TEAM MEMBERS

K.P.Gokul Kumar
(212712114040)
K.Kamesh (212712114048)
M.Kowshik Dhev
(212712114056)

INTERNAL GUIDE:
Mr.V.SRIDHARAN

EXTERNAL GUIDE:
Mr.SRI MAGESH

Final Year
Project

Project Title
Reducing the rejection and increasing the
utilisation of the steel raw material by
modifying the dimensions of steel drums

Project Location
Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd.
(A Govt. of India enterprise)
Industrial packaging division,
Manali,Chennai-600068.

Objective of Project
To

reduce the rejection of the steel

drums during automatic continuous
resistance welding process
To increase the utilization of raw
material
To reduce cost of raw material by
modifying the dimensions of steel drums
To maintain quality and characterises of
the drums remains the same

Problem observed
48%

of the rejected steel drums are from

air tight leakage test because of the air
leakage from the welded joint
33% of the rejected drums were observed
with defects such as rust ,corrosion , scale
formation in the sheet metal
Other defects observed were from the
manufacturing process like shearing ,
punching ,painting etc.

Observations from the

rejected steel drums from
the air leak test
Steel drums were not welded
properly
Metal was not melted uniformly throughout the
cross section
Heat generated by electrode was not uniformly
distributed
Material properties

Machine specification

Factors affecting the

resistance welding
Material properites
Resistivity
Thermal

Conductivity
Melting Temperature
Thickness of the welded sheet
Electrode material

Machine specification
The

amount of current that passes

through the work
The pressure that the electrodes
transfer to the work
Speed of the work flows through the
electrode.
Electrode geometry

Parameter chosen for

reducing the weld defect
Material properties:
Thickness of the sheet metal is reduced
hence the thickness of the welded joint
is also reduced
Machine specifications:
The pressure transferred to the work by
electrode is increased by reducing the
overlapping width of the welded edge

Why these techniques

The

defects in the welding can be eliminated

The raw material requirement for the steel
drum is reduced
The cost of the raw material is reduced
No change in material properties
Other machine parameters work under
optimized condition

How it works
If

the thickness of the welded joint is

reduced volume under heat penetration
is also reduced. So heat transfers is
more effective and required time is
reduced.
Pressure 1/area
When the overlapped area is reduced,
pressure applied to the joint is increased
even though force applied remains the
same

Model of the raw steel

sheet for body of the drum
1800
mm

1.22mm

910mm

Existing lap joint thickness

calculation
In lap joint one sheet is placed over
another
Thickness of the sheet (t) = 1.22 mm
So the thickness of the weld (s) = 2 * t
S = 2 * 1.22
= 2.44 mm
Resistance welding cannot be
effiecient if the welding depth is
more than 3mm

Lap joint width calculation

Existing diameter of the steel drum d =
571mm
Circumference of the steel drum = * d
= * 571
= 1793.849mm
= 1794 mm
Width of the lap joint = Raw sheet length
-circumference of the
drum
= 1800 1794
= 6 mm

Dimensions of existing lap

joint

1.22mm

6mm

Pressure applied at the

welding joint
Applied

force (f) = 1.4 kN (observed)

Length of the overlap (l) = 10 mm
width of the overlap (w) = 6 mm
Holding pressure at the joint = ( f / w
*l)
= 1400 / 6
* 10
= 23.33
N/mm

Increasing the pressure at

the welded joint
The

required pressure for the 1.201.25mm thick weld is 30 N/mm.

To increase the pressure between the
electrode and the work, the exposed
surface area is reduced
In light of this , length of the raw sheet
metal was reduced by 2mm, there by
reducing the overlapped width by 2mm

Pressure applied at the

welding joint for new
overlap width
Applied

force (f) = 4.8 N

Length of the overlap (l) = 10 mm
Width of the overlap (w) =( 6 2 ) mm
= 4 mm
Holding pressure at the joint = ( f / w
*l)
= 1400 / 4
* 10
= 35
N/mm

Reducing the thickness

To

increase the heat penetration throughout

the thickness of the sheet metal was reduced
to 1.20mm
New Thickness of the sheet (t) = 1.20 mm
So the thickness of the weld (s) = 2 * t
S = 2 * 1.20
= 2.40 mm
The thickness of the weld is less than
3mm so the welded joint is more efficient

Dimensions of the
proposed lap joint

1.20mm

4mm

Properties of the low

carbon steel
S.NO

PROPERTY

UNIT

VALUE

Resistivity

72

Melting point

Thermal
conductivity

W/m.K

46

Hardness

HRB

65

1363

Heat generated in the

welding process
Welding

current ( I ) = 14 kA
Resistance
( R ) = 72
Time of current flow at each point
( t ) =5 s
Heat generated = I * R * t
= 14000 * 72 * 5
= 7.05 kW

Time required for heat

transfer
Time=

( Heat conduction * Thickness ) /

(Thermal conductivity x Area x(Thot-Tcold)

( 705600 * 0.0012 )
46 * 0.00364 *( 1115-30 )
= 4.66 sec
Actual operation takes 5 sec , so there is a
sufficient time for the heat transfer into the work
from the electrode
The new dimensions does not affect the welding
speed

Dimensions of the steel

sheet for the drum
S.NO

PARAMETE
R

EXISTING
(mm)

PROPOSED
(mm)

Length

1800

1798

Width

910

910

Thickness

1.22

1.20

Model of the proposed

steel drum

Dimensions of the steel

drum
S.N
O

VARIABLE

DESCRIPTION

DIMENSION
(mm)

D1

Internal diameter

571mm

D2

External diameter

596 (max)

D3

Diameter over chime

585 (max)

H1

Total drum height

878 5

P1

Centre to centre distance

closures

451 1

H3

Clearance from floor

4 (min)

H4

Distance between beads

280 3

Material used for steel

drums
The

body and ends of the drums is

made from cold rolled low carbon steel
sheets
The sheets and the blanks are
phosphatized to protect the outer layer
The cold rolled steel sheets and strips
conform to IS 8910 : 1978 standard.

Chemical composition of
the raw material
S.NO

CONSTITUE
NT

PERCENTA
GE
(%)

TOLERANC
E
( +/- )

Carbon

0.12

0.02

Manganese

0.50

0.03

Sulphur

0.04

0.005

Phosphorus

0.04

0.005

Process flow in shell

manufacturing
Shearing

Degreasing

Preheating

Roll
forming

Lids fixing
& twin
tester

Painting

Seam
welding

Shell
testing

Paint
baking

Flange
making

Bead
expander

Air cooling

Shearing
Shearingrefers

to the occurrence of a
shearstrain, which is adeformationof a
material substance in which parallel
internal surfaces slide past one another.
It is induced by ashear stressin the
material.
Shearing process is required to trim the
excess width of the sheet metal
The shearing machine exerts a force of
200 ton.

Roll forming
Roll

forming is a continuous bending

operation performed on metal strip at
room temperature.
The trimmed sheet metal is rolled as a
shell by passing through a pre set
arrangement of rolling cylinders.
The excess length of the sheet is over
lapped for welding process

Continuous seam welding

Specification of the
welding machine
S.N
O

PARAMETER

VALUE

UNIT

Current

1.4

kA

Voltage

450

Volt

Welding speed

11.3

m/min

Force

1.4

kN

Water supply

120

l/min

Resistance welding
Heat

is generated by the passage of

electric current through a resistance
circuit. The force applied and current
flow welds the heated parts together so
that coalescence will occur.
Pressure is required throughout the
entire welding cycle to assure a
continuous electrical supply throughout
the work.

Flanger
Flanger

is a machine which creates a

flange at both the end of the steel shell
Flanger applies 150 Ton force at either
side of the shell simultaneously
The height of the shell after the flange
creation should be 890 2 mm
The end lids are fixed at the flanges of
the shell

Bead expander
Bead

expander is used produce the

rolling hoop at circumference of shell
The rolling is generated so that the steel
drum can be rolled over the ground
freely
The diameter of the bead is 595 2 mm
A mechanical force of 1200 kN is
applied by the rollers to produce the
rolling hoops

Air leakage test

The

drum is tested for the leakage at air

pressure of 50 kPa , covered with soap
solution at the welded end.
The drum must not shown any sign of
leakage of air
There is no drop in the test pressure
when observed for 1 min.

Hydraulic test
The

drum was subjected to a

gradually applied hydraulic pressure
of 200 kPa
The pressure is generated by the
centrifugal pump and regulated by
control valve
This pressure is maintained for 5 min
There is no leakage of water and drop
in the hydraulic pressure

Drop test
The

drum is filled with 98 percent of its gross

capacity with water and closed.
The gross capacity is 210 liter
The drum is suspended with the diagonal in
the vertical position and raised to the height
so that the lowest point on the drum is 1.80
m clear off the horizontal striking surface
The drum is dropped so it strikes the
concrete surface of 40mm thick and
There was no considerable damage found

Cost efficient calculation

Length

of the raw material saved per

unit
= 2 mm
For very 900 unit one additional drum can
be manufactured (ie. 5 drums per shift
and 10 drums per day )
Cost of the drum = Rs. 1500 / unit
Additional Revenue = 10 * 1500
= Rs.
15000/day

Results
The

number of drums produced per day

increased by 10 units , which in turn
resulted in an additional revenue of
Rs 15000.
Rejection rates in the automatic seam
welding machine reduced by over 70%
with the newly implemented design.
The newly proposed dimensions has no
effect on quality characterises of the
drum.

Thank You