INTELLIGENT WELDING IN CONTEXT OF INDUSTRY 4.0

Abstract

Welding is analyzed here as an intelligent process in the context of Industry 4.0, with a focus on two aspects: automatization and machine learning. In the case of automatization, starting from the first industrial robots as applied in spot welding in car industry 50 years ago, advances in other welding processes like Gas Shielded Arc Welding (GSAW) and Laser Beam Welding (LBW) are presented. As for the machine learning, starting from the early efforts to use neural networks to correlate input welding parameters with a shape of a welded joint in early nineties, advances in modern machine learning technologies to predict mechanical properties and microstructure are presented.