Real-Time Robotic Control System for Titanium Gas Metal Arc Welding

The Army is working to satisfy the demands of a future force that will be organized, manned, equipped, and trained to be strategically responsive, deployable, agile, versatile, lethal, survivable, and sustainable. Titanium addresses the Army's need for high strength-to-weight characteristics and can meet the performance and transportability requirements of lightweight systems. Welding and joining technologies enable improved manufactured components by reducing the weight, production time, and cost of jointing parts. Improved welding technology increases product lifetimes and makes possible the fabrication of large structures. Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) has the potential to improve the quality, speed, and penetration depth of titanium welds significantly, without increasing the cost per part. However, this result can only be achieved if proper shielding is provided and proper weld parameters selected. The goal of this project is to develop a Real-Time Robotic Control System for Titanium GMAW for current and future Army and commercial applications. Our real-time weld control system will integrate: (1) feedback sensors that measure weld characteristics; (2) a method of adjusting the welding parameters; and (3) real-time adaptive control algorithms to make critical changes to the weld parameters during welding to achieve high-quality welds.