Metal Transfer Mechanisms in Hot-Wire Gas Metal Arc Welding

The hot-wire gas metal arc welding (HW-GMAW) process is widely used to increase the melting rate of a secondary wire through Joule heating without significantly increasing the total heat input to the substrate. Because there is limited knowledge regarding the associated arc dynamics and its influence on bead geometry, the present study considers how these are affected by the hot-wire polarity (negative or positive), hot-wire feed rate, and hot-wire orientation using a two-factor full factorial experiment with three replicates. During welding, high-speed imaging synchronized with current and voltage acquisition to study the arc dynamics. After this, each replicated weld was cut into three cross sections, which were examined by standard metallography. The preliminary results suggest that the arc was stable within the range of process parameters studied. The arc polarity played a role on arc position relative to the hot wire, with a decrease in penetration depth observed when the arc was attracted to the hot wire.