HISTORY OF WELDING

 GAS WELDING
 ELECTRIC ARC WELDING
 RESISTANCE WELDING

 Gas welding

 Process discovered by , a French chemist, Henry Louis Le Chatelier in 1895,

 It was demostrated by him that the combustion of acetylene and Oxygen produced a
flame , whose temperature was more than any gas flame
 But the commercial success of he process was limited by the availability of oxygen
and acetylene availability
 With the introduction of the practical/usable type of torches, the Oxy acetylene
industrial usage of the process commenced

Electric Arc welding

 First described in 1809 by Davy in England

 With the Improvement in dyanamos and generators, in 1877-80, Auguste de meritens
established the welding process In 1881
 Frenchman Moissan suggested the joining of metals by Carbon electrode ARC, but it was
only in 1885-1889, Russians Bernardos and Olszewski patented and demonstrated the
use of Single carbon arc for welding
 In 1889 Zerener improvised the idea and demonstrated the welding by Twin carbon arc
 In 1892, in Germany, N G Slavianoff ,welding by usage of bare wire was demonstrated
 In 1907, in Sweden Oscar kjellerberg on obtaining the patent demonstrated, the use of
covered electrode for the welding .The coating was primariy for arc stablising
 In 1912, the Strohmenger of USA developed the electrode with the coating of blue
asbestos and silicate binder and better quality was achieved
Since then considerable developments have been made in the field

Wrt the other welding process the following are the important dates
 Arc and molten pool shielding with inert gas was advented by Alexander
(USA) in the year 1928
 Patenting for TIG welding by Hobart and Devers(USA) in 1930 and first Gas
TIG SPOT WELDING was undertkan in 1946
 MIG welding in 1948
 SAW in 1935
 Atomic hydrogen welding in 1921(USA)
 Stud welding in 1918 by Martin
 Electroslag welding in 1953 in Russia
 Plasma arc welding in usa IN 1953
 RESISTANCE WELDING
  Elihu Thompson , Professor in Philadelphia – 1886 , demonstrated
the resistance welding techniques

SCIENCE OF WELDING

 Science Of welding
 Welding arc
Arc Initiation
Arc structure and mechanism
Types of welding arc
Temperature spectrum in welding arc( self study)
Arc characteristics( self study)
Arc Stability
Arc Blow

Welding Arc(Pg 539 OPK) ( fig 28.1 Pg 541)

 As arc is stuck 50% of electric energy fed is available in the form of heat energy
 Utilized for
Melting the base metal and the electrode
 Formation of strong joint between the two metals
Transferring of the material
Creation of turbulence in the molten pool
Influences slag-gas metal reactions
Weld bead geometry
Weld metal metallurgical structure

And in turn influencing the mechanical properties and strength of the

weld metal

Definition

Sustained electrical discharge through the ionized gas

 Discharge initiated by an avalanche of electrons emitted from hot

electrode and maintained by the thermal ionization of hot gas

 It is a high current—20000 amps and low voltage—10-50V discharge
 Can be considered as flexible conductor carrying the electrical discharge

in a vector motion and a plasma jet in kinetic motion

Arc Initiation(Pg 540)

 Initiated by providing the conducting path between electrode and the Job or by ionizing

the gap between the two

 Achieved in the following ways
 By momentarily touching he electrode and job and then moving away the

electrode
 By scratching the electrode with the job
 Or steel wool is placed between the electrode and the job and then the

current is switched ON, Steel wool providing the conducting path. This

method is usd in SAW and MIG welding( Automatic)

  By carbon rod in the automatic Metal arc welding wherein the current is

passed to both job and electrode .carbon rod then used to short.ckt and

then removed to create and sustain the arc in the normal manner
 By using the High Frequency Unit , in case of the TIG welding

ARC STRUCTURE AND MECHANISM

Arc constitutes a mechanism by which,

 Electrons are emitted from the cathode ,

 Pass thro the hot ionized arc column

 And transferred to the anode wherein, electrons get condensed and

absorbed.

In ARC--there are three distinct zones

 Cathode drop region or Cathode fall space

 Arc column or arc plasma—spread over an approximate distances of 10(-

2) to 10(-1) mm and they are neutral as it contains equal no of electrons

and protons

 Anode drop region or anode fall space

  Conditions in arc columns , different from the cathode and the work pieces

 The plasma in the vicinity of the electrode and anode, cannot maintain the

temperature as it comes in contact with the cooler job

 Hence higher temperature gradient exists in both ends of the arc column and

the arc gets divided into three distinct zones

In terms of thermal energy, the

The most concentrated heat source is CATHODE

Hottest region is the arc column

Anode is the area wherein the large heat is produced

The salient points involved in the mechanism are as follows-

Electrons emitted from cathode accelerated in the cathode drop region an gain energy

As they enter arc column, the electrons collide with the particles and ionize them

Subsequently the ions are attracted to cathode and the electrons towards anode and are

concentrated

Due to above concentration, a NON LINEAR voltage distribution is prevalent along the

arc length and high electric field strengths around cathode and anode

Further, Magnetic field strength,Current density, and the pressure decrease from

cathode drop region towards the arc column, as the cross section increase rapidly in the

column

Based on the conditions prevalent arc, the electric current flows, along the axis of the

arc , both along the axis and transversely

This in turn leads to the self induced magnetic field, that compresses the arc plasma

(PINCH EFFECT) , both in appreciable axial and radial pressure gradients in arc.

This radial pressure gradient constricts the arc, raises the temperature of the arc

discharge, whereas the axial pressure gradient gives rise PLASMA STREAMING

o Which in turn transports material (METAL, and SLAG Particles) and heat from

electrode to work piece.

o Plasma Stream stabilizes the arc, and exerts a pressure on molten pool that aids

in proper penetration.

(Fig 28.2 Pg 542)

CATHODE DROP ZONE

Contained within two imaginary planes---

o One at the end of cathode spot and the other

o At the beginning of the arc column

This zone is important as the electrons are produced here and stability of arc

also depends on the supply of electrons

The significance is more while using AC as the ARC is to be ignited at every half

cycle

Different mechanisms of cathode drop of electrons for ( Self study)

 Electrodes of High melting point material—Thro Thermionic

Emissions( wherein the cathode spot is not well defined)

  Low melting point material-Field emissions( wherein the cathode spots are

both well and non well defined)

 Plasma emission wherein the cathode spot is well defined

ARC PLASMA COLUMN

 The salient features are

 Arc column consists of radiating mixture of electrons, ions and highly excited

neutral atoms and molecules

 Ensures that current flows between the electrode and anode
 Though both ions and electrons carry the current, majority of the current is

carried by electrons only, as the mass of ions are more and they hence very

less mobility

 The temperature in the arc column is normally of the range of 5000-50000

deg Kg
Anode drop Zone
 Situated between the anode spot and place where the arc column finishes
 Forms the electrical connection between the arc plasma and anode
 Potential drop exists , as the concentration of electrons that enter the zone from arc column
 THREE phenomenon occurs
 Temperature falls( from that of column)
 Ions produced, accelerated towards the arc column
 Formation of Positive ions are influenced by the temperature and anode plasma composition

TYPES OF WELDING ARC

Two types

o Normal mode and

o Cathode spot mode

( the above was observed in the TIG welding)

 Normal mode is most stable and readily obtainable, in any other processes

 Cathode spot mode exhibits a constriction of plasma at cathode , and accompanied by a

higher voltage for a given arc length

Fig 28.3 Pg 544

 Across the arc, the cathode spot mode exhibits higher intensity temperature spectrum

as compared to the normal mode

Fig 28.4 Pg 545

ARC STABILTIY

 Stable means UNIFORM AND STEADY

 Stable arc will produce good and defect free weld

 Defects due to arc instability are

Slag entrapment, Porosity, Blow holes and lack of proper fusion

Factors governing the stability are

o Proper matching of arc and power source characteristics

o Continuous and proper emission of electrons from the electrode and thermal
ionization in the arc column. Emissivity an be improved by adding the alloying
elements

o ( Thorium , Zr added to Tungsten)

o Position and movements of cathode and anode

o Arc length and arc currents

o Electrode tip and geometry in case of TIG welding

o In case of AC welding

Steadiness of current as regards its magnitude and wave shape

Use of HF units in TIG welding

Use of arc stabilizing materials in coating of flux covered matl

Conditions of promoting arc blow

Presence of dampness,Oil,Grease

Insufficient practice of welder

ARC BLOW

 Unwanted deflection or wandering of the welding arc from its intended path

 Other name is ARC BOW

 Arc blow is the result of magnetic disturbances , built up due to several factors, which

imbalance the symmetry of self- induced magnetic field around the electrode, arc and

work place

Factors affecting the arc blow are

 Magnetic fields produced in workpiece adjacent to welding arc, because of

current flow thro arc

 Presence of bus bars carrying large direct current ,adjacent to pace where the
welding is being carried out

 Influence of one or more welding heads, wherein welding is undertaken by

multiple head/electrode

 Magnetic field produced due to the earthing of job

Types and mechanism of arc blow are—

Forward, Backward and Side arc blow

(Fig 28.13 , 28.14)

Mechanism of arc blow

Fig 28.14 Pg 554

 Ref fig and the mag flux lines

 Due to the crowding of the magnetic flux lines at the start and the finish of the job and

 That the flux finds an easy path thro workpiece than air
  Thereafter the arc seeks a path of least resistance and deflects towards the weak flux
side---- fwd and backwd blow

 Sideward arc blow-- due to the earting clamp

Fig 28..15

Primarily due to the magnetic flux produced by the flow of current from clamp
to work piece

ARC Rotation

Due to the magnetic field lines parallel to the arc axis

Fig 28.16

Effects of arc blow—

 Difficulty for welder to undertake welding

 Irregular and erratic weld depositon

 Undercut, lack of fusion

 Spatter

 Porosity

 Slag entrapment