grain boundary phenomena strongly depend on the crystallographic nature and atomic structure of the grain boundary, and that grain boundaries with coincidence site lattices are immune to intergranular corrosion. The concept of "grain boundary design and control", which involves a desirable grain boundary character distribution, has been developed as grain boundary engineering. The feasibility of grain boundary engineering has been demonstrated mainly by thermomechanical treatments. In the present study, a thermomechanical treatment was tried to improve the resistance to the sensitization by grain boundary engineering. A type 304 austenitic stainless steel was pre-strained and heat-treated, and then sensitized, varying the parameters (pre-strain, temperature, time, etc.) during the thermomechanical treatment. The grain boundary character distribution was examined by orientation imaging microscopy. The intergranular corrosion resistance was evaluated by electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation and ferric sulfate-sulfuric acid tests. The sensitivity to intergranular corrosion was reduced by the thermomechanical treatment and indicated a minimum at a small roll-reduction. The frequency of coincidence-site-lattice boundaries indicated a maximum at a small strain. The ferric sulfate-sulfuric acid test showed much smaller corrosion rate in the thermomechanically-treated specimen than in the base material. An excellent intergranular corrosion resistance was obtained by a small strain annealing at a relatively low temperature for long time. The optimum parameters created a uniform distribution of a high frequency of coincidence site lattice boundaries in the specimen where corrosive random boundaries were isolated. The results suggest that the thermomechanical treatment can introduce low energy segments in the grain boundary network by annealing twins and can arrest the percolation of intergranular corrosion from the surface.

VIRGO 104 is a low carbon martensitic stainless steel that is applied to the famous Three Gorges Project. By using VOD melting process VIRGO 104 has low carbon and [H] [O] contents, and shows excellent mechanical properties and weldability. The best solution to guarantee welding quality is PWHT by 600 Cx8h.

Microbiologically influenced Corrosion (MIC) is one of the most deleterious effects of metal microbe interactions. When a fresh metal surface comes in contact with a non-sterile fluid, biofilm formation is ensued. This might result in the initiation of corrosion. The sites and materials where MIC is implicated are versatile. Industries such as shipping, power generation, chemical etc are reported to be affected. The rapid and unexpected failure of AISI type 304 stainless steel was investigated in the laboratory by simulation studies for a period of 4 months. Slime and water samples from the failure site were screened for corrosion causing bacteria. Both aerobic and anaerobic nora were enumerated and identified using PCR techniques. Pseudomonas sp. and Bacillus sp. were the most common aerobic bacteria isolated from the water and slime samples, whilst sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) were the major anaerobic bacteria. The aerobic bacteria were used for the corrosion experiments in the laboratory. Coupon exposure studies were conducted using a very dilute (0.1%V/V) nutrient broth medium. The coupons after retrieval were observed under a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) for the presence of MIC pits. Compared to sterile controls, metal coupons exposed to Pseudomonas sp and Bacillus sp. showed the initiation of severe pitting corrosion. However, amongst these two strains, Psudomonas sp. caused pits in a very short span of 14 days. Towards the end of the experiment, severe pitting was observed in both the cases. The detailed observation of pits showed they vary both in number and shapes. Whilst the coupons exposed to Bacillus sp. showed widely spread scales like pits, those exposed to Pseudomonas sp. showed smaller and circular pits, which had grown in number and size by the end of the experiment. From these results it is inferred that the rapid and unexpected failure of 304 SS might be due to MIC. Pseudonwnas sp. could be considered as the major responsible bacteria that could initiate pits in the metallic structures. As the appearance of pits was different in both the tested strains, it was thought that the mechanisms of pit formation are different. Experiments on these lines are being continued.

This study reviews the factors controlling the weld metal cracking and shows the difference from those of HAZ cracking. It further reviews the recent progresses made in consumable design for improving the crack resistance in the high strength weld metal. Previously the controlling factors for weld metal cracking were regarded as weld metal strength, diffusible hydrogen and weld metal height. However an overall review presented in this article shows that the cold crack resistance can be improve significantly through the microstructural control and that an increase in tensile strength is not necessarily related to a decrease in the resistance to cold cracking.

The effect of post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) of marine structures steel was investigated at electrochemical viewpoint. In addition, slow strain rate test (SSRT) was carried out to investigate both electrochemical and mechanical properties by PWHT effect during impressed current cathodic protection. The optimum cathodic protection potential by SSRT was -770 mV(SCE). At the applied cathodic protection potential of -770 mV -850 mV(SCE), the fracture morphology was dimple pattern with ductile fracture, while it was transgranular pattern (Q.C: quasi cleavage) under -875 mV(SCE).

A metallurgical model for bainite transformation kinetics in the coarse-grained heat affected zone(CGHAZ) on the basis of an Avrami-type equation was studied. Isothermal transformation tests were carried out to obtain the empirical equations for incubation time and Avrami kinetic constants for C-Mn-Mo-Ni steel. The effect of prior austenite grain size(PAGS) on the reaction rate of bainite was also investigated. Compared with experimental transformation behavior of bainite, the predicted behavior was in good agreement. It was also found that a smaller grain size retard the bainite reaction rate, contrary to the classical grain size effect and this is considered to be caused by constraint of grain size to bainite growth.

A new on-line bar joining technology employing the concept of a solid-state joining has been developed for the endless rolling by POSCO, RIST and MHMM Inc.. In the process, the bars are partially descaled, partially overlapped, joined by shearing action and crops are finally removed. The feasibility of the developed process was evaluated in this study in terms of microstructures and mechanical properties of joints, and the response of the joint to rolling.

This paper presents first results of an interdisciplinary research project for the development of an "intelligent" welding helmet. Contrary to conventional welding helmets the system allows a detailed observation both of the welding process and the environment. By methods of virtual and augmented reality additional information can be supplied to the welder. The system can be used for welding preparation, welding process observation and quality assurance.

In this paper, an intelligent system to determine welding parameters for each pass and welding position in pipeline welding based on one database and FEM model, two BP neural network models and a C-NN model was developed and validated. The preliminary test of the system has indicated that the developed system could determine welding parameters for pipeline welding quickly, from which good weldments can be produced without experienced welding personnel. Experiments using the predicted welding parameters from the developed system proved the feasibility of interface standards and intelligent control technology to increase productivity, improve quality, and reduce the cost of system integration.

This paper presents the use of the neural network technology to establish a mathematical model for predicting bead geometry (top-bead width, top-bead height, back-bead width and back-bead height) for multi-pass welding, and understand relationships between process parameters and bead geometry for robotic GMA welding process. Using a series of robotic arc welding, additional multi-pass butt welds were carried out in order to verify the performance of the developed neural network model. The results show that not only the proposed model can predict the bead geometry with reasonable accuracy and guarantee the uniform weld quality, but also the neural network model could be better than the linear and curvilin ear equations developed from Lee [8].

This paper describes a weld pool monitoring technique, which is based on the weld pool image analysis. The proposed image analysis algorithm uses machine vision techniques to extract geometrical information from the weld pool image such as maximum weld pool width, gap width and misalignment between the joint longitudinal axis and the welding wire. These can be related to the welding parameters (welding voltage and current, wire feed speed and standoff) to produce control actions necessary to ensure that the required weld quality will be achieved. The experiments have shown that the algorithm is able to produce good estimates of the weld pool geometry; however, the adjustment of the camera parameters affects the image quality and, consequently, has a great influence over the estimation.

The Automation and Control Group at the University of Brasilia is developing an automatic welding station based on an industrial robot and a controllable welding machine. Several techniques were applied in order to improve the quality of the welding joints. This paper deals with the implementation of a laser-based computer vision system to guide the robotic manipulator during the welding process. Currently the robot is taught to follow a prescribed trajectory which is recorded a repeated over and over relying on the repeatability specification from the robot manufacturer. The objective of the computer vision system is monitoring the actual trajectory followed by the welding torch and to evaluate deviations from the desired trajectory. The position errors then being transfer to a control algorithm in order to actuate the robotic manipulator and cancel the trajectory errors. The computer vision systems consists of a CCD camera attached to the welding torch, a laser emitting diode circuit, a PC computer-based frame grabber card, and a computer vision algorithm. The laser circuit establishes a sharp luminous reference line which images are captured through the video camera. The raw image data is then digitized and stored in the frame grabber card for further processing using specifically written algorithms. These image-processing algorithms give the actual welding path, the relative position between the pieces and the required corrections. Two case studies are considered: the first is the joining of two flat metal pieces; and the second is concerned with joining a cylindrical-shape piece to a flat surface. An implementation of this computer vision system using parallel computer processing is being studied.

This paper presents a new generation of system for pressure vessel and shipbuilding. Typical pressure vessel and ship building weld joint preparations are either traditional V, butt, fillet grooves or have narrow or semi narrow gap profiles. The fillet and U groove are prevalently used in heavy industries and shipbuilding to melt and join the parts. Since the wall thickness can be up to 6" or greater, welds must be made in many layers, each layer containing several passes. However, the welding time for the conventional processes such as SAW(Submerged Arc Welding) and FCAW(Flux Cored Arc Welding) can be many hours. Although SAW and FCAW are normally a mechanized process, pressure vessel and ship structures welding up to now have usually been controlled by a full time operator. The operator has typically been responsible for positioning each individual weld run, for setting weld process parameters, for maintaining flux and wire levels, for removing slag and so on. The aim of the system is to develop a high speed welding system with multitorch for increasing the production speed on the line and to remove the need for the operator so that the system can run automatically for the complete multi-torch multi-layer weld. To achieve this, a laser vision sensor, a rotating torch and an image processing algorithm have been made. Also, the multitorch welding system can be applicable for the fine grained steel because of the high welding speed and lower heat input compare to a conventional welding process.

Generally, the laser vision sensor makes it possible design a highly reliable and precise range sensor at a low cost. When the laser vision sensor is applied to lap joint welding, however, there are many limitations. Therefore, a specially-designed hardware system has to be used. However, if the multi-lines are used instead of a single line, multi-range data can be generated from one image. Even under a set condition of 30fps, the generated 2D range data increases depending on the number of lines used. In this study, a laser vision sensor with a multi-line pattern is

Resistance spot welding is one of the most widely used processes in sheet metal fabrication. Quality assurance of welding has been important to increase the productivity. In this study, weld quality estimation using primary circuit dynamic resistance applied to the in-process real-time systems. For quality estimation, factors relating to quality were extracted from the dynamic resistance, measured in the timer. The relationship between these factors and weld quality was determined through a artificial neural network model. This method has the advantage over the conventional one, such as obtaining the quality information without the use of extra devices.

Recent developments in sensor hardware and in advanced software have made it feasible to consider automating some of the most difficult welding operations. This paper describes some techniques used to automate successfully multipass submerged arc welding operations typically used in pressure vessel manufacture, shipbuilding, production of offshore structures and in pipe mills.

The welding technology for production of power plant facility as for other industries has been progressing forward automation and mechanization for cost reduction and shortening of cycle time. The welding for boiler tube is automated or mechanized as the parts and subassemblies of tubes are conveyed automatically in the shop. The temperature of boiler stearn is being progressively increased for higher plant efficiency. The welding of nuclear component is characterized by heavy thickness and narrow gap Submerged Arc Welding. Narrow gap Gas Metal Arc Welding and Electron Beam Welding is applied to turbine diaphragm. To improve the resistance of solid particle erosion of turbine blade and nozzle partition, HVOF spray technology and boriding process has been applied.

Stud penetrate welding is an important item of composite floor in modern steel structure, especially in high-rise buildings. But it is difficult to get satisfied welding quality due to all kinds of factors. In this paper, the author put forward a new welding procedure named method of energy control through analysis and comparison of the wave curves of stud welding based on large amount of experiments and tests in laboratory and construction areas. The use of this welding procedure in some large engineering in recent years proved that this method is effective and practicable

ElectroSlag Strip Overlaying (ESSO) process has been around since 1970. ESSO process had limited acceptance due to a few problems associated with the use of this process in its very early stage. Limited knowledge and, most significantly, poor quality of the equipment and welding flux gave the ESSO process a bad name. However, this process is well accepted today and used in North America, Europe and Japan. The ESSO process provides low dilution overlays at high deposition rates, excellent and consistent deposit chemistry with excellent surface quality, and virtually no defects. Capitan has taken this process one step further through extensive research and development of the process itself as well as the equipment. The improvement brought to the process warranted the issuance in May 2000 of an US patent. This study demonstrates the feasibility of this process with immediate positive production results. The main achievements of this work are as follows: $\textbullet$ Development of six various strip-flux combinations on three different base materials: carbon steel, $\frac{1}{4}$ Cr/.5 Mo and 2 $\frac{1}{4}$ Cr/l Mo, fully tested with: penetrant, ultrasound, bends, hardness, overlay chemistry, corrosion and hydrogen disbonding. $\textbullet$ 12" dia. 90 hot formed elbows from straight pipe electroslag overlayed with "1 layer" and "2 layer" Alloy 625 $\textbullet$ a very unique development of miniaturized overlaying equipment able to perform overlay in pipe with diameters as low as 10" (254 mm). This development has large applications in the field of offshore, petrochemical, refining, pulp and paper and power generation industries. The aftermath of this development was its immediate acceptance by major end users with the completion of four projects of overlayed pipe in the USA and Far East Asia.

Advancements in silicon phase control (SCR) technologies provide an arc welding power supply that has the capability to allow the alteration of the Alternating Current (AC) welding output. These technologies provide a square wave output involving sixteen frequency selections and multiple balance selections. While an AC out put is known to minimize magnetic disturbances associate with Direct Current (DC), the potentials of a non-sinusoidal waveform have not been explored. The focus of the paper is to determine the effects that the frequency and balance of an AC wave form output will have upon a high speed Submerge Arc (SAW) application. The test matrix of the project includes welding .250" steel plate. Joint type is square groove with a travel speed of 65 IPM. Each of the weld parameters was held constant, only the frequency and/or balance were altered between welds. Each frequency/balance combination involved three-gap spacing. Upon completion of the welds the bead profiles were measured and recorded. A relationships/trends were observed with various frequency and balance values. Optimum frequency and balance values were found for the .250" square groove application which permit consistent weld sizing, ease of slag removal, and minimal plate distortion.

Because of the environmental problems, automotive companies are trying to reduce the weight of car body. Therefore, TRIP(TRansformation Induced Plasticity) steels, which have high strength and ductility have been developed. Welding process is a complex process; therefore deciding the optimal welding conditions on the basis of experimental data is an effective method. However, trial-and-error method to decide the optimal conditions requires too many experiments. To overcome these problems, response surface methodology was used. Response surface methodology is a collection of mathematical and statistical techniques that are used in the modeling and analysis of problems in which a response of interest is influenced by several variables and the objective is to optimize this response. This method was applied to the resistance spot welding process of the TRIP steel to optimize the welding parameters.

Residual stress by welding should be reduced because that decreases the reliability on strength of welded structure. The reason is that the total stiffness of structure decreases by non-linear behavior of weldment under external load. The release of residual stress by mechanical loading and unloading is often performed in the fabrication of box structure for steel bridge. The proper degree of loading and unloading is significant at release method of residual stress by mechanical loading because that degree is changed by material and geometric shape of welded structure. Therefore, the simulation model that could exactly analyze the release of residual stress by mechanical loading is to be necessary. This simulation model should be established on the based of variable and accurate measurement data. In this study, the non-linear behavior of weldments under external loading and unloading, such as the decrease and increase of structure stiffness, was investigated by monitoring of nominal stress and strain. Tensile loading and unloading test under variable load was performed and the proper degree of stress relaxation was measured by sectioning technique using strain gauge.

In previous study, the decrease and recovery of total stiffness in welded structure was discussed on the basis of experimental examination through tensile loading and unloading test of welded specimen. The recovery of structure stiffness was caused by the release of welding residual stress through mechanical loading. In this study, analysis model that is indispensable for the effective application of MSR method was established on the basis of test and measurement result. Thermal elasto-plastic analysis for welding process was performed by non-coupled analysis. Analysis results of welding process were transfer to elasto-plastic model for tensile loading & unloading by restart technique. In elasto-plastic analysis model for mechanical loading & unloading, hardening appearance of weld metal was considered by rezoning technique and tying technique was used for JIG condition of test machine.

This study was aimed to evaluate the weldability and optimize the welding conditions for flash butt welding of 780MPa grade steel applied to the automotive bumper reinforcement. And then the relationship between the welding conditions and the joint performance relating specifically to coil-joining steel would be established. The effect of welding conditions between flashing and upsetting process was elucidated. Microstructure observation of the joint indicated that the decarburized band was mainly changed with upsetting process. Width of HAZ was also related to the upsetting conditions rather than the flashing conditions. Generally maximum hardness at HAZ was correlated with $C_{eq}$ of steel and the empirical relationship was obtained to estimate the HAZ properties. Tensile elongation at the joint was usually decreased with increasing the initial clamping distance. Investigation of fracture surface after tensile and bending tests reveal that the origin of cracking at the joint was oxide inclusions composed of $SiO_2$, MnO, $Al_2$ $O_3$, and/or FeO. The amount of inclusions was dependent on the composition ratio of Mn/Si in steel. If this ratio was above 4, the amount of inclusions was low and then the resistance to cracking at the joint was enough to maintain the joint performance. It was obtained that the flashing process influenced the conditions for the energy input to establish uniform or non-uniform molten layer, while the upsetting conditions influenced the joint strength. Heat input variable during flashing process was also discussed with the joint properties.

The experimental and numerical study has been conducted on the sleeve repair welding of API 5L X65 pipeline. SMA W and GTAW were applied to weld the sleeve. The macrostructure and hardness of repair welds have been examined. The [mite element analysis of the multi-pass sleeve-fillet welding has been conducted to validate the experiment and investigate the effects of in-service welding conditions. The effect of gas flow rate on the hydrogen cracking was investigated. The effect of internal pressure on residual stresses and plastic strain was investigated. The allowable heat input was predicted considering the maximum temperature of inner surface of pipe and cooling rate at CGHAZ.

A practical method for evaluating the possibility of the occurrence of cracking in actual thick-plate T-joint weldments is presented in this study. Systematic experiments based on the method of the design of experiment are conducted in order to investigate the crack tendency in relation to typical welding parameters such as diffusible hydrogen, restraint intensity, preheating temperature and so on. The elastic analysis using the [mite element techniques is employed to quantify the restraint intensities of the specimens. The defined restraint intensities are treated in numerical way for the sake of considering the most uncertain factor among some major factors that govern the cracking phenomena due to welding. The critical plane for judgment of the crack occurrence or crack density is presented as a function of typical welding parameters including determined restraint intensities. The results of numerical estimation by the proposed method for the experimental specimens show the usefulness as a practical tool in welding induced crack problem having extensive uncertainties.

Laminate tooling process is a fast and simple method to make metal tools directly for various molding processes such as injection molding in rapid prototyping field. Metal sheets are usually cut, stacked, aligned and joined with brazing or soldering. Through the joining process, all of the metal sheet layers should be rigidly joined. When joining process parameters are not appropriate, there would be defects in the layers. Among various types of defects, non-bonded gaps of the tool surface are of great importance, because they directly affect the surface quality and dimensional accuracy of the final products. If a laminate tool with defects has to be abandoned, it could lead to great loss of time and cost. Therefore a repair method for non-bonded gaps of the surface is essential and has important meaning for rapid prototyping. In this study, a rapid laminate tooling system composed of a CO2 laser, a furnace, and a milling machine was developed. Metal sheets were joined by furnace brazing, dip soldering and adhesive bonding. Joined laminate tools were machined by a high-speed milling machine to improve surface quality. Also, repair brazing and soldering methods of the laminates using the $CO_2$ laser system have been investigated. ill laser repair process, the beam duration, beam power and beam profile were of great importance, and their effects were simulated by [mite element methods. The simulation results were compared with the experimental ones, and optimal parameters for laser repair process were investigated.

Effect of in-situ vibration on the properties of A-grade steel SMA weldment has been investigated. Welding was performed on the steel fixed at the experimental jig under the mechanical vibration of a given frequency. The applied frequency varied from 39 to 43.5 Hz (harmonic frequency). For weldments formed under the vibration with a sub-harmonic frequency, both the columnar width of the weld metal and the prior austenite grain size of the HAZ near the fusion line clearly decreased. This indicates that the vibration increase the cooling rate after welding. Vibration effect was also found at the weld metal formed at the center region of the weldment. The weld metal showed liner microstructure both in columnar zone and in equiaxed zone with thinner grain boundary ferrite. However mechanical properties of the weld metal did not exactly follow the microstructural changes developed under the vibration. The weld metal formed under the vibration revealed higher yield and tensile strength but lower ductility and impact toughness, compared with the conventional weld metal.

In manufacturing of ships, problems to be solved are improvement of productivity and stabilization of quality due to the shortage of skilled workers. Working environment, in particular welding environment, is also to be improved. One solution among these problems is to rationalize and automate these working. This paper is focused on the welding automation technologies in shipbuilding industry. The features of shipbuilding in the aspect of automation are described, and the main welding robot systems to be developed by SRI are introduced in each working stages.

Korean Fusion Reactor(KSTAR) system consists of a vacuum vessel, in-vessel components, cryostat, thermal shield, super-conducting magnets and magnet supporting structures. These systems are in the final stage of engineering design with the involvement of industrial manufacturers. The overall configuration and the detailed dimensions of the KSTAR structure have been determined and the first stage of manufacturing is progressing now. In this study, the fabrication and assembly sequence were evaluated in viewpoint of high strengthening joints and very high accuracy. Especially for this purpose, the special cleaning process and welding process were proposed for high strengthening austenitic stainless steel which shall be used at cryogenic temperature. The draft procedure qualification data for welding process are presented with precise welding data including special narrow groove design. For the cooling line attachment on the surface of inside wall of magnet structure case, Induction brazing technology is introduced with some special jigging system and some consumables.

It has been used many kinds of horizontal butt-welding methods at block-to-block erection stage in shipbuilding companies. For examples, some companies use conventional FCA W process with one side or both sides groove joint welding, others use carriage with torch holder type mechanized welding method. Although lots of efforts were done until now, some problems in quality and productivity still remain in ship's hull welding. In this study, we have attempted to raise productivity and quality on horizontal position of welding with following 3 items. 1) Prepare groove condition with no root gap for making easy fit-up work. 2) Develop improved MAG (100% $CO_2$ gas shielding) welding process with solid wire for making sound root bead from one side. 3) Develop and apply quite new automatic welding carriage. The stability of new welding process was confirmed by conducting mechanical tests of weldments to verify the soundness of weldments.

Some confusion in the terminology concerning the weld quality and its assurance seems caused by the different practises currently in use around the world. Qualified welding personnel are not automatically certified personnel. Education and training are the tools to obtain qualification. Flexibility in training and education seems logical and the most cost-effective way to obtain qualified personnel. A third party seems essential for issuing recognised Certificates. Manufacturers of welded products continue to face increased demands and concerns regarding weld quality. The following are the main conditions influencing weld quality: $\bigcirc$ Establishing reliable productions procedures and tests that meet the requirements of established codes and standards. $\bigcirc$ Finding qualified welding personnel capable of reliably carrying out established welding procedures. The issue of hiring and keeping skilled welding personnel has been a crucial consideration for manufacturers worldwide for the past few decades. It will continue to be a concern for decades to come.

The education, examination and qualification systems around the world are now changing rapidly and unifying as one system. The Korean national system should be harmonious with this international tendency, in order to overcome the high degree of international economic competition. In this article, the current state of the international and national systems are critically compared and discussed with the intention of proposing improvements to the Korean national system. The Korean Welding Society has revamped its system so that its certificates might be recognized by the welding institutions in foreign countries such as the European Welding Federation (EWF) and still be recognized by the Korean Government. Their desire to join the system of International Institute of Welding (IIW) was also a factor in the restructuring.

This paper reviews our recent research works on the interconnection technologies in electronic packaging and assembly. At the aspect of advanced joining methods, laser-ultrasonic fluxless soldering technology was proposed. The characteristic of this technology is that the oxide film was removed through the vibration excitated by high frequency laser change in the molten solder droplet. Application researches of laser soldering technology on solder bumping of BGA packages were carried out. Furthermore, interfacial reaction between SnPb eutectic solder and Au/Ni/Cu pad during laser reflow was analyzed. At the aspect of soldered joints' reliability, the system for predicting and analyzing SMT solder joint shape and reliability(PSAR) has been designed. Optimization design method of soldered joints' structure was brought forward after the investigation of fatigue failure of RC chip devices and BGA packages under temperature cyclic conditions with FEM analysis and experimental study. At the aspect of solder alloy design, alloy design method based on quantum was proposed. The macroproperties such as melting point, wettability and strength were described by the electron parameters. In this way, a great deal of the experimental investigations was replaced, so as to realize the design and research of any kinds of solder alloys with low cost and high efficiency.

Cu-cored Sn-Ag solder balls were fabricated by coating pure Sn and Ag on Cu balls. The melting behavior and the solderability of the BGA joint with the Ni/Au coated Cu pad were investigated and were compared with those of the commercial Sn-Ag and Sn-Ag-Cu balls. DSC analyses clarified the melting of Cu-cored solders to start at a rather low temperature, the eutectic temperature of Sn-Ag-Cu. It was ascribed to the diffusion of Cu and Ag into Sn plating during the heating process. After reflow soldering the microstructures of the solder and of the interfacial layer between the solder and the Cu pad were analyzed with SEM and EPMA. By EDX analysis, formation of a eutectic microstructure composing of $\beta$-Sn, Ag$_3$Sn, ad Cu$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ phases was confirmed in the solder, and the η'-(Au, Co, Cu, Ni)$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ reaction layer was found to form at the interface between the solder and the Cu pad. By conducting shear tests, it was found that the BGA joint using Cu-cored solder ball could prevent the degradation of joint strength during aging at 423K because of the slower growth me of η'-(Au, Co, Cu, Ni)$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ reaction layer formed at the solder, pad interface. Furthermore, Cu-cored multi-component Sn-Ag-Bi balls were fabricated by sequentially coating the binary Sn-Ag and Sn-Bi solders on Cu balls. The reflow property of these solder balls was investigated. Melting of these solder balls was clarified to start at the almost same temperature as that of Sn-2Ag-0.75Cu-3Bi solder. A microstructure composing of (Sn), Ag$_3$Sn, Bi and Cu$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ phases was found to form in the solder ball, and a reaction layer containing primarily η'-(Au, Co, Cu, Ni)$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ was found at the interface with Ni/Au coated Cu pad after reflow soldering. By conducting shear test, it was found that the BGA joints using this Cu-core solder balls hardly degraded their joint shear strength during aging at 423K due to the slower growth rate of the η'-(Au, Cu, Ni)$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ reaction layer at the solder/pad interface.he solder/pad interface.

In the present work, a low cost and fine pitch bumping process by electroless Ni/immersion Au UBM (under bump metallurgy) and stencil printing for the solder bump on the Al pad is discussed. The Chip used this experimental had an array of pad 14x14 and zincate catalyst treatment is applied as the pretreatment of Al bond pad, it was shown that the second zincating process produced a dense continuous zincating layer compared to first zincating. Ni UBM was analyzed using Scanning electron microscopy, Energy dispersive x-ray, Atomic force microscopy, and X-ray diffractometer. The electroless Ni-P had amorphous structures in as-plated condition. and crystallized at 321 C to Ni and Ni$_3$P. Solder bumps are formed on without bridge or missing bump by stencil print solder bump process.

This study investigates the variations of shear force, displacement, and fracture surface with the shear speed and the number of reflows. The experimental data of shear tests indicate that the shear force increases as increasing the number of reflows and the shear speed due to the formation of a kind of intermetallic compound, Ni$_3$Sn$_4$, on Au/Ni/Cu pad, and the work-hardening. However, general trends show that the shear force decreases due to increasing the thickness of the intermetallic compound over 4x reflow. It is observed that the intermetallic compound which is formed between solder and pad increases according to increasing the number of reflows, and the growth rate of the intermetallic compound at central region on the interface is faster than one at edge part. The general tendencies of shear force and displacement with different shear speeds are almost identical as an increase of the number of reflows.

Laser and hot air reflow soldering of PBGA solder ball was investigated. Experimental results showed that surface quality and shear strength of solder bumps reflowed by laser was superior than the solder bumps reflowed by hot air, and the microstructure inside the solder bumps reflowed by laser was much finer. Analysis on interfacial reaction showed that eutectic solder reacted with Au/Ni/Cu pad shortly after the solder was melted. Interface of solder bump reflowed by laser consists of a continuous AuSn$_4$ layer and remnant Au element. Needle-like AuSn$_4$ grew sidewise from interface, and then spread out to the entire interface region. A thin layer of Ni$_3$Sn$_4$ intermetallic compound was found at the interface of solder bump reflowed by hot air, AuSn$_4$ particles distributed inside the whole solder bump randomly. It is the combination effect of the continuous AuSn$_4$ layer and finer eutectic microstructure inside the solder bump reflowed by laser that resulted in higher shear strength.

The reliability of the solder joint is affected by type and extent of the interfacial reaction between solder and substrates. Therefore, understanding of intermetallic compounds produced by soldering in electronic packaging is essential. In-based alloys have been favored bonding devices that demand low soldering temperatures. For photonic and fiber optics packaging, m-based solders have become increasingly attractive as a soldering material candidate due to its ductility. In the present work, the interfacial reactions between indium solder and bare Cu Substrate are investigated. For the identification of intermetallic compounds, both Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction(XRD) were employed. Experimental results showed that the intermetallic compounds, such as Cu$_{11}$In$_{9}$ was observed for bare Cu substrate. Additionally, the growth rate of these intermetallic compounds was increased with the reaction temperature and time. We found that the growth of the intermetallic compound follows the parabolic law, which indicates that the growth is diffusion-controlled.d.

We have investigated the effects of plating materials for Cu lead (Sn-lOPb, AwPdJNi, Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-3Bi and Sn-0.7Cu) on properties of QFP joints using a Sn-8Zn-3Bi solder. The results were compared with the joints using Sn-3. 5Ag-0. 7Cu and Sn-37Pb solders. As a result, the joints with the Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-3Bi and Sn-0.7Cu plated Cu lead had the reliability comparable to those of the Sn-3.5Ag-0.7Cu and Sn-37Pb soldered joints with respect to the joint strength after the high temperature holding tests at 348K to 423k. In particular, the joint with the Sn-3.5Ag plated Cu lead had the best reliability. This is caused by the low growth rate of a Cu-Sn interfacial reaction layer that degrades the joint strength of the soldered joints. Consequently, the Sn-3.5Ag plating was found to be most feasible plating for the Sn-8Zn-3Bi soldered joint.

The growth kinetics of intermetallic compound layers formed between eutectic Sn-58Bi solder and (Cu, electroless Ni-P/Cu) substrate were investigated at temperature between 70 and 120 C for 1 to 60 days. The layer growth of intermetallic compound in the couple of the Sn-58Bi/Cu and Sn-58Bi/electroless Ni-P system satisfied the parabolic law at given temperature range. As a whole, because the values of time exponent (n) have approximately 0.5, the layer growth of the intermetallic compound was mainly controlled by volume diffusion over the temperature range studied. The apparent activation energies of Cu$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ and Ni$_3$Sn$_4$ intermetallic compound in the couple of the Sn-58Bi/Cu and Sn-58Bi/electroless Ni-P were 127.9 and 81.6 kJ/mol, respectively.ely.

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a relatively new solid-state joining process which can homogenize the heterogeneous microstructure by intensely plastic deformation arising from the rotation of the welding tool. The present study applied the FSW to an A356 aluminum (AI) alloy with the as-cast heterogeneous microstructure in the T6 temper condition, and examined an effect of microstructure on mechanical properties in the weld. The base material consisted of Al matrix with a high density of strengthening precipitates, large eutectic silicon and a lot of porosities. The FSW led to fragment of the eutectic silicon, extinction of the porosities and dissolution of the strengthening precipitates in the Al alloy. The dissolution of strengthening precipitates reduced the hardness of the weld around the weld center and the transverse ultimate tensile strength of the weld. Longitudinal tensile specimen containing only the stir zone showed the roughly same strength as the base material and a much larger elongation. Moreover, Charpy impact tests indicated that the stir zone had remarkably the higher absorbed energy than the base material. The higher mechanical properties of the stir zone were attributed to a homogenization of the as-cast heterogeneous microstructure by FSW.

The microstructural change associated with the hardness profile in friction stir welded, age-hardenable 6005 Al alloy had been evaluated. Frictional heat and plastic flow during friction stir welding created the fine recrystallized grain (Stir Zone, SZ), the elongated and recovered grain (Thermo-Mechanical Affected Zone, TMAZ) in the weld zone. Heat affected zone (HAZ), which could be only identified by hardness test because there is no difference in the grain structure compared with that of the base metal, was formed beside the weld zone. A softened region had been formed near the weld zone during friction stir welding process. The softened region was characterized by the dissolution and coarsening of the strengthening precipitate during the friction stir welding. The sound joints of 6005 Al alloys were successfully formed under a wide range of the friction stir welding conditions.

The Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a new joining method that was developed at The Welding Institute (TWI) in England in 1991. It applied heating by the rotational friction and material plastic flow. It was developed as a new joining method to solve the problems of epochally in the welding of Al alloys. In the study, 6000series of Alloy composed of AI-Mg-Si, one of the Al alloys that are utilized for shipbuilding and construction, is selected as a specimen and the numerical is executed against the welded zone of FSW. The material used in this study had the unique properties of strength and anti-corrosion, but since the welded joint of this material is easily softened by the welding heat, FSW is executed and the numerical analysis is carried out around the joint. To examine the mechanical behaviors and properties, F.E.M analysis is executed and the developed thermal-elastic-plastic [mite analysis are used.

Extruded and cast plates of AZ type magnesium alloys were successfully joined by friction stir welding (FSW). Effect of FSW conditions on the formation of the defect was revealed in relation to tool rotation speed and specimen travel speed. Magnesium alloy with higher aluminum content became difficult to be joined and the optimum condition without defect was restricted into narrow condition range. The structure of the stirred zone was a fine-grained recrystallized structure even in the case of cast AZ91D. FSW joint had better mechanical properties than those of GTA welded joint. Especially the toughness of the stirred zone increased more than that of the base metal.

A study was carried out to grow an understanding of the microstructural development of friction stir welds on an AZ91D magnesium alloy, and to evaluate the mechanical properties of the welds. AZ91D plates with the thickness of 4mm were used, and the microstructural development of the weld zone was investigated using optical and scanning electron microscopes. Square butt welding joint with good quality was obtained at the conditions of under 187mm/min of travel speed with 1100 to 1250 rpm of tool rotation speed. The microstructure within the weld region consisted of fine equiaxed grains with no evidence of the original dendritic structure. The hardness tests showed slightly increased harness in the weld region, and the minimum hardness measured is in that of the parent material. Tensile strength of the weld zone was remarkably improved due to very fine recrystallized structure. XRD pattern of weld zone revealed the removal of $\beta$ intermetallic compounds, $Mg_{17}$Al$_{12}$, which had been distributed in the base metal.l.

The microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded OFC plates with 2mm in thickness were examined with the changing welding parameters such as welding speed, rotation speed in this study. The sounding welding conditions was acquired at the optimum welding conditions of the 41mm/min to 61mm/min of welding speed at 1250 rpm of rotation speed. The microstructure of weld zone was divided into four parts such as the base metal region (EM), thermal mechanical affected zone (TMAZ), heat affected zone (HAZ), stir zone (SZ). The grain size in the SZ and the width of weld nugget were increased with increasing welding speed. The hardness profiles of the base metal were distributed about 80HV. The HAZ is a slightly softened region of about 60~75 HV relative to the base metal. The hardness profiles of the SZ were higher than that of base metal. The tensile strength was increased with increasing welding speed. In case increasing rotation speed, tensile strength was decreased. The maximum tensile strength was about 220:MPa which was 110% of joint efficience of that of base metal at 41mm/min of welding speed, 1250rpm of rotation speed.

The mechanical and metallurgical properties of friction welded joints type 5052 Al alloy/A36 steel have been studied in this paper. The joint strength increased with increasing upset pressure and friction time till it reached the critical value. The joint strength was fixed at low strength compare to that of base metal in the case of increasing friction time. Microstructure of 5052 Al alloy was greatly deformed near the weld interface. The very fine and equaxied grain structure was observed at the near interface. The elongated grain was formed outside dynamic recrystallizatoin region at the peripheral part, while the A36 steel' side was not deformed. The hardness of the near interface was slightly softer than that of 5052 Al alloy base metal. The maximum softening width was about 8mm from the interface. In the present work, the friction welding condition, t$_1$=0.5sec, P$_2$=137.5MPa, showed a maximum joint strength (202MPa) when friction pressure, upset time and rotation speed were fixed at 75MPa, 5sec, 2000rev/min and these were the optimum friction welding condition of 5052Al/A36 steel joints.

Dissimilar friction stir welding of aluminum (AI) alloy 1050 and magnesium (Mg) alloy AZ31 was successfully done in the limited welding parameters. The dissimilar weld showed good quality and facility compared to conventional fusion weld. Transverse cross section perpendicular to the welding direction had no defects. The weld was divided into base material of Al alloy, an irregular shaped stir zone and base material of Mg alloy. The irregular shaped stir zone was roughly located around the initial weld center. The weld interface near plate surface shifted from initial weld centerline to the advancing side. Hardness profile of the weld was heterogeneous, and the hardness value of the stir zone was raised to about 150 Hv to 250 Hv. The mixed phase was identified to intermetallic compound $Mg_{17}$Al$_{12}$ using x-ray diffraction method, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and electron probe micro analysis (EPMA). The formation of intermetallic compound $Mg_{17}$Al$_{12}$ during FSW causes the remarkable increase in hardness value in the stir zone.one.

Titanium and titanium alloy are excellent in corrosion resistance and specific intensity, and also in the biocompatibility. On the other hand, the brazing is bonding method of which productivity and reliability are high, when the complicated and precise structure of the thin plate is constructed. However, though conventional titanium-based brazing filler metal was excellent in bond strength and corrosion resistance, it was disadvantageous that metal structure and mechanical property of the base metal deteriorated, since the brazing temperature (about 1000 C) is considerably high. Authors developed new brazing filler metal which added Zr to Ti-Cu (-Ni) alloy which can be brazed at 900 C or less about 15 years ago. In this paper, the development of more low-melting-point brazing filler metal was tried by the addition of the fourth elements such as Ni, Co, Cr for the Ti-Zr-Cu alloy. As a method for finding the low-melting-point composition, eutectic composition exploration method was used in order to reduce the experiment point. As the result, several kinds of new brazing filler metal such as 37.5Ti-37.5-Zr-25Cu alloy (melting point 825 C) and 30Ti-43Zr-25Cu-2Cr alloy (melting point: 825 C) was developed. Then, the brazing joint showed the characteristics which were almost equal to the base metal from the result of obtaining metallic structure and strength of joint of brazing joint. However, the brazing filler metal composition of the melting point of 820 C or less could not be found. Consequentially, it was clarified that the brazing filler metal developed in this study could be practically sufficiently used from results such as metal structure of brazing joint and tensile test of the joint.

In order to ensure the signal could be transported cocrrectly, the microwave devices made of Aluminmn alloys must be assembled and brazed flaw-freely. In this paper, a new approach of using contact reactive brazing (CRB) process to realize the compact brazing of Aluminum alloys was put forward. The reason for this is that CRB, which realizes bonding depending on the liquid alloy produced by metallurgy reaction between the materials to be joined, overcomes the limitation of traditional brazing that the macroscopically disorganized filling flow of liquid filler metal would result in defects in brazed seam. Joint ofLF21 (AA3003) with the compactness of over 95% was brazed by the method of CRB using Si powder as an interlayer. At last, the influence of the physical parameter related to the Si powder interlayer on the compactness of the joints was investigated in detail.

As a general rule, the brazing process between cemented carbides and steel used by Silver (Ag) type brazing filler. The composition of Ag type filler were used Ag-Cu-Zn-Cd type filler mainly. But, the demand of Cadmium (Cd)-free in Ag type filler was raised recently. The reason why Cd-free in Ag brazing filler were occupied to vaporize as a CdO$_2$ when brazing process, because of Cd element was almost low boiling point of all Ag type filler elements. And, CdO$_2$ was a very harmful element for the human body. This experiment was developed Cd-freeing on Ag type filler that was used Indium (In) instead of Cd element. In this experiment, there were changed from 0 to 5% In addition in Ag brazing filler and investigated to most effective percentage of Indium. As a result, the change of In addition instead of Cd, there was a very useful element and obtained same property only 3% In added specimens compared to Cd 19% added specimens. These specimens were obtained same or more deflective strength. In this case, there were obtained 70 MPa over strength and wide brazing temperature range 650-800 C. A factor of deflective strength were influenced by composition and the shape of $\beta$ phase and between $\beta$ phase and cemented carbides interface. Indium element presented as $\alpha$ phase and non-effective factor directly, but it's occupied to solid solution hardening as a phase. $\beta$ phase were composed 84-94% Cu-Ni-Zn elements mainly. Especially, the presence of Ni element in interface was a very important factor. Influence of condensed Ni element in interface layer was increased the ductility and strength of brazing layer. Therefore, these 3% In added Ag type filler were caused to obtain a high brazing strength.

Brazing of Al to Cu using AI-Si-Mg-Bi brazing alloy has been carried out in the vacuum furnace. In the bonded interlayer, there were two kinds of intermetallic compounds. One of these intermetallic compounds was e phase and the other was b phase. The growth of b phase was controlled by diffusion Al into Cu. Deformation behavior of Al-Cu brazing joint was brittle without deformation of the base metal. Shear strength of the joint was only about 20MPa. The shear specimen broken in the intermetallic compound, which was mainly e phase. Shear strength did not depend on the bonding temperature.

Laser has been called a "Quantum Machine" because of its mechanism of generation since the development on July 7,1960.by T.H.Maiman. We can now use this machine as a tool for manufacturing in industries. At present, 45kW CO2 laser, 10kW Nd:YAG laser, 6kW LD pumped YAG laser and 4kW direct diode laser facilities are available for welding a heavy steel plate of 40mm in thickness and for cutting metals at high speed of 140m/min. Laser Materials Processing is no longer a scientific curiosity but a modern tool in industries. Lasers in manufacturing sector are currently used in welding, cutting, drilling, cladding, marking, cleaning, micro-machining and forming. Recently, high power laser diode, 10kW LD pumped YAG laser, 700W fiber laser and excimer laser have been developed in the industrialized countries. As a result of large numbers of research and developments, the modem laser materials processing has been realized and used in all kinds of industries now. In the present paper, metallurgical studies on laser materials processing such as porosity formation, hot cracking and the joint performances of steels and aluminum alloys and dissimilar joint are discussed after the introduction of laser facilities and laser applications in industries such as automotive industry, electronics industry, and steel making industry. The wave towards the use of laser materials processing and its penetration into many industries has started in many countries now. Especially, development of high power/quality diode laser will be accelerate the introduction of this magnificent tool, because of the high efficiency of about 50%, long life time and compact.

Application of the aged Inconel 718 in hydrogen environment is seriously restraint by its high hydrogen embrittlement (HE) sensitivity. m previous researches, we have suggested the possibility and applicability of the laser surface annealing (LSA) process in improving the HE resistance of this alloy. Sequentially, a study on the effects of the precipitates in the Inconel 718 on its HE sensitivity was conducted in this research. Firstly, flat bar specimens were heat-treated to obtain various kinds of precipitation microstructures concerning the ${\gamma}$" phase and the 6 phase. Hydrogen was charged into the specimen by a cathodic charging process. The loss in reduction of area (RA) caused by hydrogen charging was used to assess the HE sensitivity. The HE sensitivity of the alloy was lowered with decreasing the volume fraction of ${\gamma}$". Moreover, it was possible to increase the HE resistance of the aged alloy by dissolving the $\delta$ phase, keeping the strength at the same level as that of the common aged alloy. Thus, we concluded that both the $\delta$ phase and the ${\gamma}$" phase affected the HE sensitivity of Inconel 718. Next, two kinds of notch tensile specimens were fabricated, one kind having $\delta$ phase and the other having no $\delta$ phase. All these specimens were aged via the same aging heat treatment process. The LSA process annealed a thin layer of the notch bottom of each specimen. One specimen of each kind was charged with hydrogen by the cathodic hydrogen charging process. Loss in the notch tensile strength (NTS) caused by hydrogen was used to evaluate the HE sensitivity. It was found that while the HE sensitivity of conventionally aged Inconel 718 was decreased by the LSA process, the HE sensitivity of the $\delta$-free aged Inconel 718 could further be decreased. Therefore, for applications in hydrogen environments, it is possible to fabricate alloys with both good HE resistance and high strength by controlling the precipitation conditions, and to improve HE resistance further via applying the LSA process.

The solidification cracking susceptibilities of AI-Mg-Si alloy laser welds were assessed using the self-restraint tapered specimen crack test. The cracking susceptibility of 6061 and 6082 Al-Mg-Si alloy laser welds was substantially reduced when the filler wire containing high Si such as Al-12 wt.% Si (4047A) was used. The amount of eutectic was observed to affect the solidification cracking of Al-Mg-Si alloy laser welds. Abundant eutectic seems to heal the cracking and reduces the cracking susceptibility, while an initial increase in eutectic liquid leads to the increased cracking tendency.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate fracture toughness on the Laser and the electron beam welded joints of high tensile steels (HT500, HT550, HT650) by using 3-point bend CTOD and Charpy impact test. WM (weld metal) CTOD tests have been carried out using two kinds of CTOD specimen, the Laser beam welding (108mm length, and 24mm width, and 12mm thickness) and the electron beam welding (l71mm length, and 38mm width, and 19mm thickness). WM Charpy impact specimen is a standard V-notch type, and the temperature of the experiment is changed from -45 to 20 degree of centigrade. FE-analysis is also performed in order to investigate the effect of stress-strain fields on fracture characteristics. Results of the standard V-notch Charpy test are influenced by strength mis-match effect and the absorbed energy vE depends on crack path, and The transition temperature of Laser beam welded joints is more higher than that of electron beam welded joints. Results of the 3-point bend test give low critical CTOD and the crack path is in the weld metal of al specimens. These results indicate fracture toughness characteristics of the welded joints and transition temperature of HT500 are similar both a Laser beam welded joint and an electron beam welded joint. But the fracture toughness and the transition temperature of the electron beam welded joints of HT550 and HT650 are higher than those o the Laser beam welded joints.

In manufacturing of welded parts which require a proof on acceptance close observation of the process is mandatory. The manufacturer is obliged to document the welding process. An approach for monitoring and recording the process of laser beam welding combining theoretical knowledge, process monitoring and welding experience will be presented. The range of application of a device for co-axial process monitoring was extended up to 20 mm sheet thickness welded in one pass at beam powers of up to 20 kW. Crucial features of the process which refer to the formation of failures were observed. The results presented give rise to the general applicability of the approach for process monitoring and recording as well as failure management.

Edge welding of thin sheets is very difficult because of the fit-up problem and small weld area In laser welding, joint fit-up and penetration are critical for sound weld quality, which can be monitored by appropriate methods. Among the various monitoring systems, visual monitoring method is attractive because various kinds of weld pool information can be extracted directly. In this study, a vision sensor was adopted for the weld pool monitoring in pulsed Nd:YAG laser edge welding to monitor whether the penetration is enough and the joint fit-up is within the requirement. Pulsed Nd:YAG laser provides a series of periodic laser pulses, while the shape and brightness of the weld pool change temporally even in one pulse duration. The shutter-triggered and non-interlaced CCD camera was used to acquire a temporally changed weld pool image at the moment representing the weld status well. The information for quality monitoring can be extracted from the monitored weld pool image by an image processing algorithm. Weld pool image contains not only the information about the joint fit-up, but the penetration. The information about the joint fit-up can be extracted from the weld pool shape, and that about a penetration from the brightness. Weld pool parameters that represent the characteristics of the weld pool were selected based on the geometrical appearance and brightness profile. In order to achieve accurate prediction of the weld penetration, which is nonlinear model, neural network with the selected weld pool parameters was applied.

The keyhole formed by high energy density laser-material interaction periodically collapses due to surface tension of the molten metal in partial penetration welds. The collapse sometimes traps a void at the bottom of the keyhole, and it remains as welding defects. This phenomenon is seen as one cause of the instability of the keyhole during laser beam welding. Thus, it seems likely that improving the stability of the keyhole can reduce voids and uniform the penetration depth. The goal of this work is to develop techniques for controlling laser weld keyhole dynamics to reduce weld defects such as voids and inconsistent penetration. Statistical analysis of the penetration depth signals in glycerin determined that keyhole dynamics are chaotic. The chaotic nature of keyhole fluctuations and the ability of laser power modulation to control them have been demonstrated by high-speed video images of laser welds in glycerin. Additionally, an incident leading beam angle is applied to enhance the stability of the keyhole. The quasi-sinusoidal laser beam power of 400Hz frequency and 15$^{\circ}$ incident leading beam angle were determined to be the optimum parameters for the reduction of voids. Finally, chaos analyses of uncontrolled signals and controlled signals were done to show the effectiveness of modulation on the keyhole dynamics. Three-dimensional phase plots for uncontrolled system and controlled system are produced to demonstrate that the chaotic keyhole dynamics is converted to regular periodic behavior by control methods: power modulation and incident leading beam angle.

Welding using lasers can be mass-produced in high speed. In the laser welding, performing real-time monitoring system of the welding quality is very important in enhancing the efficiency of welding. In this study, the plasma and molten metal which are generated during laser welding were measured using the UV sensor and IR sensors. The results of laser welding were classified into five categories such as optimal heat input, little low heat input, low heat input, partial joining due to gap mismatch, and nozzle deviation. Also, a system was formulated which uses the measured signals with a fuzzy pattern recognition method which is used to perform real-time evaluation of the welding quality and the defects which can occur in laser welding.

The dynamic behavior of Al-Mg alloys plasma was very unstable and this instability was closely related to the unstable motion of keyhole during laser irradiation. The keyhole fluctuated both in size and shape and its fluctuation period was about 440 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. This instability has been estimated to be caused by the evaporation phenomena of metals with different boiling point and latent heats of vaporization. Therefore, the authors have conducted the spectroscopic diagnostics of plasma induced in the pulsed YAG laser welding of Al-Mg alloys in air and argon atmospheres. In the air environment, the identified spectra were atomic lines of Al, Mg, Cr, Mn, Cu, Fe and Zn, and singly ionized Mg line, as well as strong molecular spectrum of AlO, MgO and AIH. It was confirmed that the resonant lines of Al and Mg were strongly self-absorbed, in particular in the vicinity of pool surface. The self-absorption of atomic Mg line was more eminent in alloys containing higher Mg. These facts showed that the laser-induced plasma was relatively a low temperature and high density metallic vapor. The intensities of molecular spectra of AlO and MgO were different each other depending on the power density of laser beam. Under the low power density irradiation condition, the MgO band spectra were predominant in intensity, while the AlO spectra became much stronger in higher power density. In argon atmosphere the band spectra of MgO and AlO completely vanished, but AlH molecular spectra was detected clearly. The hydrogen source was presumably the hydrogen solved in the base Metal, absorbed water on the surface oxide layer or H$_2$ and $H_2O$ in the shielding gas. The temporal change in spectral line intensities was quite similar to the fluctuation of keyhole. The time average plasma temperature at 1 mm high above the surface of A5083 alloy was determined by the Boltzmann plot method of atomic Cr lines of different excitation energy. The obtained electron temperature was 3, 280$\pm$150 K which was about 500 K higher than the boiling point of pure aluminum. The electron number density was determined by measuring the relative intensities of the spectra1lines of atomic and singly ionized Magnesium, and the obtained value was 1.85 x 1019 1/㎥.

Considering the fuel consumption of car, a light structure of aluminum alloys is desired for car body nowadays. However, fusion welding of aluminum alloys has some problems of reduction of joint efficiency, porosity formation and hot cracking. ill the present work, investigation to improve the joint performance of laser welded joint has been carried out by addition of Cu, Ni, and Zr to A6N01 alloy welds. Aluminum alloy plate of 2.0mm in thickness with filler metal bar was welded by twin beam Nd:YAG laser facility (total power:5kW). The filler metals were prepared by changing the chemical compositions for adding the elements into the weld metal. Thirteen filler metal bars were prepared and pre-placed into the base metal before welding. Ar gas shielding with a flow rate of 10 l/min was used. The defocusing distance is kept at 0 mm. At travel speeds of 3 to 9 m/min and at laser power of 5kW (front beam 2kW rear beam 3kW), full penetration welds were obtained, whereas at travel speeds of 12 to 18 m/min and same power, partial penetration was observed. The joint efficiency of laser-welded joint was improved by the addition of Cu, Ni, and Zr due to the solid solution hardening, grain refining and precipitation hardening. The type of hardening has been further considered by metallurgical examination.

This paper describes the weldability and mechanical behavior of JIS S45C medium carbon steel (corresponding to KS SM45C and SAE 1045) for machine structures in CW Nd:YAG laser welding. ill general, medium carbon steels have a limited application to the industrial fields in spite of good mechanical characteristics. This is due to welding difficulty because of the high carbon contents and impurities in this material. Therefore, in this study the laser weldability of medium carbon steel with adjusted contents of S and P has been investigated in order to extend the application to medium carbon steels. Several experiments and numerical simulations have been conducted to determine the characteristics of mechanical behavior in CW Nd:YAG laser welds. The results of the simulations concur with the experiment results. From the result of this study, the application possibility of CW Nd:YAG laser welding to medium carbon steel has been confirmed. Also, the appropriateness of mechanical behavior simulation has been verified to analyze and predict the welding phenomena.

Electron beam (EB) and Gas tungsten arc (TIG) welds were performed on 12.7 mm thick Ti-6Al-4V plate (ASTM Titanium Grade 5). Charpy-V toughness and hardness, as well as, microstructure of the welds and penetration from the macrostructure were studied. It appears that by EB welding rather smaller $\beta$-grains than with TIG welding can be obtained. Next to the fusion line the $\beta$-grain size in the HAZ was 50 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$l while in the weld metal it was 150 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. Charpy-V toughness of the EB weld metal was equal or even better to that of base metal, which shows that the $\alpha$-martensite per se is not particularly brittle if only the grain size is fine enough. This is similar to behavior of low carbon martensite in steel. The grain size was studied with light optical and scanning electron (SEM) microscopes. Thus for products, for products which can be manufactured automatically with very narrow fit, the EB welding of Ti-6Al-4V appears to yield satisfactory toughness without any complex post weld heat treatment. ill this study as in earlier studies the TIG welds gave lower toughness than that of the base material due to the higher heat input and slower cooling as compared to EB welding.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the formation mechanisms of imperfections such as irregular humps, outer cavity and inner cavity in the laser fusion zone of diamond saw blade. Laser beam welding was conducted to join two parts of blade; mild steel shank and Fe-Co-Ni sintered tip. The variables were beam power and travel speed. The microstructure and elements distributions of specimens were analyzed with SEM, AES, EPMA and so on. It was found that these imperfections were responded to heat input. Irregular humps were reduced in 10.4∼17.6kJ/m heat input range. However there were no clear evidences, which could explain the relations between humps formation and heat input. The number of outer cavity and inner cavity decreased as heat input was increased. Considering both possible defects formations mechanisms, it could be thought that outer cavity was caused by insufficient refill of keyhole, which was from rapid solidification of molten metal and fast molten metal flow to the rear keyhole wall at low heat input. More inner cavities were found near the interface of the fusion zone and sintered segment and in the bottom of the fusion zone. Inner cavity was mainly formed in the upper fusion zone at high heat input whereas was in the bottom at low heat input. Inner cavity was from trapping of coarsened preexist pores in the sintered tip and metal vapor due to rapid solidification of molten metal before the bubbles escaped.

The formation and stability of stationary laser weld keyholes are investigated using a numerical simulation. The effect of multiple reflections in the keyhole is estimated using the ray tracing method, and the free surface profile, flow velocity and temperature distribution are calculated numerically. In the simulation, the keyhole is formed by the displacement of the melt induced by evaporation recoil pressure, while surface tension and hydrostatic pressure oppose cavity formation. At laser powers of 500W and greater, the protrusion occurs on the keyhole wall, which results in keyhole collapse and void formation at the bottom. Initiation of the protrusion is caused mainly by collision of upward and downward flows due to the pressure components.

The HDM(Hole Drilling Method) is a relatively simple and accurate method in measuring residual stress of welded metal. Various methods of evaluating residual stress are studied in welding field. The method of cutting holes on the plate much affects the accuracy of result. Especially for the hard material like stainless steel difficult to cut preciously is difficult to measure residual stress on welded metal. Because heat conduction of stainless steel is lower than other general steel, the magnitude of residual stress might be different as to changing of welding conditions. Therefore, The distribution of residual stress on the STS304 steel after welding using HDM is evaluated in this paper.

In this paper, a study on the residual stress of plate with longitudinal stiffeners is explained in terms of the welding sequences. In order to verify the results of numerical analysis, the hole drilling method (HDM) is performed, to measuring the residual stresses of the test plates in $CO_2$ Flux Cored Arc Welding (FCAW) under various welding conditions. The non-linear transient analysis technique for the numerical analysis in a large and complicate structure is considered. The residual stress of plate in consideration of the welding sequences and directions is evaluated by some numerical simulations and also by experiments. Comparison of numerical analysis results with experimental data shows the accuracy and validity of the proposed method.

Welding-induced buckling distortion is one of the most problematic concerns in both design and fabrication of welded thin-plate structures. This paper deals with experimental and numerical results of the welding-induced longitudinal and/or buckling distortion occurring in welding of 6mm-thick AH36 high strength steel plates. Effects of the heat input and the plate size on the distortion were experimentally evaluated for square plates. Bead-on-plate welding was performed with the submerged arc welding process along the middle line of plate specimens. Experimental results showed that the longitudinal distortion made a single curvature in the plate, and the distortion magnitude along the weld centerline was proportional to the heat input and the plate size. The experimental results were used to examine the validity of the numerical simulation procedure for welding-induced distortion where the longitudinal distortion mode and magnitude were numerically quantified. Three-dimensional, large deformation, welding simulations were performed for selected weld models. Numerical results of the distortion mode and magnitude were in a good agreement with experimental ones. Depending on the presence of halting the distortion growth during the cooling cycle of welding, the condition discriminating buckling distortion from longitudinal distortion was established. Eigenvalue analyses were performed to check the buckling instability of tested plates with different sizes subjected to different heat inputs. The perturbation load pattern for the analysis was extracted from longitudinal inherent strain distributions. Critical buckling curve from the eigenvalue analyses revealed that the buckling instability is manifested when plate size or heat input increases.

Structural integrity assessment is indispensable for preventing catastrophic failure of industrial structures/components/facilities. This diagnosis of operating components should be done periodically for safe maintenance and economical repair. However, conventional standard methods for mechanical properties have the problems of bulky specimen, destructive and complex procedure of specimen sampling. Especially, the mechanical properties at welded zone including weldment and heat affected zone could not be evaluated individually due to their size requirement problem. So, an advanced indentation technique has been developed as a potential method for non-destructive testing of in-field structures. This technique measures indentation load-depth curve during indentation and analyzes the mechanical properties related to deformation such as yield strength, tensile strength and work-hardening index. Also indentation technique can evaluate a residual stress based on the concept that indentation load-depth curves were shifted with the direction and the magnitude of residual stress applied to materials. In this study, we characterized the tensile properties and welding residual stress of various industrial facilities through the new techniques, and the results are introduced and discussed.

Cracking and bulging in welded and internally lined pressure vessels that work in thermal-mechanical cycling service have been well known problems in the petrochemical, power and nuclear industries. However, published literature and industry surveys show that similar problems have been occurring during the last 50 years. A better understanding of the causes of cracking and bulging causes is needed to improve the reliability of these pressure vessels. This study attempts to add information required for increasing the knowledge and fundamental understanding required. Typical examples of this problem are the coke drums in the delayed coking units refinery process. This case was selected for experimental work, field study and results comparison. Delayed coking units are among the refinery units that have higher economical yields. To shut down these units represents a high negative economical impact in refinery operations. Also, the maintenance costs associated with repairs are commonly very high. Cracking and bulging occurrences in the coke drums, most often at the weld areas, characterize the history of the operation of delayed coking units. To design and operate more robust coke drums with fewer problems, an improved metallurgical understanding of the cracking and bulging mechanisms is required. A methodology that is based field experience revision and metallurgical analyses for the screening of the most important variables, and subsequent finite element analyses to verify hypotheses and to rank the variables according to their impact on the coke drum lives has been developed. This indicated approach provides useful information for increasing coke drum reliability. The results of this work not only order the most important variables according to their impact in the life of the vessels, but also permit estimation of the life spans of coke drums. In conclusion, the current work shows that coke drums may fail as a combination of thermal fatigue and other degradation mechanisms such as: corrosion at high and low temperatures, detrimental metallurgical transformations and plastic deformation. It was also found that FEA is a very valuable tool for understanding cracking and bulging mechanisms in these services and for ranking the design, fabrication, operation and maintenance variables that affect coke drum reliability.

The cumulative, shrinkage plastic strains and their distributions in the weld joint after completion of the welding process determine welding-induced distortion. Although the weldment undergoes many complex physical and metallurgical changes during welding, only the material plastic temperature range and its cooling history below this temperature range influence the [mal state of the cumulative shrinkage plastic strains. In addition, for structural welds, these plastic strains are uniform, except in the arc start and stop regions, along the weld. Therefore, the plastic strain-based "inherent shrinkage model" is effective and accurate to describe welding-induced distortion. This paper presents the theoretical background and numerical verification of this root cause.

Adhesive bonding is becoming one of the popular joining techniques in metal industries, since it has some advantages over other techniques such as welding and diffusion bonding, e.g., any dissimilar metals are easily adhesive-bonded together. In this study, the experiments were carried out in order to provide the statistical data with strength evaluation methods: tension, shear and four-point bending tests for thermoplastic epoxy resin based adhesive-bonded metal joints. We should certificate on the probability of the adhesive strength that has the tendency of brittle fracture, the adhesive bonding strength between metals with thermoplastic adhesive has the best probability at four-point bending test. The strength testing method that has higher probability is four-point bending test, shear test and tensile test in order.

In autobody assembly, thin-wall, tubular connections have been used for the frame structure. Recent interest in light materials, such as aluminum or magnesium alloys, has been rapidly growing for weight reduction and fuel efficiency. Due to higher thermal expansion coefficient, low stiffness/strength, and low softening temperature of aluminum and magnesium alloys, control of welding-induced distortion in these connections becomes a critical issue. In this study, the material sensitivity to welding distortion was investigated using a T-tubular connection of three types materials; low carbon steel (A500 Gr. A), aluminum alloy (5456-H116) and magnesium alloy (AZ91C-T6). An uncoupled thermal and mechanical finite element analysis scheme using the ABAQUS software program was developed to model and simulate the welding process, welding procedure and material behaviors. The predicted angular distortions were correlated to the cumulative plastic strains. A unique relationship between distortion and plastic strains exists for all three materials studied. The amount of distortion is proportional to the magnitude and distribution of the cumulative plastic strains in the weldment. The magnesium alloy has the highest distortion sensitivity, followed by the other two materials with the steel connection having the least distortion. Results from studies of thin-aluminum plates show that welding distortion can be minimized by reducing the cumulative plastic strains by preventing heat diffusion into the base metal using a strong heat sink placed directly beneath the weld. A rapid cooling method is recommended to reduce welding distortion of magnesium tubular connections.

The welding distortion of a hull structure in the shipbuilding industry is inevitable at each assembly stage. The geometric inaccuracy caused by the distortion tends to preclude the introduction of automation and mechanization and needs the additional man-hours for the adjusting work at the following assembly stage. To overcome this problem, a distortion control method should be applied. For this purpose, it is necessary to develop an accurate prediction method which can explicitly account for the influence of various factors on the welding distortion. In order to minimize the weld-induced angular distortion in thick weldments, this paper proposes the optimum groove design for various plate thicknesses as the distortion control method. The validity of this method has been substantiated by a number of numerical simulations and experiments.

In the multi-pass welding of pressure vessels or ships, the mechanical touch sensor system is generally used together with a manipulator to measure the gap and depth of the narrow gap to perform seam tracking. Unfortunately, such mechanical touch sensors may commit measuring errors caused by the eterioration of the measuring device. An automation system of narrow gap multi-pass welding using a laser vision system which can track the seam line of narrow gap and which can control welding power has been developed. The joint profile of the narrow gap, with 250mm depth and 28mm width, can be captured by laser vision camera. The image is then processed for defining tracking positions of the torch during welding. Then, the real-time correction of lateral and vertical position of the torch can be done by the laser vision system. The adaptive control of welding conditions like welding Currents and welding speeds, can also be performed by the laser vision system, which cannot be done by conventional mechanical touch systems. The developed automation system will be adopted to reduce the idle time of welders, which happens frequently in conventional long welding processes, and to improve the reliability of the weld quality as well.

In The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, the general yield brittle fractures were observed in beam-column connections of steel building frames. Among many influencing factors which affect the general yield brittle fracture, it can be considered that fracture toughness has substantial effects. Some studies are making clear the required toughness for the base metal and the weld metal, but general values are not proposed. Moreover, it seems that it is also important to pay attention to the toughness decrease in the weld heat affected zone (weld HAZ), because the toughness decrease occurs in the HAZs of mild steel. In this paper, the relationship between toughness of simulated HAZs of "the rolled steels for building structures (SN)" and the weld heat-input limit of the SN steel are investigated, in an attempt to provide the required toughness for HAZs. The relationships between the increase of the hardness value and toughness, and changes of microstructure after weld heat-input are also discussed. The main results are summarized as follows. 1) The SN400B can keep its toughness at higher heat-inputs compare to the SN490Bs. 2) The steel grade, which becomes harder than other steel grades at the same heat-input, has smaller absorbed energy and smaller limit of heat-input. 3) The weld heat-input limit of the SN400B and the SN490B are proposed separately for some required toughness values.

In recent years, techniques for micro-assembly with high repeatability under a scanning electron microscope (SEM) are required to construct highly functional micro-devices. Adhesion phenomenon is more significant for smaller objects, becanse adhesional force is proportional to size of the objects while gravitational force is proportional to the third power of it. It is also known that adhesional force between micro-objects exposed to Electron Beam irradiation of SEM increases with the elapsed time. Therefore, mechanical manipulation techniques using a needle-shaped tool by adhesional force are often adopted in basic researches where micro-objects are studied. These techniques, however, have not yet achieved the desired repeatability because many of these could not have been supported theoretically. Some techniques even need the process of trial-and-error. Thus, in this paper, mechanical and adhesional micro-manipulation are analyzed theoretically by introducing new physical factors, such as adhesional force and rolling-resistance, into the kinematic system consisting of a sphere, a needle-shaped tool, and a substrate. Through this analysis, they are revealed that how the micro-sphere behavior depends on the given conditions, and that it is possible to cause the fracture of the desired contact interfaces selectively by controlling the force direction in which the tool-tip loads to the sphere. Based on the acquired knowledge, a mode diagram, which indicates the micro-sphere behavior for the given conditions, is designed. By refening to this mode diagram, the practical technique of the pick and place manipulation of a micro-sphere under an SEM by the selective interface fracture is proposed.

Reaction synthesis is a process to form ceramics, intermetallics and their composites from elemental powder mixture. Application of this process to a surface modification techniques has a possibilities to enable the process at a lower temperature or for a shorter time, although synthesized materials are likely to include voids and unreacted elements. This paper intend to examine the effect of Si addition to the mixture of Al and Ni on the densification of synthesized Ni-Al intermetallic compounds and to evaluate the surface properties of obtained coatings. By the Si addition, exothermic reaction temperature to form Ni-Al intermetallic was lowered to be below the melting point of Al. Si soluted $Al_3$Ni$_2$, $Al_3$Ni and $Al_{6}$Ni$_3$Si were mainly formed in the coating layer when powder mixture was heated to 973K for 300s. Besides, densification was enhanced by increasing hot press pressure, Si additions and heating rate. When the composition of eutectic Al-Si reaches 78%, void ratio of sintered compact reduced to 0.4%. It is caused by higher flowability of Al-Si liquid phase generated and its infiltration into the void. Since the hardness of NiAl(Si) compound (about 600HV) formed in the coating layer is higher than that of Ni-Al compound (about 400HV), coating layer with high density and superior wear property is obtained by hot press using reaction synthesis from Al-Ni-Si powder mixture.

The introduction of newly developed intelligent and user-friendly robotics has opened a new era in shipbuilding. Together with traditional and low-cost mechanization a record level of welding automation rate has been achieved in the construction of cruise vessels. In the paper modem applications and recent developments of welding automation and robotics in shipbuilding have been described and some forecast for the future trends are given. Development in the field of shipyards will be continued with accelerated speed and we shall have interesting prospects for the near future. New laser techniques can boost the shipyards in a revolutional way when production is rapidly changing, materials will be lighter and quality demands are becoming more strict.

The paper reviews the classification of metal transfer in GMAW and the recent developments in metal transfer control. An expanded classification which takes into account the recent developments is proposed.

In order to make clear the physical relation among the arc plasma, the anode heat transfer and the weld penetration, the results of experimental measurements of temperatures of arc plasma, the distributions of heat input and current on the anode and the weld penetration were presented The experimental results showed that the electron temperature above the anode and current and heat input density on the anode was dominated by the position of the cathode. Furthermore, it was showed that electron temperature of arc plasma was dominated by the cathode shape. These results were related with the results of the welded penetration measurements. As a result, it was showed that the electron temperature above the anode and current density distribution on the anode decided the heat input density distribution on the anode and that the heat input density on the anode remarkably dominated the size of the weld penetration in argon GTA welding process. Furthermore, it was suggested that the cathode played the important role in the determination of the weld penetration in argon GTA welding process.

Variable weld bead penetrations related to the base metal chemistry of stainless steels in GTA welding have been under constant investigations due to their industrial implications. It has been proposed that among other elements, the sulfur content of steels determines the weld pool geometry, particularly its penetration. It is suggested that the surface tension temperature gradient of steels becomes positive with appropriate dosing in sulfur and results in inward melt flow, propitious for deeper welds. However, the chemistry of industrial steels is complex due to the presence of multiple minor elements either deliberately added or remnant impurity traces. With this in view, investigations on 41 austenitic and nine martensitic stainless steels were carried to see if there existed any possible relation between the weld profile and some of the designated elements. The results suggest no direct correlation between sulfur or any other major or trace element and weld penetration. At first glance the results are contradictory to what is often asserted.

Many reports have been shown that the buoyancy, electromagnetic force, surface tension, and gas shear stress are the driving forces of weld pool circulation in arc welding. Among them, the surface tension of molten metal plays an important role in the flow in weld pool, which are clarified by the specially designed experiments with small particles as well as the numerical simulations. The surface tension is also related to the penetration in arc welding. Therefore, a quantitative evaluation of surface tension is demanded for the development of materials and arc process control. However, there are few available data published on the surface tension of molten metals, since it depends on the temperature and the composition of materials. In this study, a new method was proposed for the evaluation of surface tension and its temperature dependence, in which it is evaluated by the equilibrium condition of acting forces under a given surface geometry, especially back surface. When this method was applied to the water pool and to the back surface of molten pool in the stationary gas tungsten arc welding of thin plate, following results were obtained. In the evaluation of surface tension of water, it was shown that the back surface geometry was very sensitive to the evaluation of surface tension and the evaluated value coincided with the surface tension of water. In the measurement of molten pool in the stationary gas tungsten arc welding, it was also shown that the comparison between the surface tension and temperature distribution across the back surface gave the temperature dependent surface tension. Applying this method to the mild steel and stainless steel plates, the surface tension with negative gradient for temperature is obtained. The evaluated values are well matched with ones in the published papers.

This paper presents a mathematical model predicting the temperature distribution in rotating GMA welding. The bead width increases with rotation frequency at the same rotation diameter because the molten droplets are deflected by centrifugal force. The numerical solution is obtained by solving the transient three-dimensional heat conduction equation considering the heat input from the welding arc, cathode heating and molten droplets. Generally in GMA welding the heat input may be assumed as a normally distributed source, but the droplet deflection causes some changes in the heat input distribution. To estimate the heat flux distribution due to the molten droplet, the contact point where the droplet is transferred on the weld pool surface is calculated from the flight trajectory of the droplets under the arc plasma velocity field obtained from the arc plasma analysis. The numerical analysis shows a tendency of broadened bead width and shallow penetration depth with the increase of rotating frequency. The simulation results are in good agreement with those obtained by the experiments under various welding conditions.

The results gained as part of the study on weldability of compositions from steels, aluminium, titanium alloys in various combinations including similar and dissimilar metal bonding variants with reference to solution of specific practical problems are presented in this work. It has been shown that in the case of HIP/DB carried out with direct interaction of bonding surfaces of the most dissimilar material combinations under study, formation of high-quality joints is not assured due to various reasons. That is why development of special bonding techniques was required. The bonding techniques developed and used for HIP/DB of dissimilar steels, "Steel-bronze", "Titanium-niobium"; "Titanium-steel" and other compositions under study ensured vacuum-tight microvoid-free joints strength of a which was equal to the milder parent metal, including those obtained at reduced welding pressures. Examples of new products manufactured by HIP/DB using the technologies developed are presented.

This paper describes the concept and the characteristics of hyper interfacial bonding developed as a new concept joining process for UFG (ultra-fine grained) steel. Hyper interfacial bonding process is characterized by instantaneous surface melting bonding which involves a series of steps, namely, surface heating by high frequency induction, the rapid removing of heating coil and joining by pressing specimens. UFG steels used in this study have the average grain size of 1.25 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. The surface of specimen can be rapidly heated up and melted within 0.2s. Temperature gradient near heated surface is relatively steep, and peak temperature drastically fell down to about 1100K at the depth of 2~3mm away from the heated surface of specimen. Bainite is observed near bond interface, and also M-A (martensite-austenite) islands are observed in HAZ. Grain size increases with increasing heating power, however, the grain size in bonded zone can be restrained under 11 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. Hardened zone is limited to near bond interface, and the maximum hardness is Hv350~Hv390.

Adhesion phenomenon is more significant for smaller objects, because adhesional force is proportional to size of the objects while gravitational force is proportional to the third power of it. For the purpose of microassembly, theoretical understanding is required for the Adhesion phenomenon. Authors have developed a force measurement system in an ultra-high vacuum chamber of Auger electron spectroscopy. The force between arbitrary combination of materials can be measured at a pressure less than 100 nPa after and before Ar ion sputtering and chemical analysis for several atomic layers of the surface. The results are successfully interpreted with a theory of contact mechanics. Since surface energy is quite important in the interpretation, electronic theory is used to evaluate the surface energy. In the manipulation of small objects, the adhesional force is always attractive. Repulsive force is essential for the manipulation. It can be generated by Coulomb interaction. The voltage required for detachment is theoretically analyzed and the effect of boundary conditions on the detachment is obtained. The possibility and limitations of micro-manipulation using both the adhesion phenomenon and Coulomb interaction are theoretically clarified. Its applicability to nano-technology is found to be expected.

Distributions of residual stress in diffusion bonding of dissimilar materials intermetallics TiAl to steel 40Cr were simulated by FEM calculation. Results showed that destructive residual stresses presented in the minute area adjacent to bond-line of the base material with smaller coefficient of thermal expansion. Reducing bonding temperature and diminishing bonding time are in favor of the mollification of interface tresses.

This paper introduces the partial melting process for solder application and characterization of its feasibility using Sn-Ag, and Sn-Cu solder alloys. ill order to show that the liquid phase in the semi-liquid state maintains the similar wettability as single-phase liquid, the wetting balance tests are conducted with varying temperatures and compositions. Also, as a new soldering technology, the microstructural and mechanical test were investigated. The results from this research indicate that the partial melting can yield satisfactory sider joints as long as the liquid phase acquires sufficient chemical activity. At a condition where the partial melting is effective, a direct correlation between the wettability and the surface tension is found to exist.

Metallurgical studies on the bonded interlayer of directionally solidified Ni-base superalloy GTD111 joints were carried out during transient liquid phase bonding. The formation mechanism of solid during solidification process was also investigated. Microstructures at the bonded interlayer of joints were characterized with bonding temperature. In the bonding process held at 1403K, liquid insert metal was eliminated by well known mechanism of isothermal solidification process and formation of the solid from the liquid at the bonded interlayer were achieved by epitaxial growth. In addition, grain boundary formed at bonded interlayer is consistent with those of base metal. However, in the bonding process held at 1453K, extensive formation of the liquid phase was found to have taken place along dendrite boundaries and grain boundaries adjacent to bonded interlayer. Liquid phases were also observed at grain boundaries far from the bonding interface. This phenomenon results in liquation of grain boundaries. With prolonged holding, liquid phases decreased gradually and changed to isolated granules, but did not disappeared after holding for 7.2ks at 1473K. This isothermal solidification occurs by diffusion of Ti to be result in liquation. In addition, grain boundaries formed at bonded interlayer were corresponded with those of base metal. In the GTD-ll1 alloy, bonding mechanism differs with bonding temperature.

A computer-aided alloy-designing technique to develop the insert metal for transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding was applied to high aluminum Ni-base superalloys. The main procedure of a mathematical programming method was to obtain the optimal chemical composition through rationally compromising the plural objective performances of insert metal by a grid-search which involved data estimation from the limited experimental data using interpolation method. The objective function Z which was introduced as an index of bonding performance of insert metal involved the melting point, hardness (strength), formability of brittle phases and void ratio (bonding defects) in bond layer as the evaluating factors. The contour maps of objective function Z were also obtained applying the interpolation method. The compositions of Ni-3.0%Cr-4.0%B-0.5%Ce (for ${\gamma}$/${\gamma}$/${\beta}$ type alloy) and Ni3.5%Cr-3.5%B-3%Ti (for ${\gamma}$/${\gamma}$ type alloy) which optimized the objective function were determined as insert metal. SEM observations revealed that the microstructure in bond layers using the newly developed insert metals indicated quite sound morphologies without forming microconstituents and voids. The creep rupture properties of both joints were much improved compared to a commercial insert metal of MBF-80 (Ni-15.5%Cr-3.7%B), and were fairly comparable to those of base metals.

For clarifying the mechanical phenomena of thermal elasto-plastic behavior on the multi-spot welded joints, this study has tried to carry out three-dimensional thermal elasto-plastic analysis on them. However, because the shape of multi-spot welded joints is not axi-symmetric, unlike the case of single-spot welded joint, the solution domain for simulation should be three-dimensional. Therefore, in this paper, from the results analyzed using the developed the three dimensional unstationary heat conduction and thermal elasto-plastic programs by an iso-parametric finite element method, mechanical characteristics and their production mechanism on single- and multispot welded joints were clarified. Moreover, effects of pitch length on temperature, welding residual stresses and plastic strain of multi-spot welded joints were evaluated, indicating that a pitch of 30mm was advantageous compared to a pitch of 15mm.

During the manufacture of a ship, longitudinal deformation is produced by fillet welding on the BuiltUp beam used to improve the longitudinal strength of a ship. This deformation needs a correcting process separate from a manufacture process and decreases productivity and quality. This deformation is caused by welding moment, which is the value multiplied the shrinking force due to welding by the distance from the neutral axis on a cross section of Built-Up beam. This deformation can be offset by generating a moment which is the same magnitude with and is located in an opposite direction to the welding moment on web plate by induction heating. Accordingly, this study clarifies the creation mechanism of the longitudinal deformation on Built-Up beam with FEM analysis and presents the preventative method of this deformation by induction heating basing the mechanism and verifies its validity through analysis and experiments. The induction heating used here is performed by deciding its location and quantity with experiments and simple equations and by applying them to areal structure.

In the civil engineering and architecture fields, welding for large sectional members, such as I section steel and H section steel, are usually performed. a flash welding system, by which large I section steel or H section steel can be welded for a short time, was newly developed. In order to know the basic characteristics of welded joints, the specimens were cut out from flash welded joints, and tensile and fatigue experiments were carried out. The joint efficiency of welded joints by flash welding is 100% for the specimens with reinforcements and 93% for without reinforcements. The fatigue strength of welded joints with reinforcement was about 50% of that of the base metal. Removing the reinforcement generated by flash welding, fatigue strength of flash welded joints became 75% of that of the base metal. In case of flash welded joints with reinforcements, after a couple of fatigue cracks had propagated, ductile fracture occurred at the toe. In flash welded joints without reinforcements, fracture occurred at the bond or at HAZ (Heat Affected Zone). In case of fracture at the bond, fracture was brittle, and in case at HAZ, fracture was ductile.