Summary: | In the work described here, Gaussian process regression was applied to predict the ultimate tensile strength of friction stir welds through data evaluation and to therefore avoid destructive testing. For data generation, a total of 54 welding experiments were conducted in the butt joint configuration using the aluminum alloy EN AW-6082-T6. Four tensile samples were taken from each of the 54 experiments and the resulting ultimate tensile strength of the weld seam segment was modeled as a function of the weld’s surface topography. Further models were created for comparison, which received either the process variables or the process parameters to predict the ultimate tensile strength. It was shown that the ultimate tensile strength can be accurately predicted based on the weld’s surface topography. Especially for low welding speeds, the correlation coefficients between the true and the predicted ultimate tensile strength were high. However, overall, even higher correlation coefficients could be achieved when providing the process variables or the process parameters to the model. In conclusion, it was shown that the developed Gaussian process regression model is a powerful approach for replacing destructive testing and for predicting ultimate tensile strength based solely on data that can be collected non-destructively.
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