A SYSTEMATIC FRAMEWORK FOR FEASIBILITY EVALUATION IN WELDING FLUX DEVELOPMENT

Ademola Adeyeye

doi:10.4314/njt.2026.5565

Authors

Ademola Adeyeye Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4314/njt.2026.5565

Keywords:

Feasible criterion space, Flux quality attributes, Multi-objective optimisation, Pareto front, Welding consumable

Abstract

The long lead time and resource consumption associated with the traditional trial-and-error method have been a significant challenge in welding flux design (WFD). The methods for assessing feasibility early in the WFD process before committing significant resources to experimentation, are limited. This study presents a systematic framework for evaluating the feasibility of achieving targeted welding flux quality attribute (WFQA) levels, thereby enabling more efficient and informed WFD decisions. Response models, multi-criteria optimization, and Pareto fronts analysis were integrated to delineate the feasible WFQA space. Unlike prior optimization-based approaches, the proposed framework explicitly delineates the feasible WFQA space, thereby integrating feasibility evaluation into the design process and enabling upfront assessment of whether targeted attribute levels are achievable prior to experimentation. This space was subsequently employed for a priori evaluation of the feasibility of a bi-attribute WFD scenario with silicon and manganese transfer as quality attributes. The feasibility of developing six welding fluxes (A-F), with targeted () values: A(0.11%, 0.15%), B(0.07%, 0.26%), C(0.17%, 0.30%), D(0.08%, 0.28%), E(0.16%, 0.04%), F(0.20%, 0.14%) was determined by evaluating whether these values lie within the defined WFQA space. Fluxes B, D, and E were found to be unattainable within the current WFD domain, thereby preventing the excessive consumption of time and resources on infeasible WFQA targets. Future work should focus on extending the framework to multi-attribute systems, particularly those with non-convex Pareto fronts.

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