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Demystifying contact tips

The more you know, the better they will perform

PRACTICAL WELDING TODAY SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 (/PUBLICATION/PWT/SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER-2013)

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
BY RUDY SIMMONS (/AUTHOR/RUDY-SIMMONS)

(https://cdn.thefabricator.com/a/demystifying-contact-tips-fig1.jpg?size=1000x1000)
Using a contact tip that is too big or too small can create problems such as microarcing, overheating, friction, and wire jamming
—all of which can lead to wire burnback.

Contact tips are one of the most frequently misunderstood and most often replaced components of a welding gun
setup. The contact tip is responsible for guiding the wire and transferring the current from the conductor tube—
sometimes referred to as a swanneck or gooseneck—through the filler wire and ultimately to the workpiece. Its
critical functions include current transfer and wire targeting.

Contact tip size determines what wire size you can use and the amount of filler material that will be distributed
during welding. When a contact tip begins to wear, the through-hole elongates and loses electrical conductivity,
which greatly affects the gun’s ability to transfer current to the welding wire. Additionally, the tool center point (TCP)
begins to fluctuate as the wire dances around inside the now oversized tip. These conditions lead to poor arc starts,
lower penetration, and decreased weld quality.

Choosing the correct contact tip for your welding application and understanding how to keep it performing at its best
are just as critical as choosing all the other components and parameters needed to produce a quality weld.

Common Contact Tip Types

Three types of contact types are most commonly used in welding applications, and each has its pros and cons.

Standard Copper Contact Tip (E-Cu). A standard copper contact tip has a relatively high current transfer rate at
greater than 55 S/m* electrical conductivity, and it is used mostly in hand-held welding applications.

Although standard copper offers the highest conductivity of all of the standard alloys, it is more susceptible to
mechanical wear than other materials. As a raw mineral, copper naturally is relatively soft, which means it makes
current transfer easier, but it also means the material has a lower melting point. As the temperature rises in an E-Cu
tip, it becomes softer than the wire that is being fed through it. As the copper softens, the wire wears and deforms
the internal diameter of the tip. This prevents the wire from contacting the tip correctly, which decreases conductivity
and leads to arc-start issues, burnback, and poor welds.

The E-Cu tip is usually the most affordable, so it’s generally an acceptable trade-off to frequently replace it when
precise wire targeting is not critical.

Copper-Chrome-Zirconium Contact Tip (CuCrZr). A copper-chrome-zirconium tip generally is used in automated

and robotic welding applications where precise TCP is needed and high duty cycles occur. Although there is some
decline in electrical conductivity compared with the standard copper tip (50 S/m), it is sufficient for most steel
applications.
However, since CuCrZr alloy softens at a much higher temperature, it tends to have a longer life span than standard
copper tips. Generally speaking, the tip maintains its shape up to approximately 932 degrees F versus 500 degrees
for E-Cu. Therefore, the higher-density material leads to a lower wear rate and increases the tip’s performance and
productivity.

Silver-Plated CuCrZr Contact Tip. Over the years technological advancements in contact tips have revealed that
silver plating the interior and exterior of a CuCrZr tip further enhances its overall performance.

(https://cdn.thefabricator.com/a/demystifying-contact-tips-fig2.jpg?size=1000x1000)
When a contact tip begins to wear, the through-hole elongates and loses electrical conductivity, which greatly affects the gun’s
ability to transfer current to the welding wire.

Silver is more conductive than copper (62.1 S/m), which reduces microarcing, extends contact tip life, improves arc
starts, and provides consistent weld quality. Silver is approximately 17 percent denser than copper and it has a
higher melting point. Silver’s shiny surface helps to reflect heat. As a result, spatter doesn’t adhere to the tip as
easily and it doesn’t wear down quite as quickly. In fact, the life span of a silver-plated CuCrZr contact tip can be
nine times longer than that of a standard precision-drawn copper tip.

With significant improvements in material, a silver-plated contact tip can cost up to 50 percent more than the
standard nonplated CuCrZr tip. Welders who choose to use a silver-plated contact tip usually do so for one reason
—less welding downtime. The more a robot welds, the greater the throughput. Based on the overall longevity,
current transfer, and quality of material, the silver-plated tips are an excellent choice for automatic and robotic
welding applications.

Advice to Avoid Common Contact Tip Problems

Once you’ve matched your contact tip to your welding application, there are a few things you can do to make sure
you are getting the most out of it and not inadvertently creating problems that could decrease its life span or
effectiveness.

Let the torch cool before you change a contact tip. A hot torch can make changing a contact tip very
difficult and hazardous. The presence of heat makes it easier to cross-thread the new contact tip, ruining not
only the tip, but also the torch neck.
Use the correct tip size. Using an oversized tip results in poor current transfer; increased microarcing; and
hotter tip temperatures, which lead to wire burnback. Using an undersized tip increases friction and causes
the wire to jam in the tip or feed erratically, which also results in wire burnback.
Properly tighten the tip. A contact tip that has not been tightened down correctly causes poor current
transfer, microarcing, and overheating. When this takes place you will most likely experience erratic wire
feeding, poor arc starts, and burnback of the weld wire into the tip.
Read your tip’s appearance for problems that you can’t necessarily see. A contact tip that has turned
blue or purple is generally a sign that you have a poor connection (including the ground), your consumables
are too big, or you have exceeded the torch’s amperage rating or duty cycle. In severe instances the contact
tip’s exterior surface will become covered in scale.

* S/m, siemens per meter, also written as m/Ω mm2, meter per ohm millimeter squared, is a unit of measurement for
electric conductivity.

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Rudy Simmons
Product Engineer
Abicor Binzel Corp.
650 Medimmune Court, Suite 110
Frederick, MD 21703
Phone: 800-542-4867

http://www.binzel-abicor.com (http://www.binzel-abicor.com)

More Content by Rudy Simmons (/author/rudy-simmons)

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