Publication Date

2015

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Kim, Meung J.

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering

LCSH

Mechanical engineering; Mechanical engineering; Laser welding

Abstract

Industries are looking at ways to improve manufacturing efficiency and product quality as critical metrics to stay competitive. Laser welding is an emerging technology that is helping industries (e.g., microelectronics, packaging, and most recently in the automotive industry) improve the overall quality of their end products. To be able to use laser welding more effectively, the different parameters need to be understood and optimized. In this research, a pulsed Nd:YAG laser with a maximum power of 50 watts was used to produce spot weld on Stainless Steel 304. The principal objective of this research was to understand the optimal parameters for penetration depth and spot width. A Box-Behnken Design of Experiment (DOE) was used, and process parameters were varied, such as pulse duration, speed and frequency. The effect of each process parameter was observed with respect to total spot penetration depth and spot diameter. The results were analyzed graphically and analytically using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to determine the optimum values of the process parameters and their individual effectiveness toward the penetration depth and spot diameter.

Comments

Advisors: Meung Kim.||Committee members: Jenn-Terng Gau; Pradip Majumdar.

Extent

40 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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