EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS AND PARAMETRIC OPTIMIZATION IN ULTRASONIC WELDING OF PHOSPHOR BRONZE SHEETS

Ultrasonic metal welding is gaining popularity among other joining methods owing to its unique characteristics. The ultrasonic weldability of thin phosphor bronze sheets (UNS C51100) was explored in the current work owing to its inevitable use in the electrical and electronics industry. The influence of three major weld parameters on the weld strength was studied. The experiments were designed as per the Box-Behnken Design (BBD) of response surface methodology having 3-factor, 3-levels and 3-replicates matrix. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was utilized to study the weightage of each parameter and their interactions. Weld pressure was observed as the most significant parameter followed by weld time and vibration amplitude affecting the weld strength. The weld pressure-vibration amplitude and weld time-vibration amplitude interactions significantly affected the weld strength but the weld time-weld pressure interaction did not affect the weld strength a lot. The parametric optimization was done with the developed response surfaces.