To improve the corrosion-resistant properties of carbon steel cladding process is usually used. It is a process of depositing a thick layer of corrosion resistant material-over carbon steel plate. Most of the engineering applications require high strength and corrosion resistant materials for long-term reliability and performance. By cladding, these properties can be achieved with minimum cost. The main problem faced in cladding is the selection of optimum combinations of process parameters for achieving quality clad and hence good clad bead geometry. This paper highlights an experimental study to optimize various input process parameters (welding current, welding speed, gun angle, contact tip to work distance, and pinch) to get optimum dilution in stainless steel cladding of low-carbon structural steel plates using gas metal arc welding (GMAW). Experiments were conducted based on central composite rotatable design with full-replication technique and mathematical models were developed using multiple regression method. The developed models have been checked for adequacy and significance. Using particle swarm optimization (PSO) the parameters were optimized to get minimal dilution. 1. Introduction Prevention of corrosion is a major problem in industries. Even though it cannot be eliminated completely, it can be reduced to some extent. A corrosion resistant protective layer is made over the less corrosion resistant substrate by a process called cladding. This technique is used to improve life of engineering components but also reduce their cost. This process is mainly used in industries such as chemical, textiles, nuclear, steam power plants, food processing, and petro-chemical industries [1]. Most accepted method of employed in weld cladding is GMAW. It has got the following advantages.(i)High reliability;(ii)all position capability;(iii)ease to use;(iv)low cost;(v)high productivity;(vi)suitable for both ferrous and non ferrous metals; (vii)high deposition rate;(viii)absences of fluxes;(ix)cleanliness and ease of mechanization. The mechanical strength of clad metal is highly influenced by the composition of metal but also by clad bead shape. This is an indication of bead geometry. Figure 1 shows the clad bead geometry. It mainly depends on wire feed rate, welding speed, arc voltage, and so forth. Therefore it is necessary to study the relationship between in process parameters and bead parameters to study clad bead geometry. Using mathematical models it can be achieved. Figure 1: Clad bead geometry. Percentage dilution (D) = [ B/( A+ B)] × 100. This paper
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