Contributions of the High Frequency Dynamic Wire Feeding in the GTAW Process for Increased Robustness

Abstract

The GTAW process is recognized as a process of high metallurgical quality, being widely used in the pipelines welding, mainly in the root pass. The relative independence between the heat delivered to the melting pool and the amount of material added helps to control the melting of the material and to avoid the appearance of welding discontinuities such as lack of fusion and lack ok penetration. When orbital welding is carried out, mainly in the overhead position, there is a tendency of electrode contamination by the melted wire, reducing process productivity and quality. In this scenario, there are some strands of the GTAW process that aim for increased productivity, reconciled with the already present high metallurgical quality. These includes low and high frequency dynamic wire feeding, preheating wire and tangential wire insertion. The present work deals with the contribution of the high frequency dynamic wire feeding for the increase of robustness in the GTAW process, evidencing through voltage monitoring and high speed filming the formation of regular and uniform drops for the process stability. Key-words: TIG; Pulsed wire feeding; Oscillating wire; Automatic GTAW welding.