Modes of Metal Transfer in Welding Processes

Somnath Chattopadhyaya
Department of Mechanical Engineering
IIT/ISM Dhanbad

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 Lesson Objectives
•Classification of modes of Metal
Transfer in Welding
•Youtube Videos of modes of Metal
Transfer in Welding

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Modes of Metal transfer in welding
•Selecting the appropriate
mode of transfer depends on
the welding process, 
•welding power supply and
•consumable that is being used.

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Modes of Metal transfer in MIG welding
• There are four basic modes of transfer in
the welding process:
• short circuit,
• globular,
• spray and
• pulsed spray.

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 MIG Welding Transfer Methods
• When MIG welding, a continuous solid wire electrode is fed
through a welding gun along with shielding gas, normally an
Argon mix.
• The materials are joined together when the consumable solid wire
connects with a current which creates an “arc" between the weld
metal and the base material.
• The different transfer methods are how the weld metal from the
consumable electrode is transferred to the base material over the
arc.
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 MIG Welding Transfer Methods
• There are no settings on a MIG welder to choose a
transfer method - each method is achieved through
voltage / amperage (wire feed speed) setting
adjustments and the type of shielding gas mixture used.
• The Pulse transfer is the exception, where one needs a
special MIG power source for this method, as well as
the proper wire feeder along with a high argon content
shielding gas mixture.
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Modes of Metal transfer in welding

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 Short Circuit transfer
• Short circuit is the coldest form of MIG welding and uses
low voltage.
• In the Short Circuit transfer method, the consumable
electrode wire arcs and touches the base material and shorts.
• This creates a small, quickly solidifying, weld metal puddle
that drips into the weld joint fusing the materials together
sometimes referred to as “fast freezing.”
• Short Circuit method is great for thinner materials but you
risk “cold lapping” on thicker materials.
• This method also creates an increased amount of spatter.
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Characteristics of Short Circuit transfer

•Small Wire Size

•Low Average Ampere
•CV Power Source
•Upper Limit = 180 A

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Advantages and disadvantages of Short
Circuit transfer
• Advantages
- Low Amperage
- Thin Materials
- Out of Position
• Disadvantages
- Spatter
- Cold Lap
- Under Cut can not short arc for all materials

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Globular
• Globular transfer method is very similar to the short circuit transfer
method, which the consumable electrode wire arcs and touches the
base material and shorts.
• The difference comes in how long the consumable electrode melts.
• In Globular method, the wire is heated longer and creates a large
volume of weld metal that drips into the weld joint.
• It uses a high heat input and also risks less fusion because of large
amounts of spatter disrupting the weld puddle.
• One is limited to flat and horizontal fillet welds with this method.

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Characteristics of Globular Transfer
• Droplet Size approximately three times of the
wire diameter
• Ampere range 140 to 400 A
• Higher Voltages
• Uses gravity to transfer metal

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Advantages and disadvantages of Globular
transfer
• Advantages
- Higher Deposition
- larger wire
• Disadvantages
- Spatter
- Flat and Horizontal only
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 Spray Arc
• In the Spray Arc transfer method, small droplets of molten metal
from the consumable electrode are sprayed into the weld joint.
• This is a pure CV (constant-voltage) process that sends a
constant stream of weld metal across the arc to the base
material.
• This method uses a high heat input and one risks burn-through
on thinner materials and only allows for limited to flat and
horizontal weld positions.

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Basic Characteristics of Spray Transfer

• Droplet size is much smaller than the wire

diameter
• Must use inner ioning gas( specially argon based)
• Limited to 20 amps and up
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Advantages and disadvantages of Spray
Transfer
• Advantages
- No spatter
- Good wash
- Good Deposition rate
- Good appearance
• Disadvantages
- Very hot arc
- Flat and Horizontal only
- Limited penetration
- Can not weld thin material
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 Pulsed MIG
• Pulsed MIG transfer method is a modified form of the
Spray Arc method, taking the best parts of all the transfer
methods and minimizing their disadvantages.
• Pulse MIG welding does require a special power source,
which pulses the voltage many times per second.
• This allows one droplet of molten metal to form at the
end of the consumable wire and the current, and then
pushes the droplet across the arc into the weld puddle.

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 Pulsed MIG
• A droplet is formed every pulse.
• Since the voltage drops on every pulse, this
creates a longer cooling off period and may
reduce the HAZ from the weld.
• Pulse MIG transfer minimizes spatter or the
risk of cold lapping, and weld positioning is
not as limited as the Globular and Spray
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Role of Surface tension metal transfer
• Surface tension plays a very important role in metal transfer; in free-
flight transfer it is the principal force which prevents droplet
detachment and, in dip transfer, it is the major force which pulls the
droplet into the weld pool.
• A simple static analysis of the drop-retaining force in globular
transfer would suggest that the force is given by
Fst=2πrwσf(rw/c)
where rw, is the wire diameter, σ is the surface tension and f(rw/c) is a
function of wire diameter and the constant of capillarity c.
For large droplets, the value of this equation approximates to 2πrw.

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 Role of Surface tension metal transfer
• Calculation of the magnitude of the force due to surface tension
is, however, complicated by the significant temperature
dependence and the dramatic influence of certain surface-active
elements (for example at the melting point of steel its surface
tension will be reduced by around 30% by a concentration of
0.1% oxygen and the effect of small amounts of sulphur in
changing the surface tension/temperature gradient.
• Values of 300 dyn for aluminium and 600 dyn for steel have been
calculated, however, for globular transfer with a 1.6 mm
diameter wire.
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 Video on Modes of Metal transfer in welding
• Short Circuit
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_edwUW92u0&feature=emb_title
• Globular
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngrqcDdVyhM&feature=emb_title
• Spray
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNRBSUNvFEs&feature=emb_title
• Pulse
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKbZPjNPBHE&feature=emb_title

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