• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.209-223
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• 1998

The aim of this study was to evaluate welders' exposure to hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) and nickel (Ni) during welding operations in a Korean shipyard. The airborne Cr(VI) and Ni concentrations were measured during metal inert gas (MIG) welding on mild and stainless steel, and manual metal arc (MMA) welding on mild steel. The geometric mean (GM) of Cr(VI) concentrations inside the welding helmet during MIG welding on mild steel were $0.0018mg/m^3$ inside a ship section, and $0.0015-0.0026mg/m^3$ at the welding shops. All of the personal breathing zone air samples were below the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Value ($TLV^{(R)}$) of $0.01mg/m^3$. Conversely, eighty-eight percent(21 of 24) of the personal breathing zone air samples exceeded the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommended exposure limit of $0.001mg/m^3$. Ni was not detected on 20 of 23 air samples collected during MIG welding on mild steel. The three Ni samples above the limit of detection ranged from 0.015 to $0.044mg/m^3$. The GM of Cr(VI) concentrations during MMA welding on mild steel were $0.0013mg/m^3$, but Ni was not detected in the air samples during this operation. It is assumed that the airborne Cr(VI) and Ni during mild steel welding were derived from the base metals which contained about 0.03% Cr and 0.03% Ni. The GM of airborne total Cr, Cr(VI) and Ni concentrations during MIG welding on stainless steel were 4.02, 0.13 and $0.86mg/m^3$, respectively, and the levels of Cr(VI) and Ni were above the ACGIH-$TLV^{(R)}$. Cr(VI) comprised about 35.5% of the total chromium(Cr) from MIG welding on mild steel, and about 8.4% of total Cr from MIG welding on stainless steel. The ratios of Cr(VI) to total Cr were significantly different among welding shops. It was concluded that welders were exposed to high levels of Cr(VI) and Ni during welding on stainless steel, and were exposed to low levels of Cr(VI) even during welding on mild steel.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.548-555
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• 2014

As a considerable, experimental approach, an Auto-carriage type of $CO_2$ welding machine and a MIG(Metal Inert Gas) welding robot under inert gas atmosphere were utilized in order to realize Al 5083 welding applied to hull and relevant components of green Al leisure ships. This study aims at investigating the effect of welding conditions(current, voltage, welding speed, etc) on thermal deformation that occurs as welding operation and tensile characteristics after welding, by using Al 5083, non-ferrous material, applied to manufacturing of co-environmental Al leisure ships. With respect to welding condition to minimize the thermal deformation, 150A and 16V at the wire-feed rate of 6mm/sec were acquired in the process of welding Al 5083 through an auto carriage type of $CO_2$ welding feeder. As to tensile characteristics of Al 5083 welding through a MIG welding robot, most of tensile specimens showed the fracture behavior on HAZ(Heat Affected Zone) located at the area joined with weld metal, except for some cases. Especially, for the case of the Al specimen with 5mm thickness, 284.62MPa of tensile strength and 11.41% of elongation were obtained as an actual allowable tensile stress-strain value. Mostly, after acquiring the optimum welding condition, the relevant welding data and technical requirements might be provided for actual welding operation site and welding procedure specification(WPS).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.542-550
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• 2020

The use of high-strength aluminum alloys for ships and of shore structures has many benefits compared to carbon steels. Recently, high-strength aluminum alloys have been widely used in onshore and of shore industries, and they are widely used for the side shell structures of special-purpose ships. Their use in box girders of bridge structures and in the topside of fixed platforms is also becoming more widespread. Use of aluminum material can reduce fuel consumption by reducing the weight of the composite material through a weight composition ratio of 1/3 compared to carbon steel. The characteristics of the stress strain relationship of an aluminum structure are quite different from those of a steel structure, because of the influence of the welding[process heat affected zone (HAZ). The HAZ of aluminum is much wider than that of steel owing to its higher heat conductivity. In this study, by considering the HAZ generated by metal insert gas (MIG) welding, the buckling and final strength characteristics of an aluminum reinforcing plate against longitudinal compression loads were analyzed. MIG welding reduces both the buckling and ultimate strength, and the energy dissipation rate after initial yielding is high in the range of the HAZ being 15 mm, and then the difference is small when HAZ being 25 mm or more. Therefore, it is important to review and analyze the influence of the HAZ to estimate the structural behavior of the stiffened plate to which the aluminum alloy material is applied.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.33-37
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• 2013

Robotized MIG welding of large aluminium components for high speed trains is state-of-the-art. The implementation of online laser cameras enables seam tracking and adoptive modification of welding parameters. A constant fill is achieved regardless of the gap tolerances. Friction Stir Welding has been introduced to the market as a reliable and fast joining technology. The advantages of high welding speeds and the elimination of arc light, fumes and liquefaction in the welding spot lead to economical realisation of heavy-duty gantry systems. FSW robots offer a high flexibility with regard to welding of curved parts, and can be equipped with laser cameras for exact joint tracking.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.1613-1617
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• 2009

As demand regarding a recent energy-saving rises, the using ratio of the aluminum plate in manufacturing of a railroad vehicle has been increasing. The aluminum structure to be applied to a railroad vehicle is divided to single skin and double skin, and the main aluminum product is mainly Al 6005 extrude and Al 5083 rolled in domestic market. The Al 6005 alloy is applied heat treatment in order to improve the strength of material. Therefore there is the disadvantage that the strength of welding zone decreases compare with base material's if you apply to fusion welding like MIG(metal inert gas) welding. In this paper we tried to apply friction stir welding to solve these problems. In this study we investigated how tensile strength and fatigue strength were changed in case of changing the shoulder diameter of thread tool.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.124-129
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• 2017

In this study, we report characteristics of friction stir welding (FSW) technique applied to Al-6005-T6 extruded sheets, which is a common material for railway car bodies. With the welding speed fixed at 300 mm/min, the revolution per minute (RPM) of the rotating tool was varied from 600 to 1800 RPM, with the aim at evaluating the resultant microstructure and mechanical behaviors. Comparison is also made with the conventional Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding technique. Unlike MIG, no micro-voids were observed for FSW specimens. Hardness measurement revealed that the increased heat input by increasing RPM results in widened heat affected zone (HAZ) and decreased hardness for HAZ due to grain coarsening. Hardness results for the nugget do no show difference. During tensile tests, specimens fractured at HAZ, and increasing rpm led to decrease of the yield stress and tensile stress for the selected RPM range, which is considered to be due to the grain coarsening for HAZ.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.59-66
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• 2016

The Gas Metal Arc(GMA) welding, called Metal Inert Gas(MIG) welding, has been an important component in manufacturing industries. A key technology for robotic welding processes is seam tracking system, which is critical to improve the welding quality and welding capacities. The objectives of this study were to develop the intelligent and cost-effective algorithms for image processing in GMA welding which based on the laser vision sensor. Welding images were captured from the CCD camera and then processed by the proposed algorithm to track the weld joint location. The proposed algorithms that commonly used at the present stage were verified and compared to obtain the optimal one for each step in image processing. Finally, validity of the proposed algorithms was examined by using weld seam images obtained with different welding environments for image processing. The results proved that the proposed algorithm was quite excellent in getting rid of the variable noises to extract the feature points and centerline for seam tracking in GMA welding and could be employed for general industrial application.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.56-72
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• 1999

Airborne concentrations of welding fumes in which 13 different metals such as Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Si, Sn, Ti, and Zn were analyzed were measured at 18 factories including automobile assembly and manufactures, steel heavy industries and shipyards. Air samples were collected by personal sampler at each worker's worksite(n=339). Blood levels of Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn were also measured from samples taken from 447 welders by atomic absorption spectrometry and compared with control values obtained from 127 non-exposed workers. The results were as follows ; 1. Among various welding types, $CO_2$ welding 70.2 % were widely used, shielded metal arc welding(SMAW) 22.1 % came next, and rest of them were metal inert gas(MIG) welding, submerged arc welding(SAW), spot welding(SPOT) and tungsten inert gas(TIG) welding. 2. Welding fume concentration was $0.92mg/m^3$($0.02{\sim}15.33mg/m^3$) at automobile assembly and manufactures, $4.10mg/m^3$($0.02{\sim}70.75mg/m^3$) at steel heavy industries and $5.59mg/m^3$($0.30{\sim}91.16mg/m^3$) at shipyards, respectively, showing significant difference among industry types. Workers exposed to high concentration of welding fumes above Korean Permissible Exposure Limit(KPEL) amounted to 7.9 % and 12.5 %, in $CO_2$ welding and in SMAW at automobile assembly and manufactures and 62.7 % in $CO_2$ welding, and 12.5 % in SMAW at shipyards, and 66.2 % in $CO_2$ welding and 70.6 % in SMAW at steel heavy industries. 3. Geometric mean of airborne concentration of each metal released from welding fumes was below one 10th of KPEL in all welding types. Percentage of workers, however, exposed to airborne concentration of metals above KPEL amounted to 16.8 % in Mn and 7.6 % in Fe in $CO_2$ welding; 37.5 % in Cu in SAW, 30 % in Cu in TIG; and 25 % in Pb in SPOT welding. As a whole, 76 Workers(22.4%) were exposed to high concentration of any of the metals above KPEL. 4. There were differences in airborne concentration of metals such as Al, Cd, Cr, Cu. Fe. Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Si, Sn, Ti and Zn by industry types. These concentrations were higher in shipyards and steel heavy industries than in automobile assembly and manufactures. Workers exposed to higher concentration of Pb above KPEI amounted to 7.4 % of workers(7/94) in automobile assembly and manufactures. In shipyards, 19.2 % of workers(19/99) were over-exposed to Mn and 7.1 % (7/99) to Fe above KPEL. In steel heavy industries, 14.4 %(21/146), 7.5 %(11/146) and 13 %(19/146) were over-exposed to Mn, Fe and Cu, respectively. As a whole, 76 out of 339 workers(22.4%) were exposed to any of the metals above KPEL. 5. Blood levels of Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn in welders were $0.11{\mu}g/100m{\ell}$, $0.84{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, $424.4{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, $1.26{\mu}g/100m{\ell}$, $5.01{\mu}g/100m{\ell}$ and $5.68{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, respectively, in contrast to $0.09{\mu}g/100m{\ell}$, $0.70{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, $477.2{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, $0.73{\mu}g/100m{\ell}$, $3.14{\mu}g/100m{\ell}$ and $6.15{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ in non-exposed control groups, showing significantly higher values in welders but Fe and Zn.