Real-Time Assessment of the Reliability of Welds in Steel Strips

Some steel manufacturing lines require a continuous infinite steel strip for their permanent operation. In order to fulfill this requirement, single steel strips are welded in the input section of these lines. However, welding becomes a critical process, since a possible failure could delay the normal operation of a manufacturing line for days, making a testing process by a technician necessary. This paper proposes a method to assess the reliability of welds in steel strips based on statistical information gathered from the welding variables. Using the reliability assessment the technician can adapt the tests by reducing or even eliminating them.