Reduction of spatter in high-speed pulsed MAG welding

Summary

Undercut and/or humping are generated when the arc length in high-speed pulsed MAG welding is too high, and spatter is generated if it is too low. Refinement of the droplets from the wire and simultaneous maintenance of one droplet transfer per pulse avoid short-circuiting in a short arc and enable spatter and highspeed/high-efficiency welding to be rendered compatible with each other. The requirements are to maintain a stable droplet shape during one droplet transfer per pulse, to maximise the welding speed limit without spatter generation, and to develop a technology for arc length shortening at the limit of short-circuiting by wire droplet refinement as objectives basically centred on pulsed MAG welding. This paper describes an investigation of the factors controlling droplet transfer through a division being made into the driving force imparted to the droplets and the deformability of the weld metal receiving this force as well as a method of droplet refinement based on resolution of these aspects. Through the simple rectangular wave pulse of a high peak current being set for a short time using an inverter-type pulsed power source at a constant wire diameter to increase the electromagnetic pinch force, one droplet transfer per pulse is possible on condition that the droplet volume is reduced by around 30% as compared with that obtained using a conventional power source with a chopping transistor on the secondary side. To increase the droplet deformability, the wire composition can be changed to achieve one droplet transfer per pulse on condition that the droplet volume is reduced by 20%. These droplets also show the same surface tension as conventional droplets as well as a lower viscosity coefficient. Through a combination of a pulsed current waveform and improved wire properties, the droplet volume can be reduced to around one half that of conventional droplets. The critical speed of spatter- and defect-free welding is then increased as an improvement immediately applicable on an actual automotive mass production line.