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What Every Engineer Should Know About Welding PDF
What Every Engineer Should Know About Welding PDF
ENGINEER
SHOULD KNOW
ABOUT WELDING
From amperage
W
ITHIN THE WELDING INDUS - primary variable in determining
TRY, THE TERM W E L D I N G heat input. Generally, an increase in
P ROCEDURE S PECIFICATION amperage means higher deposition
to preheat, (or WPS) is used to signify the com- rates, deeper penetration, and more
bination of variables used to make a admixture. The amperage flowing
theres more to certain weld. At a minimum the through an electrical circuit is the
WPS (or Welding Procedure or same, regardless of where it is mea-
welding simply Procedure) consists of:
process (Shielded Metal Arc Welding
sured. It may be measured with a
tong meter or with the use of an
procedures than [SMAW], Flux Cored Arc Welding
[FCAW], etc.); electrode specification
electrical shunt. The role of amper-
age is best understood in the context
meets the eye (AWS A5.1, A5.20, etc.); electrode
classification (E7018, E71T-1, etc.);
of heat input and current density
considerations. For CV welding, an
By Duane K. Miller, P.E. electrode diameter; electrical charac- increase in wire feed speed will
teristics ( (AC, DC+, DC-); base directly increase amperage. For
metal specification (A36, A572 Gr. SMAW on CC systems, the machine
50, etc.); minimum preheat and setting determines the basic amper-
interpass temperature; welding cur- age, although changes in the arc
rent (amperage)/wire feed speed; arc length (controlled by the welder) will
voltage; travel speed; position of further change amperage. Longer
welding; post weld heat treatment; arc lengths reduce amperage.
shielding gas type and flow rate; and Arc voltage is directly related to
joint design details. arc length. As the voltage increases,
The welding procedure is some- the arc length increases, as does the
what analogous to a cooks recipe: It demand for arc shielding. For CV
outlines the steps required to make welding, the voltage is determined
a quality weld under specific condi- primarily by the machine setting, so
tions. the arc length is relatively fixed in
CV welding. For SMAW on CC sys-
EFFECTS OF WELDING VARIABLES tems, however, the arc voltage is
The effects of the variables are determined by the arc length, which
somewhat dependent on the welding is manipulated by the welder. As arc
process being employed, but general lengths are increased with SMAW,
trends apply to all the processes. It the arc voltage will increase, and the
is important to distinguish the dif- amperage will decrease. Arc voltage
ference between constant current also controls the width of the weld
(CC) and constant voltage (CV) elec- bead, with higher voltages generat-
trical welding systems. Shielded ing wider beads. Arc voltage has a
metal arc welding is always done direct effect on the heat input com-
with a CC system, while flux cored putation.
welding and gas metal arc welding The voltage in a welding circuit
generally are performed with CV is not constant, but is composed of a
systems. Submerged arc may utilize series of voltage drops. Consider the
either. following example: assume the
Amperage is a measure of the power source delivers a total system
amount of current flowing through voltage of 40 volts. Between the
the electrode and the work. It is a power source and the welding head