High deposition rate cladding by non-consumable electrode arc processes

Abstract

Non-consumable electrode arc processes, i.e. tungsten inert gas (TIG) and plasma arc (PA) welding, produce high quality welds and overlays for many engineering alloys. However, their deposition rates are low compared with consumable electrode arc welding processes such as metal inert gas (MIG) and submerged arc (SA) welding. Therefore, there is a constant industrial interest in developments to increase their throughputs. In the present paper, hot wire TIG and plasma cladding were investigated. In the hot wire process, the filler wire was resistance heated prior to entering the weld pool to improve the melting efficiency. Comparison charts for cold and hot wire processes at various cladding parameters are presented. Results show that a significant increase in deposition rate and thus productivity can be achieved with the hot wire technique in both TIG and plasma processes. This study has demonstrated that hot wire TIG and plasma cladding processes have many potential industrial applications where high quality and high productivity are required.