• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.51-56
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• 2002

The weld seam tracking system for arc welding process uses various kinds of sensors such as arc sensor, vision sensor, laser displacement sensor and so on. Among the variety of sensors available, electro-magnetic sensor is one of the most useful methods especially in sheet metal butt-joint arc welding, primarily because it is hardly affected by the intense arc light and fume generated during the welding process, and also by the surface condition of weldments. In this study, a dual-electromagnetic sensor, which utilizes the induced current variation in the sensing coil due to the eddy current variation of the metal near the sensor, was developed for arc welding of sheet metal I-butt joints. The dual-electromagnetic sensor thus detects the offset displacement of weld line from the center of sensor head even though there's no clearance in the joint. A set of design variables of the sensor was determined far the maximum sensing capability through the repeated experiments. Seam tracking is performed by correcting the position of sensor to the amount of offset displacement every sampling period. From the experimental results, the developed sensor showed the excellent capability of weld seam detection when the sensor to workpiece distance is near less than 5 ㎜, and it was revealed that the system has excellent seam tracking ability for the I-butt joint of sheet metal.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.47-47
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• 2008

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.181-189
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• 2001

For the Tailor Welded Blank sheet used fur automobile body panel, the characteristics of fatigue crack propagation behavior were studied. The thickness of specimen was machined to be same (0.9+0.9mm) and different (0.9+2.0mm). As a base test, mechanical properties around welding zone were examined. The results indicated that there were no significant decreases in mechanical properties, but hardness around welding bead is 2.3 times greater than base material. The crack propagation rate was noticeably decreased around welding line and rapidly increased as it passed by welding line. Reviewing the shape of the crack propagation, crack width around welding line was wide around the welding zone due to retardation of crack growth, but it became narrow passing welding line due to decreased toughness. Elasto-Plastic analysis was performed by finite element analysis fur explaining the test results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.143-150
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• 2003

Experimental research has been carried out to investigate the characteristics of the fatigue crack initiation and propagation behavior of Tailor Welded Blank(TB) sheet used for vehicle body. We used three types of specimens which were machined of the same base metal: one is 1.4mm thick, another is 1.6mm thick, and the third(TB specimen) is laser-welded of two specimens(1.4mm and 1.6mm thick ones). The results of tensile and hardness test indicate that the yield strength of the TB specimen is the highest, and the hardness around welding bead is higher than that of base metal. Fatigue strength and fatigue limit of the TB specimen are much superior to those of the base metal up to $10^6$ cycles. The fatigue crack propagation of the heat-affected zone of the TB specimen is slower than that of the base metal. Welding bead has the fastest crack Propagation in the low stress intensity factor range$(\DeltaK)$ region, but the slowest in the high $\DeltaK$ region. The fatigue propagation characteristic of the TB specimen is relatively stable in comparison with that of the base metal in the high ${\Delta}K$ region around over $28MPa\sqrt{m}$.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.15-17
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• 2003

• Laser Solutions
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2001

This work was carried out to investigate the welding behavior of thin A3003 Al alloy sheets by Nd : YAG laser beam. Considering bead shape and mechanical properties, the laser pulse shapes selected were two kinds of 2-division and 3-division by varying power level and pulse duration. In order to obtain optimum conditions, the factorial design method and central composite design method were applied. Tensile test, optical microscopy, micro hardness test and TEM analysis were performed. Due to the annealing caused by thermal effect during laser welding, precipitates were coarsended. The HAZ was softened and failed during tensile test. The hardness of HAZ was lower than that of base metal, since the heat input relieved the work hardening effect and caused grain growth.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.71-78
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• 1999

The welded metal bellows is commonly manufactured by welding pairs of washer-shaped discs of thin sheet metal stamped from strip stock in thickness from 0.025 to 0.254 mm. The discs, or diaphragms, are formed with mating circumferential corrugations. In this study, the diaphragms were welded by using a CW Nd: YAG laser to form metal bellows. The bellows was fixed on a jig and compressed axially, while Cu-rings were installed between belows edges for intimate contact of edges. The difference between the inner diameter of bellows and jig shaft causes an eccentricity, while the tolerance between motor shaft and jig shaft causes a wobble type motion. A vision sensor which is based on the optical triangulation was used for seam tracking. An image processing algorithm which can distinguish the image by bellows edge from that by Cu-ring was developed. The geometric relationship which describes the eccentricity and wobble type motion was modeled. The seam tracking using the image processing algorithm and the geometric modeling was performed successfully.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.11-18
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• 2014

This research was conducted as a fundamental study to apply tailored blank welding technique into automotive production process. Specially we tried to apply the TWB technique to exhaust system. The materials used in this work were ferritic 439 stainless steel sheet with a thickness of 1.2mm and 0.8mm. Welding tests were conducted for BOP test and dissimilar thickness (0.8 to 1.2t) cases. Major process parameters were position of focus, travel speed, shielding gas and joint (gap) condition. As a result, there are nothing significant welding characteristic compare with TWB of carbon steel. Stainless steel shows the good weldability and mechanical properties (tensile, hardness and forming strength) also shows high level. Just problem is gap condition. However, also in this case, it shows not only good forming strength but also base metal fracture after tensile test. And to conclude, it is good opportunity to make lightweight design muffler using TB welding technique.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.121-123
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• 2006

The aim of present study is to investigate the effect of welding parameters and heat treatment conditions on the formability of the laser welded silicon steel sheet. It was found that there is optimum range of the heat input ($0.6{\sim}0.7kJ/cm$) and gap distance ($0.125{\sim}0.150mm$) for the high tensile strength and the avoidance of the fracture in weld metal, Also, it was essential for the improvement of formability to perform pre- and post-welding heat treatment which cause the uniform mixture of base metal and welding consumable.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.65-74
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• 1995

The weld seam tracking sensor is indispensable to improve the flexibility of automatic arc welding systems. Among the position sensing methods available, a laser displacement sensor is one of the most prevailing methods. In this study, a laser displacement sensor was examined on detecting the weld seam of lap joints in sheet metal arc welding. The output signal of the laser displacement sensor may ontain severe fluctuation from the effect of arc light, spatters, fume, etc. So a variety of signal processing methods was applied to smooth the output signal of the sensor. And then the weld joint was determined by using the central difference method. It was revealed that the quadratic mean method plays an important role in detecting the weld seam during welding especially.