Journal of Manufacturing Processes 58 (2020) 936–954

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Journal of Manufacturing Processes

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/manpro

Review

Research status and future perspectives on ultrasonic arc welding technique

Yajie Wang, Chun Yu, Hao Lu *, Junmei Chen *
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Materials Laser Processing and Modification, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240,
PR China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In recent years, ultrasonic arc welding technology, a novel and promising welding process, has been widely
Ultrasonic applied in the welding of steel, aluminum alloy, titanium alloy, nickel base alloy and composite materials to
Arc welding improve the welding efficiency and quality of the welded joints. This paper reviews the research status of ul­
Microstructure
trasonic arc welding technology, systematically classifies and summarizes the process of ultrasonic arc welding in
Mechanical properties
terms of different ultrasonic energy forms, and evaluates the limitations of the processes. Based on the experi­
Mechanisms
ment and simulation results, this paper summarizes the effect mechanisms of ultrasonic on the arc characteristics
and molten pool behaviors during arc welding, namely the theories of ultrasonic vibration and electromagnetic
field, and briefly discusses the association mechanism of ultrasonic vibration and electromagnetic field. Finally,
we summary the systematic results supporting the association mechanism. On the one hand, ultrasonic energy
leads to arc compression, which can effectively improve the arc stiffness, arc pressure and energy density, thus
improving the arc thermal efficiency and welding efficiency. On the other hand, the ultrasonic stirring and
mixing effects as well as the high-frequency pulsed electromagnetic field force introduced by the ultrasonic
energy accelerate the thermal convection circulation and the flow of the molten pool, and affect the solidification
and crystallization behavior of the molten pool, thus improving the formation, microstructure and mechanical
properties of the weld. The paper aims to comprehensively review the ultrasonic arc welding process and
mechanisms, and provide guidance for the future research and development in ultrasonic arc welding technique.

1. Introduction
By virtue of the lower process cost and energy consumption,
manufacturing processes assisted with ultrasonic vibration have been
widely investigated or applied, it showed that the processes markedly
improved the properties of the products [1–9]. As one of the most widely
used welding technologies, conventional arc welding technology is
suffering from several challenges, like low welding penetration, low
productivity, high porosity and significant softening of HAZ (heat
affected zone) [10]. A large number of scholars have been devoting to
the improvement of ultrasonic arc welding equipment and process,
aiming on enhancing the heat efficiency of arc welding, reducing the
weld defects, and improving the quality of the welded joints. Ultrasonic
arc welding process, introducing ultrasonic energy into the arc welding
process, can not only realize contraction and ultrasound effects on the
arc [11], and oscillation and agitation effects on the molten pool during
welding [12], but also realize uniformity and refinement of the micro­
structure, and significant reduction of the porosity and crack in the
welded joints [13]. According to the different ways of introducing ul­
trasonic energy, ultrasonic arc welding can be divided into two types,
namely mechanical ultrasonic vibration (UV) assisted arc welding by
coupling arc energy and ultrasonic vibration energy, and ultra-high
frequency pulse arc welding by introducing pulse current with fre­
quency of above 20 kHz, achieving arc ultrasonic and oscillation of the
molten pool.
This paper will review the works on characteristics, research status
and applicability merits of the two type processes. Furthermore, the
effect mechanism between arc and molten pool in ultrasonic arc welding
will be discussed thoroughly and systematically. In addition, we will
analyze the shortcomings of the current process and provide some
suggestions for the process improvement. Finally, we will put forward
the development prospect of ultrasonic arc welding technology,
providing reference for the research of ultrasonic arc welding in the
future.

* Corresponding authors at: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, PR China.
E-mail addresses: shweld@sjtu.edu.cn (H. Lu), chenjm@sjtu.edu.cn (J. Chen).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2020.09.005
Received 12 June 2020; Received in revised form 12 August 2020; Accepted 3 September 2020
Available online 14 September 2020
1526-6125/© 2020 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Y. Wang et al.
2. Ultrasonic vibration assisted arc welding
According to the working stage of ultrasonic vibration used in the
welding process, the ultrasonic vibration assisted arc welding can be
subdivided into the ultrasonic vibration assisted arc welding and the
ultrasonic vibration treatment post welding. The latter is equivalent to
mechanical ultrasonic vibration treatment of welded joints post arc
welding. Due to the different arc welding processes, the former mainly
contains (1) ultrasonic vibration assisted GTAW (UV-GTAW), (2) ul­
trasonic vibration assisted GMAW (UV-GMAW), and (3) ultrasonic vi­
bration assisted other arc welding.
2.1. Ultrasonic vibration assisted GTAW
The mechanical ultrasonic vibration can be applied on different part
of the GTAW welding system. Accordingly, there were three typical UV-
GTAW processes as follows, (1) the arc assisted by UV [14–16], (2) the
feeding wire assisted by UV [17,18], and (3) the molten pool assisted by
UV [19].
A UV-GTAW method developed by Sun et al. [11,14,16], was the
typical UV arc mode, as shown in Fig. 1(a). Ultrasonic transducer con­
verted electrical signals into high-density ultrasonic field, which inter­
acted with argon atom inside the ultrasonic radiator cavity and argon
ion inside the arc, easily forming an extra vibration with high frequency.
In this case, the increasing moving velocity of arc particles led to an
enhancement of the thermal conductivity of welding arc, which pro­
duced the UV arc. At the same time, with combination action of the
constantly changing electromagnetic force and acoustic radiation force,
the arc shape presented an obvious periodical change [20], which
further producing arc push force and acoustic streaming, passing into
the molten pool. It was shown that the ultrasonic arc pressure increased,
as a result, both the weld penetration and depth to width ratio of SUS
304 weld were improved [14]. The similar experimental results showed
that the penetration depth was increased up to 300% for weld of AISI
304 stainless steel with 5 mm thickness, comparing the weld produced
by UV-GTAW welding with that produced by conventional GTAW, as
shown in Fig. 1(b). The reason was that the ultrasonic energy enhanced
the arc push force, caused a continual high frequency oscillation in the
arc plasma [11]. In addition, UV energy also refined grains and made the
microstructure more homogeneous owing to the acoustic streaming ef­
fect and the cavitation effect [15]. Recently, the ultrasonic power in
UV-GTAW was changed to pulsed ultrasonic (PU) power, and the results
showed that the improvement of PU-GTAW on welded microstructure
was more efficient than that of the UV-GTAW [21].
Watanabe et al. [18] developed a method to directly introduce the
UV into the weld molten pool through an ultrasonically vibrating filler
metal, as illustrated in Fig. 2(a) and (b), which was fed into the leading
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the UV-GTAW (a) [16] and the macroscopic appearances of cross-section welds (b) [11].
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edge of the molten pool. The UV encouraged more equiaxed grains to be
formed in the central region of the weld metal at the higher welding
speed, improving the tensile strength and fracture elongation of the weld
remarkably, as shown in Fig. 2(c) and (d). However, as the distance
between the electrode tip and the filler metal was too short, the weld
bead was formed less stably.
Krajewski et al. [19] applied the UV on the workpiece, realizing the
ultrasonic oscillation of molten pool, as shown in Fig. 3(a). The mode
was able to directly enhance the weld quality with finer grains and less
weld porosity only under certain conditions in Fig. 3(b). Thavamani
et al. [22] also found that ultrasonic treatment during solidification of
Inconel 718 alloy weld metal decreased the crack sensitivity and den­
dritic arm length, as shown in Fig. 4. A UV device was integrated
perpendicular to the face of workpiece during GTAW process by Dai [23,
24], as shown in Fig. 5(a). In order to maintain the best position of
welding gun and UV device, and overcome the resistance in the relative
movement between UV device and workpiece, a novel arc-assisted ul­
trasonic seam welding technique equipped with a constant contact ul­
trasonically oscillated roller was developed by Dai et al. [25], as shown
in Fig. 5(b). The UV was applied directly to the workpiece during the
conventional GTAW process, and the similar results mentioned above
were realized: (1) increasing weld penetration depth; (2) substantial
grain refinement; (3) improving tensile strength of welds; (4) decreasing
weld pores [23–27]. On the basis of the arc-assisted UV arc welding
technique by Dai et al. [28], a low frequency UV device was applied to
the workpiece along the vertical direction, similarly to the UV device in
Fig. 4(a). As the two UV devices worked during welding, as shown in
Fig. 5(c), the residual stress of the welds was released [29].
Different forms of ultrasonic vibration assisted GTAW process have
their own application range. The arc assisted by UV type can be applied
to most materials and different welding positions. The feeding wire
assisted by UV type, is only suitable for wire filler TIG welding. The
characteristic of the molten pool assisted by UV type is the ultrasonic
vibration of the working platform or base metal during the welding
process. Therefore, the UV mode can be extended to other arc welding
processes.
2.2. Ultrasonic vibration assisted GMAW
GMAW is another important and typical arc welding technique with
higher production efficiency but many problems, like generating spat­
ters and welding fumes [30–33]. To address those problems, the UV was
introduced into the GMAW process in different modes. In general, the
principle of applying UV in GMAW can be divided into two steps: (1) UV
firstly bring about variations in arc and droplet transfer in GMAW by the
ultrasonic effect; (2) the ultrasonic refines grains, improving mechanical
properties of weldment [34–36].
Y. Wang et al.
Fig. 2. Schematic of an apparatus (a) and location (b) for welding with filler metal ultrasonic vibration and micrographs (c, d) of the top view of weld metal made
without and with ultrasonic vibration [18].
Fig. 3. The experimental set-up (a) and micrographs of the TIG AC welds without ultrasounds and with the different participation of ultrasounds (b) [19].
Ultrasonic wave directly acts on the plasma arc to enhance the
droplet transfer and reshape the arc, which is a new developed hybrid
arc welding method proposed by Fan et al. [37], as shown in Fig. 6(a).
By introducing the ultrasonic wave in GMAW, as shown in Fig. 6(b), the
arc characteristics apparently changed, like the more contracted,
brighter and shorter arc [38]. In globular transfer process with the
higher frequency and more stable droplet transfer mode, the
short-circuiting transfer voltage was enlarged, inducing the formation of
much uniform weld [37,39,40]. With increasing welding voltage in both
two processes, the decreasing-trend of U-GMAW on short circuit fre­
quency was smaller than that of conventional GMAW. The voltage range
of U-GMAW with short circuit frequency above 20 kHz extended. That
was, in the certain voltage range, the metal transfer mode of the
U-GMAW was changed from globular transfer to short circuit transfer
easily [39]. Xie et al. [41] added pulsed ultrasonic wave into GMAW
process, the results showed the obvious improvement in microstructure
and properties of the welded joint. Finally, Fan et al. [42–44] obtained
the influence laws of pulsed frequency on arc shape, droplet transfer and
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weld appearance.
Similarly, the previous mentioned UV technology used in GTAW
process can also be introduced into the GMAW process [19,22,24,25],
forming different UV-GMAW processes. Nevertheless, there is not much
work focused on UV-GMAW process.
In general, compared with UV-GTAW, UV-GMAW is involved in
metal droplet transition behavior, which makes the effect of ultrasonic
vibration more complex and needs to be studied by a large number of
scholars.
2.3. Ultrasonic vibration assisted other arc welding
Cui et al. [45,46] applied mechanical UV to SMAW process by using
an ultrasonic sonotrode perpendicular to the workpiece surface, as
shown in Fig. 7(a), similar with that reported by Thavamani et al. [22].
The introduced UV eliminated the formation of partially diluted zones
[45] and refined the microstructure of the weld metal [46], as shown in
Fig. 7(b). Tian et al. [47] directly introduced an ultrasonic peening
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Fig. 4. The schematic of welding fixture set-up (a) and the role of welding current and ultrasonic treatment on the crack sensitivity value (b) and the dendrites arm
length (c) [22].

Fig. 5. Ultrasonic vibration assisted GTAW process respectively by an ultrasonic vibration probe (a), an rotating roller sonotrode (b) perpendicular to the face of
workpiece and dual vibration devices (c) [24,25,29].

device on substrate in the direction parallel to the welding torch of CMT
machine during welding, proposing a novel UV-CMT welding process, as
shown in Fig. 8(a). The design idea is similar with Dai [28] and Aoki
et al. [29]. The UV brought outstanding effects, such as increasing the
weld depth, decreasing the pore level, fining equiaxed grains and
leading to the enhancement of micro-hardness, as shown in Fig. 8(b) and
(c), which was caused by acoustic and cavitation streaming effects. Wu
et al. [48] developed a novel key-holing PAW process assisted by UV, as
illustrated in Fig. 9(a), whose tungsten electrode was mechanically
linked with a specially designed ultrasonic transducer. The UV enhanced
the arc pressure and key-holing capability of the plasma arc, as shown in
Fig. 9(b), caused by further constriction of the arc column and higher
current density [49,50]. Similar to the UV-GMAW developed by Fan
et al. [37,38], Sun et al. [51] first proposed a new welding method that
the ultrasonic wave was introduced into underwater wet welding
(UWW), called U-UWW process, as shown in Fig. 10(a). Under the same
conditions, the welding process assisted by ultrasonic wave was not
sensitive to the rising of lateral bubbles, so the arc stability and the weld
morphology were enhanced [52]. In addition, Wang et al. [53] devel­
oped a new underwater flux-cored electrode welding process by directly
applying ultrasonic vibration on the workpiece, as shown in Fig. 10(b).
The UV can enhance melt flow and molten pool oscillation, thereupon,

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Fig. 6. Schematic (a) and the arc characteristics (b) of U-GMAW [38].
Fig. 7. Schematic diagrams (a) of ultrasonic vibration assisted SMAW and its photomicrographs (b) of the welding interfaces without ultrasonic vibration and with
ultrasonic vibration during the SMAW process[45].
the crushing frequency was significantly increased, while the bubble size
and the hydrogen diffusion rate were greatly reduced [54,55]. In order
to better control the metal droplet transition, Chen et al. [56] innova­
tively proposed a new method of transverse ultrasonic assisted wet un­
derwater welding, as shown in Fig. 10(c). It is found that the ultrasonic
acoustic flow could overcome the resistance caused by the rise of arc
bubbles, promote the metal droplet transition, reduce the droplet
spatter, and obtain a better formed welding joint [51].
In the comprehensive comparison of different ultrasonic arc welding
methods, the application mode and position of mechanical ultrasonic
determine the efficiency of ultrasonic arc and weld pool, and further
optimizing the optimal application efficiency of ultrasonic will become
more and more important.
2.4. Ultrasonic vibration treatment of welded joints
Some welded joints often exist a lot of residual stress after arc
welding, which leads to the reduction of fatigue strength. As shown in
Fig. 11(a), the ultrasonic peening treatment (UPT) process has perfor­
mance on releasing the residual stress and improving the fatigue prop­
erties [57–62]. With employing ultrasonic impact treatment, the
residual stress in the close area under the impact treatment zone dis­
tributes more uniformly, especially the surface tensile stress changes
into compressive stress [63,64]. Besides, some researches indicated that
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 58 (2020) 936–954
the post treatment with ultrasonic peening not only corrected the
welding buckling distortion of butt joints [65], but also achieved a better
strength, corrosion resistance and micro-hardness [66,67]. A more
recent publication by Tian et al. [68] showed that the ultrasonic peening
treatment reduced the porosity number of weld beads close to the weld
surface, which led to the increase of elastic modulus of the weld bead
surface. However, the effect of ultrasonic peening treatment is usually
limited by the thickness of the welding material, especially in the
multi-pass thick weld joints. Therefore, in order to uniform the hardness
distribution across the weld and refine the grains of thick multi-pass
joints, a novel layered ultrasonic impact treatment (LUIT) process was
proposed [69–71], as shown in Fig. 11(b), where ultrasonic impact
treatment was applied for each welding layer. Otherwise, applied by the
ultrasonic impact treatment in weld toe after multi-layer welding, as
shown in Fig. 11(c), the columnar grains near the fusion boundary were
changed to fine equiaxed grains [70], resulting in higher impact
toughness and more uniform shear strength [66,71].
3. Ultrasonic frequency pulse arc welding
Obviously, compared with conventional arc welding, UV assisted arc
welding had advantages due to assistance from UV devices. However,
there were several application limitations for the mechanical type ul­
trasonic transducers [72], since these transducers were far away from
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Fig. 8. UV-CMT welding apparatus with ultrasonic peening device (a); the pore numbers of welded joints (b) and the mean hardness of welded joints (c) [47].

Fig. 9. Schematic diagrams (a) of ultrasonic vibration assisted PAW and its arc characteristics (b) [48].

the arc. Moreover, the displacement and dimension of these transducers
on the welding torch were restricted by their dimension and mass [39,
73]. In addition, the special design of the coupling torch virtually
increased the cost of design and manufacturing and reduced the flexi­
bility of method. To circumvent these limitations, many attentions have
been paid to develop the ultrasonic frequency pulse arc welding process
by designing power supply or welding circuit. The processes are
generally divided into two categories: (1) single power mode ultrasonic
frequency pulse arc welding (single power supply of high frequency
pulse current); (2) dual powers mode ultrasonic pulse current modulated
arc welding (double power supplies of conventional current and ultra­
sonic pulse current).
3.1. Single power mode ultrasonic frequency pulse arc welding
Generally, pulse current in pulsed arc welding mainly includes three
parameters, pulse frequency, background current and peak current.
Once the pulse frequency is over 20000 Hz, we often call it ultrasonic
frequency pulsed arc welding. Yamaota et al. [74] discussed the effect of
pulsed frequency and peak current on arc stiffness in the high frequency
pulsed DC TIG welding. They found that the arc pressure at the arc
center increased with the increase of pulse frequency, then kept constant
as the frequency beyond 5 kHz. Yamamoto et al. [75] invented a pulse
arc welding device, which could output the pulse current with the fre­
quency ranging from several 100 Hz to several 10 kHz. Under constant
average welding conditions, arc pressure, arc stiffness and penetration
depth increased almost proportionally with pulse peak current increase

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Fig. 10. Schematic diagrams of the three typical ultrasonic vibration assisted UWW processes [51,53,56].

Fig. 11. Schematic diagrams of three typical UV treatment processes: Ultrasonic peening (a), Layered ultrasonic impact treatment (LUIT) (b), Ultrasonic impact
treatment (UIT) (c) [62,66,70].

in the high-frequency (greater than 5 kHz) pulsed arc welding [76,77].
Zhao et al. [78–80] had found that, compared with DC arc, high fre­
quency pulsed arc was more concentrated, had the characteristics of
smaller axial temperature gradient, smaller conductive section and
higher anode temperature. Yin et al. [81] found the frequency for stable
arc with low current of 6 A–8 A was over 20 kHz.
Based on the existing literatures, we can conclude that the pulse
frequency with near or over 20 kHz is effective on the arc and molten
pool, which is the ultrasonic effect excited by the ultrasonic-frequency
pulsed current. Matsumoto et al. [82] applied AC high-frequency pulse
TIG welding to weld aluminum alloy, they found a breakthrough result
that the porosity level in weldment could be reduced significantly by
increasing AC pulse current frequency. As the frequency was set to up to
20 kHz, the porosity amount was decreased to a minimum level. Yosh­
iaki et al. [83] modulated a waveform with a higher pulse frequency,
whose waveform was shown in Fig. 12(a) and (b). In addition to similar
experimental results that a frequency near 15 kHz was most suitable to
decrease the blowholes of A1050 aluminum alloy weld, as shown in
Fig. 12(c), they also found that the tensile properties of welded joints
could be improved excellently by employing the ultrasonic wave TIG

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Fig. 12. Waveforms of high-frequency AC TIG welding (a,b) and its effects on total area of blowholes (c) and tensile strength (d) [83].

Fig. 13. Waveforms of HPVP-GTAW (a,b) and its effects on tensile properties (c,d) [87].

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welding in Fig. 12(d). Yang et al. [84] recognized that the large curva­
ture radius and low viscosity were the key reasons for high escaping
speed of blowholes in the high-frequency pulsed arc welding. Cong et al.
[85–87] developed a GTAW welding process coupled by an ultrasonic
frequency pulsed current with rectangular alternating current wave, and
the pulsed ultrasonic power was modulated only during the positive
pulse period of the alternating current. The design waveform and output
waveform of HPVP-GTAW are shown in Fig. 13(a) and (b). The high
frequency pulse increased the weld depth-to-width of 2219-T87
aluminum alloy [88], reduced the softening degree of HAZ and
improved the tensile strength and elongation of welded joint of 5A06
aluminum alloy in Fig. 13(c) and (d) [89]. Numerical investigation
revealed that the ultrasonic frequency pulse enhanced the mobility of
the melting pool of 0Cr18Ni9Ti stainless steel, thus leading to a deeper
and narrower weldment [90]. According to the analysis of
hue-saturation-intensity image, it is obtained that the arc core region
representing the effective heat energy distribution was constricted in
high-frequency pulsed arc welding [91]. Compared with the low fre­
quency pulse current variable polarity TIG and DC TIG welding tech­
nologies, whose schematic waveforms are shown in Fig. 14(a). The high
frequency pulse current variable polarity TIG could effectively increase
and even eliminate the Cu segregation and porosities [92], as illustrated
in Fig. 14(b), (c) and (d). Recently, a keyhole welding process with
double-pulsed variable polarity gas tungsten arc welding was developed
by Wang et al. [93]. Fig. 15(a) and (b) illustrated respectively the
schematic waveform and actual current waveform of the novel process
(DPVE-GTAW), which successfully achieved the stable keyhole welding,
restrained the deformation of molten pool surface and effectively ob­ Fig. 15. Schematic waveform (a) and actual current waveform (b) of DPVP
tained fully equiaxed grains [93,94]. GTAW [93].
Ultrasonic frequency pulse (UFP) arc welding can nearly achieve the
effect of UV, meanwhile effectively overcome the limitations brought by Secondly, due to the components limitation, the existing single UFP
the UV equipment. However, so far, the UFP arc welding process still has power supply cannot guarantee the larger effective power output, it is
some shortcomings. Firstly, considering that the specific waveform difficult to achieve a higher pulse current amplitude beyond 100 A.
modulation in the UV-GTAW welding equipment limited the waveform Besides, it is more complex and difficult to follow the polarity inversion
diversity, it is not easy to be adjusted and be applied in other arc welding of the ultrasonic polarity excitation current, once the main welding
techniques, such as the GMAW process, PAW process, CMT process, etc. current is alternated.

Fig. 14. Waveforms of LPVP TIG and HPVP TIG (a); SEM (b,c) and EDS (d) analysis of welded joints for two processes [92].

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Y. Wang et al.
3.2. Dual powers mode ultrasonic pulse current modulated arc welding
In view of the challenges of single UPF power supply, a large number
of scholars have been trying to adopt dual power supplies to the ultra­
sonic coupling arc welding [95]. In the early 1990s, a method called arc
with ultrasonic excitation current (peak current was less than 15 A) was
developed, where the arc not only acted as a thermal source, but also
introduced ultrasound energy into the molten pool [73]. According to
the method proposed by Wu et al. [95], as shown in Fig. 16, the arc with
ultrasonic excitation was achieved through a constant current associated
with another pulsed current, with frequency over 20 kHz, whose mod­
ulation of the current was achieved by connecting the two welding
current sources in parallel [96]. While the pulsed current with ultrasonic
frequency was responsible for generating the ultrasonic arc with
contraction, which was on account of the balance between the Lorentz
force and the radial pressure gradient of the arc. Therefore, as the arc
had good dynamic response characteristic without restrictions of ultra­
sonic frequency ranges [73,97,98], the arc also oscillated with ultra­
sonic frequency. The arc oscillation enhanced the arc pressure, which
originated by plasma jet collides, and it further exerted on the surface of
the molten pool [99–102]. Thus, the arc in welding is not only a heat
source but also a force source. Once the pulsed current was introduced,
this force would pulsate with ultrasonic frequency. Up to now, the
mentioned arc-excited ultrasonic device has been successfully used in
submerged arc welding (SAW) [103], CO2 gas-shielded arc welding
[73], MIG [104], TIG [105], SMAW [106] and arc-spraying process
[107,108], which effectively improved the microstructure and the
quality of the welded joints or bonding layers.
Referring to the design idea of the ultrasonic exited arc by Wu et al.
[95], Lei et al. developed an ultrasonic arc in TIG and AC plasma
welding, as shown in Fig. 17, which were respectively modulated by low
pulse current of 20 A, and the processes were successfully applied to the
welding of SiCp/6061Al composite materials [109–111]. Based on FEM
simulation of molten pool, the optimized resonance frequency of
keyhole plasma in ultrasound-arc welding was obtained [112–115].
During the ultrasonic arc welding process, different welding materials
had the different optimal resonance frequency to obtain the high quality
welded joints with uniform microstructure, finer grains, fewer pores and
better mechanical properties [109,116–118]. Analysis showed that the
cavitation and acoustic streaming effects brought by arc-ultrasonic were
the main factors of improving the microstructure and mechanical
properties [119].
Recently, in order to reduce the ductility-dip cracking and Laves
phase in conventional GTAW welded Ni-alloy, Hua et al. [120,121]
introduced a modulating UFP current with sine waveform into the direct
current welding, as shown in Fig. 18. The violent stirring of weld pool
caused by ultrasonic cavitation effectively shortened the potential path
for crack propagation [120]. In addition, the drastic vibration of the
molten weld metal caused by the electromagnetic force with ultrasonic
frequency led to uniform distribution of niobium in the nickel-alloy
weld, restricting the formation of Laves phase [121,122].
Fig. 16. Experimental system (a) and resonance waveform (b) of arc exited ultrasonic [96].
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 58 (2020) 936–954
A lot of researchers have been paying much attention to improve the
coupling arc stability and thermal efficiency of twin-arc TIG. A novel
twin-arc TIG welding method was developed by Wang et al. [123], as
shown in Fig. 19, which combined the general DC arc and the ultrasonic
arc. The exciting ultrasonic arc improved the arc stability, refined grains
and improved the tensile strength of welded joints [124].
In order to improve the effective output power of the ultrasonic
exciting device, Voigt et al. [125] developed a UFP current source, the
ultrasonic current could reach from 25 A to 50 A, as shown in Fig. 20,
applied in SAW process of carbon steel plates. It was found that the weld
bead geometry and impact toughness were affected by the ultrasonic
frequency and the pulse current amplitude simultaneously, which
determined the efficiency of ultrasonic energy [125,126]. Qiu et al.
[127] similarly designed a novel ultrasonic modulation variable polarity
welding power system. Fig. 21 illustrated that the DCEN period of var­
iable polarity current is superimposed by UFP current of 100 A. Similar
results concluded that the high-frequency pulsed current could increase
arc pressure, arc stiffness and energy density [127,128]. Using the
waveform similar to Qiu, Wang et al. [129] systematically studied the
effect of high-frequency pulse parameters (peak pulse current and pulse
frequency) on the weld penetration characteristics of aluminum alloy,
they found that pulse effectiveness on increasing weld penetration was
not evident until the penetration rate (penetration-to workpiece thick­
ness ratio) exceeds 45%. Otherwise, they conducted several
butt-welding experiments of 6061 aluminum alloy to compare conven­
tional AC TIG with UFPM AC TIG. The significant reduction of
heat-input and pores number in welded joints was caused by ultrasonic
frequency pulse energy [130]. A UFP current power supply with current
amplitude up to 150 A was developed by Yan et al. [131,132], through
the optimal design of external characteristic output mode and topolog­
ical circuit in the parallel circuit, as shown in Fig. 22(a). The special AC
TIG welding applied by the mentioned UFP current power, output an
special coupling current in Fig. 22(b), which can refine the micro­
structure of weld, eliminate pores and reduce cracks and other defects
effectively. Consequently, the properties of the aluminum alloy joint
were improved significantly [133]. Wang et al. [134] firstly proposed
and developed a novel technique by combining AC CMT with UFP cur­
rent with square wave to improve the quantity of welded joints, as
illustrated in Fig. 23. The UFP current, optimized at the range from 60 to
80 kHz, affected diameter of the arc and length of the droplet, [135]. As
the liquid metal in the molten pool was stirred by the electromagnetic
force, the microstructure and mechanical properties of the welded joints
were greatly improved [136].
To solve the low current output problem in the UFP arc welding,
recently, Lu et al. [137] developed an arc ultrasonic field excitation
device with a large current and high frequency arbitrary waveform,
which can output current with higher amplitude (peak current beyond
420 A), and higher frequency (up to 150 kHz). Meanwhile, the output
current had better stability, it could not only effectively meet the exci­
tation demand of ultrasonic arc welding current, but also make parallel
synchronous coupling other arc welding. Besides, the waveform
Y. Wang et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 58 (2020) 936–954

Fig. 17. Power source coupling mode (a) and the two specific schematic of TIG arc (b) and AC plasma arc (c) ultrasonic system [116–118].

Fig. 18. Experimental system installation (a) and the schematic current waveform (b) of the DC welding current modulated ultrasonic-frequency current of
sine [120].

parameters of the excitation device could be adjusted and controlled overcame the limitation of mechanical ultrasonic arc welding, but also
independently. demonstrated better features and development potential. Especially, by
In summary, the dual powers UFP current modulation arc welding adopting the arc ultrasonic field excitation device developed by Lu et al.
had prominent advantages relative to the single power mode, it not only [137], the research on dual powers UFP current modulation arc welding

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Y. Wang et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 58 (2020) 936–954

Fig. 19. Schematic of twin-arc system (a) and its waveform (b) under ultrasonic vibration [123].

Fig. 20. Experimental system (a) and the coupling current waveform (b) of ultrasonic SAW process by dual power supplies [125].

would attracted much more attentions. Moreover, the welding process
could be better applied to the other coupling arc welding in the research
and the actual welding production.
4. Effects and mechanisms of ultrasonic arc welding
The mechanisms of ultrasonic arc welding are mainly based on two
theories: ultrasonic vibration theory and electromagnetic field theory.
For mechanical UV assisted arc welding, UV mainly affects the arc and
molten pool. However, for UFP arc welding process, both the UV and
electromagnetic field affect the arc characteristics, molten pool behavior
and solidification-crystallization behavior.
The UV theory is relative mature. Take mechanical UV assisted arc
welding as an example, that is, ultrasonic energy can be transferred into
the melting pool by arc or workpiece in the welding process. The fre­
quency and output power of ultrasonic energy determine the effect level
of ultrasound. However, when it propagates in the arc and the liquid
metal, the total energy of ultrasonic sound wave will attenuate, espe­
cially when it transmits in the arc. The comprehensive effect of UV
mainly includes two nonlinear effects, namely acoustic streaming effect
and cavitation effect [138]. Among them, the acoustic streaming effect
has a quadratic nonlinear relationship with the ultrasonic velocity
[139], while the cavitation effect occurs due to the collapse of bubbles
during the nonlinear oscillation [140]. The two nonlinear effects can

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Y. Wang et al.
Fig. 21. Experimental system (a) and the coupling current waveform (b) of HPVP-TIG process by dual power supplies [127].
Fig. 22. Power circuit of high-frequency pulse welding power source (a) and the output waveform of coupling current (b) for UFP assisted special AC-TIG pro­
cess [131].
Fig. 23. Schematic diagram of HPAC CMT system (a) and its coupling current (b) [136].
promote the flow of liquid metal in the molten pool, and affect the so­
lidification crystallization and nucleation growth of liquid metal, which
finally affect the weld forming, microstructure and mechanical
properties.
The acoustic streaming effect is a steady-state flow driven by the
momentum transfer, which is generated by the absorption of ultrasonic
vibration energy by the liquid metal in the molten pool [141], and the
hydrodynamic flow can produce mixing and stirring effects on the
molten pool. In addition, the ultrasonic energy carried by the acoustic
streaming effect is transformed into heat during propagation, and
gradually decreases along the propagation direction of the ultrasonic
wave [142]. For this reason, the acoustic streaming effect generally
occurs at the solid-liquid interface, [12,143]. Cavitation effect manifests
in the micro-pores precipitated from the molten pool (or the
micro-cavities torn apart by the tensile stress, which will grow and
pulsate and collapse [12,138,144]. When the pores or cavities collapse,
the intense shock waves in the molten pool emit instantaneously along
the wave propagation direction. The released shock wave energy affects
the heat convection circulation and flow of the molten pool, thus
changing the thermal history of the liquid metal [145,146].
In the flow process of molten pool, the combined effect of acoustic
streaming and cavitation first stir and mix the molten pool, which affects
the thermal convection circulation and flow of the molten pool. At the
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 58 (2020) 936–954
same time, it further breaks columnar dendritic and increases nucleation
particles during solidification of the molten pool, which indirectly re­
fines grains [15,18], uniforms microstructures [147], reduces porosities
[19], reduces cracks [22] and releases residual stress [29] of the
welded joints. Finally, it achieves the goal of improving micro­
structure and enhancing mechanical properties of the welded
joints.
Different from the UV assisted arc welding, the mechanism of UFP
arc welding process includes both the ultrasonic vibration and the effect
of electromagnetic filed. Meanwhile, that ultrasonic vibration is not
entirely the same with that of the traditional mechanical ultrasonic
device, because the former has no ultrasonic transducer, amplitude
transformer horn and radiating head parts. The pulsating current excites
a novel and complex ultrasonic vibration effect in arc and molten pool,
which is similar to the traditional mechanical ultrasonic vibration.
Therefore, the following section will take UFP arc welding as an example
to analyze its arc characteristics, molten pool behavior and
solidification-crystallization behavior successively.
4.1. Arc characteristics and molten pool behaviors
With the improving sound pressure originated by the oscillation of
the ultrasonic pulse current, both the instantaneous velocity and
Y. Wang et al.
thermal conductivity of the plasma arc particles increase [97]. More­
over, the ultrasonic frequency of pulse current further increases the
Lorentz force and the radial electromagnetic force in the arc to some
extent, which enhances the arc constriction phenomenon [91]. The
pinch effect of arc plasma contributes to the increment of arc pressure,
energy density and stiffness, enhancing stability and penetrability of the
arc [86,90,148]. Meanwhile, assisted with the ultrasonic current, the
stability of the twin-arc also increases [124]. In addition, the increase of
the ultrasonic pulse frequency is beneficial in improving the cathode
cleaning action, but harmful to the blow-effect [149]. As far as the
current literatures, the ultrasonic frequency and pulse current amplitude
are the main factors which affect the arc characteristics in ultrasonic arc
welding. Although there exist differences in circuit structure, waveform
characteristics, and adjustable parameters range to a certain extent, a
similar conclusion draws that the optimal ultrasonic frequency range is
above 20 kHz. However, the optimal amplitude of ultrasonic pulse
current under different waveforms is still under debating and
researching.
The larger arc pressure and arc energy density brought by arc
constriction with ultrasonic frequency leads to remarkable depression of
molten pool surface, which made the downward heat source and
external force point, and change the temperature gradient distribution
on the surface and inner of the molten pool [90,150]. The electromag­
netic stirring force further enhances flow velocity of fluid and heat in the
molten pool, obtaining the better weld geometry with larger penetration
rate [151,152]. Thus, based on the above mechanism of ultrasonic arc,
we can also well explain the reason of eliminating weld porosity. Firstly,
the higher liquid pressure increases curvature radius of the gas pores.
Meanwhile, the combined effects of ultrasonic vibration and electro­
magnetic stirring reduce the viscosity and filtration angle of the gas
pore, and the gas pores obtain high escaping speed, easily detach from
the pool surface [84,136,153]. Similarly, the existing literatures show
that the ultrasonic frequency determines the weld width, which is an
important evidence to reveal the electromagnetic constriction effect of
arc. Generally, with the increase of ultrasonic frequency, the weld width
will be narrow within a certain range. The ultrasonic pulse current
amplitude and the ratio of peak current to base current usually reflect
the comprehensive efficiency of ultrasonic energy. However, the influ­
ence of ultrasonic pulse current on molten pool behavior and weld ge­
ometry is still controversial and under researching.
Numerical simulation is the beneficial method for revealing the
mechanism of the ultrasonic arc characteristics and molten pool be­
haviors. According to the results from a mathematic model of analyzing
Fig. 24. Temperature gradient in X direction for direct current arc welding (DC-AW) and high frequency pulsed arc welding (HFP-AW) [150].
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 58 (2020) 936–954
the ultrasound effect in plasma arc background, the arc pressure near the
tungsten electrode tip reached the maximum (2107 Pa) in U-PAW,
which was about twice than the value in PAW (1443 Pa) [154]. Other­
wise, by comparing the evolution of temperature field, fluid flow in the
weld pool, and keyhole surface over time in both PAW and U-PAW
processes, it can be found that the increased plasma arc pressure in
U-PAW made the anti-clockwise eddy be dominant in the weld pool,
which improved the welding speed to produce open keyhole [50].
Similar with the U-PAW numerical simulation modeling, a numerical
simulation adapted for weld behavior on the basis of arc behavior by
UFP-GTAW process was proposed by Qi et al. [90]. The results showed
that arc shrinkage with the decreasing arc root radius caused the larger
arc force, which led to more depression of pool surface that made the
downward heat source and external force point. By modeling the
interface of melting metal and argon to further study the surface tension
mechanism of depressions, the melting process and temperature distri­
bution were compared between GTAW process and UFP-GTAW process.
As a result, compared with GTAW process, the temperature at the reflux
position of UFP-GTAW molten pool tent to decrease, and caused larger
temperature gradient [150], as shown in Fig. 24. Recently, a fully
coupled plasma-acoustic 3D mathematical model first revealed the
generation, propagation and attenuation of ultrasonic waves in weakly
ionized arc plasma [155]. The simulation results revealed that the ul­
trasonic waves were actuated by a combination of thermal pressure and
Lorentz force, generating near the electrode tip in the arc plasma region
with high acoustic power. Most of acoustic energy was absorbed and
converted into acoustic streaming momentum of arc plasma in the vi­
cinity of tungsten electrode tip. Generally, the current research based on
the numerical simulation of arc and weld pool mainly focuses on the arc
pressure, arc current density, flow field and temperature field of arc and
weld pool, and only some specific phenomena are studied, such as arc
shrinkage and weld pool surface depression. There is still a lack of a
systematic numerical model to study the mechanism of ultrasonic arc
and molten pool, which organically combines the behavior of ultrasonic
arc characteristics and molten pool behavior. In addition, the ultrasonic
arc energy-conversion model, the molten pool flow field model and
temperature field model have been mostly simplified and ideal models,
which usually neglect the arc plasma shear force, electromagnetic
ampere force in the molten pool, and uncertain variable factor of heat
transfer in the fixture and base material. Therefore, more factors have to
be considered in the future numerical simulation of the arc character­
istics and molten pool behavior of ultrasonic arc welding, which can
explain the essential mechanism of ultrasonic arc more truly and
Y. Wang et al.
objectively.
4.2. Solidification-crystallization behavior, microstructure and
performance
According to the existing literatures, ultrasonic arc welding process
has been widely used in various alloys and materials suitable for arc
welding, such as carbon steel [156], stainless steel [157], alloy steel
[103], aluminum alloy[130,158], magnesium alloy [147], titanium
alloy [159], nickel base alloy [121,122], composite materials [109–111]
and so on. On the basis of traditional arc welding, the addition of ul­
trasonic pulse energy significantly improves the mechanical properties
of welded joints. Specifically, there is improvement of hardness [153,
160] and residual stress distribution [106], enhancement of tensile
strength [87,123,161] and fatigue property [162], increase of ductility
[105] and impact toughness [103,111,117,126], and reduction of
cracking susceptibility [120]. The improved mechanical properties are
basically caused by the grains refining [113,136,161], grains changing
[93,163], phases refining [119], phases distribution [110], segregation
reducing [92] or pores reducing [116]. In order to reveal the influence of
microstructure on mechanical properties of welded joints, it is necessary
to explore the molten pool behavior and its solidification crystallization
mechanism in ultrasonic arc welding.
As mentioned in the literatures, the effect mechanisms of ultrasonic
pulse current on molten pool behavior and solidification crystallization
behavior could be divided into two categories. The first is the ultrasonic
vibration theory, which is similar to the ultrasonic vibration effect in
mechanical ultrasonic vibration assisted arc welding. The other is the
electromagnetic theory with ultrasonic frequency, that is, the pulsating
current with ultrasonic frequency generates a certain strength of elec­
tromagnetic field in the arc and the molten pool. The pulsed electro­
magnetic force has a complex effect on arc characteristics, molten pool
flow and solidification.
The effect of ultrasonic vibration induced by ultrasonic frequency
pulse current on molten pool mainly manifests in two aspects. On the
one hand, the melt in the molten pool increases by absorbing part of the
ultrasonic energy [104]. On the other hand, ultrasonic wave promotes
the heat convection of melt and the heat conduction of base material
[164,165]. In the case of molten pool, it is difficult to directly observe
the flow pattern induced by acoustic streaming and cavitation effect,
however, with reference to the transparent analogues, numerical solvers
can be used to predict ultrasonic acoustic streaming and its effect on
temperature gradient, flow velocity and acoustic pressure gradients.
Therefore, the combination of experiment and numerical simulation
provides a good method for analyzing the solidification and crystalli­
zation behavior of liquid metal under ultrasonic treatment [166–173].
When the enhanced heat convection continuously impact the columnar
dendrites at the bottom and side walls of the molten pool, the columnar
dendrites are broken into dendrite fragments, act as nuclei of the new
grains [103]. Besides, ultrasonic cavitation and acoustic streaming can
cause a large temperature gradient and shock wave in the molten pool,
which may also be one of the reasons for dendrite fragmentation, phase
dismemberment and grain refinement [119,174]. Therefore, the effect
of ultrasonic arc increases the weld penetration depth, refines the grains
and phases of welded joints, and distributes phases, which further im­
proves the mechanical properties of welded joints.
Different from the ultrasonic vibration effect, ultrasonic frequency
electromagnetism theory explores the influence of electromagnetic force
on the molten pool flow and the diffusion of metal atoms. The pulse
current obviously exists in the molten pool formed by ultrasonic pulse
welding circuit, which is inspired by the theory of electrical pulse pro­
cessing in metal melt [175–183]. It has been mentioned in the literatures
that the electromagnetic stirring can induce grain refinement by a
dendrite fragmentation criterion [184]. The high frequency pulsating
current presents a complex electromagnetic field distribution in the
molten pool and the existence of electromagnetic force accelerates the
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 58 (2020) 936–954
thermal convection circulation and flows in the molten pool [185].
Driven by the electromagnetic force, the metal particles in the molten
pool show complex stirring and vortex motion and strongly scour the
columnar dendrites of the non-fusion zone near the weld zone. This
scour effect not only breaks up the existing dendrites for inhibiting the
growth of grains and phases, but also provides heterogeneous nucleation
points for the nucleation of new grains [90,163]. Besides, the quick flow
of liquid metal can effectively reduce the temperature gradient at the
front of the solid-liquid interface and enhance component undercooling,
which promote the grain transformation from coarse dendrite grains to
fine equiaxed grains [136]. However, Numerical simulation reports
based on the electromagnetic theory mechanism of ultrasonic arc
welding on molten pool are relatively rare. Therefore, at present, there is
a lack of research and achievement on numerical simulation of elec­
tromagnetic field theoretical for molten pool, which urgently need a
large number of scholars in ultrasonic arc welding field. In particular, in
recent years, based on first principles and molecular dynamics
modeling, the influence of external factors on the diffusion and migra­
tion of atoms within a material can be well revealed [122,186], which is
going to be another interesting research direction of attracting much
more researchers on ultrasonic arc welding field.
The recent research reveals that ultrasonic vibration and electro­
magnetic field stirring simultaneously affect the molten pool behavior
and the solidification behavior in ultrasonic arc welding [120–122].
Firstly, ultrasonic vibration provides some heterogeneous nucleation
point and a unique physical circumstance for cavitation effect and
acoustic streaming [119,120]. Secondly, the high frequency electro­
magnetic field accelerates the thermal convection circulation and the
stirring flow of liquid metal particles in the molten pool, thereby
breaking coarse dendrites, increasing the undercooling degree and
forming more nucleation particles [185]. Finally, under the combined
action of ultrasonic vibration and high frequency electromagnetic field,
grains refinement and cracking reduction are achieved [120]. Based on
the electromagnetic field theory, numerical simulation well verifies that
the alternating Ampère’s force in the liquid metal promotes the elements
transport and changes the dendrite shape, which effectively reduces the
harmful phase and refines the grain microstructure [121,122].
In general, the mechanism of ultrasonic arc welding is very complex,
the current research results are still inaccurate and inappropriate. For
example, the mathematical model proposed for the mechanism research
was relatively ideal, which only considered one of the ultrasonic vi­
bration theory or electromagnetic field theory, ignoring some key
objective factors, such as material properties. Therefore, much more key
factors should be considered in the mechanism study of ultrasonic arc
welding in the future. On the one hand, it is necessary to comprehen­
sively consider the theoretical mechanism of mechanical ultrasonic
theory and electromagnetic theory, and reconstruct the novel
ultrasound-electromagnetic theory to model and calculate. On the other
hand, it is necessary to reveal the mechanism of arc, molten pool and
crystallization in ultrasonic pulse arc welding from the molecular,
atomic and even electronic scales. Therefore, in the future experiments,
it is necessary to use the calibration technology with tracer atoms (ele­
ments) and in situ synchrotron radiation technology to explore and
verify the diffusion and transport of multi-atoms and electrons in the
ultrasound-electromagnetic field. The combination of theoretical model
and experimental verification reveals the nature of ultrasonic function
comprehensively. Only when the essence of ultrasonic arc welding is
fully revealed, can the ultrasonic arc welding process be optimized and
popularized.
5. Conclusions and prospects
In order to make better use of the positive effect brought by ultra­
sonic effect, a large number of welding researchers have made unre­
mitting exploration and research on ultrasonic arc welding. This paper
makes a comprehensive and systematic analysis and summary of the
Y. Wang et al.
current situation and progress, organization performance and action
mechanism for ultrasonic arc welding technology, and points out the
shortcomings and countermeasures, providing some suggestions on the
future research in ultrasonic arc welding.
5.1. Conclusions
Ultrasonic arc welding can be classified into two categories, namely,
ultrasonic vibration assisted arc welding process and ultrasonic fre­
quency pulse arc welding process. In the ultrasonic vibration assisted arc
welding process, the mechanical ultrasonic vibration energy is intro­
duced into the arc and the molten pool, resulting in the acoustic
streaming effect and cavitation effect. In the ultrasonic frequency pulse
arc welding process, high frequency pulse signal is coupled into the
welding current by improving the high-frequency pulse power supply or
introducing the specially designed ultrasonic current excitation circuit,
it can not only realize the ultrasonic arc with self-excited mode, but also
take the ultrasonic vibration and electromagnetic field into the arc and
the molten pool.
Two processes lead to changes in arc characteristics, such as arc
shrinkage, increase in arc pressure and energy density, and improve­
ment in arc stiffness and stability. In addition, the stirring and mixing
effects caused by ultrasonic vibration and high-frequency pulsed elec­
tromagnetic field forces accelerate the thermal convection and liquid
metal flow in the molten pool, and affects the solidification-
crystallization behavior in the molten pool. The behavior of weld pool
further improves the weld forming and microstructure, which is man­
ifested in the increase of penetration rate, reduction of porosity, grains
refinement and transformation (from thick columnar dendritic to small
equiaxial dendritic), the refinement and segregation of harmful phases,
and the homogenization of components and tissues, etc. Finally, the
mechanical properties of welded joints are improved, such as the better
distribution of joint hardness and residual stress, the improvement of
tensile strength and fatigue performance, the enhancement of ductility
and impact toughness, and the reduction of crack sensitivity, etc.
5.2. Prospects
There are still some shortcomings in the study of ultrasonic arc
welding process, which needs to be further optimized. In particular, the
current mechanical ultrasonic vibration equipment needs to be
improved. On the one hand, the effective output power of mechanical
ultrasonic needs to be improved by the design of ultrasonic vibration
power supply and transducer, so as to meet the welding requirements of
larger size material or workpieces. On the other hand, it is necessary to
optimize the optimal coupling mode between ultrasonic amplitude
transformer horn or radiating head and welding gun or workpiece.
Through the combination of computer simulation and experimental
verification, the optimal connection mode or device coupled with
welding gun with less size and mass need to be designed and optimized.
In addition, the ultrasonic vibration effect is limited by the distance of
ultrasonic vibration transmitting, that is, the effect decreases with the
increase of the ultrasonic conduction distance. Thus, it is necessary to
maintain the specific relative position of the ultrasonic device and the
welding gun in welding process to ensure the uniformity and consistency
of the optimal ultrasonic vibration effect for the whole welded joints.
Ultrasonic frequency pulse arc welding urgently needs the further
study. On the one hand, the ultrasonic effect on arc and molten pool
depends on the output characteristics of ultrasonic pulse power supply.
Therefore, the research and development of ultrasonic pulse power
source with higher pulse frequency, larger ultrasonic current amplitude
and stable waveform output is still one of the important research di­
rections for ultrasonic frequency pulse arc welding. On the other hand,
the process research of ultrasonic frequency pulsed arc technology is not
systematic enough. For example, there is a dispute influence law be­
tween the ultrasonic pulse parameters and the weld forming
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 58 (2020) 936–954
characteristics, that is, under different ultrasonic pulse waveforms, the
characteristics of weld penetration depth for different materials and
plate thickness are not the same. Since the electromagnetic field
generated by the ultrasonic pulse current in the molten pool must be
closely related to the magnetic properties of material, the material type
and the thickness of the plate are also important factors affecting the
weld formation. In addition, the current literatures on the process study
of ultrasonic frequency pulse GMAW are relatively rare, especially CMT
welding process. Because CMT welding technology is one of the ideal
processes to realize arc additive manufacturing, ultrasonic frequency
pulse CMT technology for additive manufacturing has great research
potential and application prospect for outstanding advantages with
grain refinement, homogenization of phase and microstructure, elimi­
nation of porosity and crack, etc.
In addition, it is not systematic of the current study on the mecha­
nism of ultrasonic arc welding, especially the mechanism of the ultra­
sonic frequency pulse arc welding process is controversial. Therefore,
Study on mechanism of ultrasonic welding in the future should base on
the ultrasonic-electromagnetic field theory, using computer simulation
technology such as numerical simulation, molecular dynamics and
density functional theory (DFT), which can reach the real simulated
calculation result of arc shape, molten pool flow and heat and mass
transfer in the process. At the same time, with the aid of the calibration
technology of tracer atoms (elements) and in situ synchrotron radiation
technology in the experiments to explore and verify the diffusion and
transport of multi-atoms and electrons in the ultrasound-
electromagnetic field. Combining theoretical model with experimental
verification, the essence of the mechanism of ultrasonic pulse arc
welding can be explored. Thus, it will become another important
research direction upon the mechanism of ultrasonic frequency pulse arc
welding in the future.
In general, this literature review analyzes the characteristics and
mechanism of different ultrasonic arc welding processes from the
welding process nature, and provides an analysis and summary of the
latest research progress of ultrasonic arc welding. Finally, it gives some
suggestions for the research direction and development of ultrasonic arc
welding technology in the future.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The author would acknowledge the supported by the National Na­
ture Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51575347) and National
Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFA0702905).
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