Design of Experiment and Goal Programming Application for the GMAW Process

The gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process is extensively used in manufacturing for a variety of ferrous and nonferrous metals because it greatly increases the quality of welding. The objective of this study is to develop an approach that enables the determination of critical GMAW variables and optimization of process variables by using integrated design of experiment (DoE) and goal programming (GP) methods conjunctively. This paper presents a methodology for simultaneously determining the variables of a GMA process with multiple performance objectives utilizing full-factorial design of experiments, regression analysis and goal programming. Three GMAW process variables formulated using regression analysis, are simultaneously optimized utilizing the GP method. Results were validated and showed that the proposed method provided more accurate approximations, increasing the quality of the GMA welding process.