Self-regulation of the arc in consumable electrode welding

Abstract

The characteristic features, criteria and algorithm of the currently available method of self-regulation of the arc in mechanised arc welding with a constant consumable electrode feed rate are investigated. The main problem is that when it is necessary to reduce the welding current, for example with an increase of the thickness of the welded edges or the leg length of the fillet welded joint, welding should be carried out with a wire with a smaller diameter, down to 0.5 mm or even 0.3 mm. This complicates welding technology and increases the price of the wire because of multiple drawing of the wire to the small diameter. Therefore, the main task is to improve the algorithm of self-regulation of the arc and, consequently, reduce the minimum value of the current density, lower than 30 A/mm2 for a steel wire with a diameter of 5 mm at which self-regulation of the arc is still possible, in order to widen the technological possibilities of the method and reduce the cost of technology. The authors believe that this approach would make it possible to produce efficient tools for understanding physical processes accompanying the formation of permanent joints by different arc welding methods.