WELDING RESEARCH
SUPPLEMENT TO THE WELDING JOURNAL, JULY 1993
Sponsored by the American Welding Society and the Welding Research Council
Metal Transfer in Pulsed Current
Gas Metal Arc Welding
A static force balance analysis was used to estimate the melting rates of the
electrodes during pulsed gas metal arc welding
ABSTRACT. In order to achieve one
drop per pulse operational conditions
with pulsed current G M A W , it is nec-
essary to control both the drop size at
the peak current and the melting rate of
the electrode. In this study, a static force
balance analysis was used to predict the
droplet size at the peak current and a
weighted sum of the melting rates mea-
sured under Direct Current Electrode
Positive (DCEP) welding was employed
to estimate the melting rate with pulsed
current. Combining the static force bal-
ance analysis and the weighted sum
method, a model is proposed to predict
the optimal conditions of one drop per
pulse operation. The model is found to
be in good agreement with the experi-
mental results when the base current
and the load duty cycle are small. When
the base current increases above 220 A
and the load duty cycle exceeds 10%
using 1.6-mm-diameter steel electrodes,
the prediction of the model deviates sig-
nificantly from the experimental results.
The discrepancy between the model
and the experimental results is discussed
Y. S. KIM is Assistant Professor, Department
of Metallurgy and Materials Science, Hong
Ik University, Seoul, Korea, and T. W. EAGAR
is Co-Director, Leaders for Manufacturing
Program, Richard P. Simmons Professor of
Metallurgy, Department of Materials Science
and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
BY Y.-S. K I M A N D T. W . EAGAR
and is shown to be due to tapering of
the electrode tip at high welding cur-
rents.
Introduction
Since the introduction of pulsed cur-
rent Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW-P)
in 1 962 (Ref. 1), this method of welding
has been used widely both in mechanized
welding and in robotic welding. With
pulsed GMAW, a stable spray metal trans-
fer mode can be obtained at low average
currents that w o u l d otherwise produce
globu lar transfer with large sporadic drops.
Pulsing leads to stable spray metal trans-
fer and formation of a uniform bead shape
KEY WORDS
Pulsed Current G M A W
Modeling
Metal Transfer
Electrode Melt Rate
Static Force Balance
Weighted Sum Method
Droplet Size
Optimum Pulsing Freq.
Electrode Tapering
Melting Rates
W E L D I N G RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT I 279-s
with shallow penetration. Recent im-
provements in power supply designs using
transistor or frequency converter controls
also provide better controllability of the
process (Ref. 2).
Pulsing the current introduces addi-
tional operational parameters, which in-
clude peak current, base current, peak
pulse time, and base pulse time, in addi-
tion to the variables of DC welding, which
include electrode extension, welding cur-
rent and welding voltage. These extra vari-
ables cause difficulty in selecting optimum
operating conditions for pulsed current
welding. A trial-and-error method is often
used to determine these conditions. How-
ever, the basic physics of metal transfer in
pulsed current welding needs to be un-
derstood in order to more successfully
control the process.
There have been several attempts to
analyze pulsed current welding theoret-
ically (Refs. 3-5). Samati (Ref. 5) pre-
dicted the theoretical pulsing frequency
by dividing the electrode melting rate by
the mass of the drop, and showed good
agreement between these predictions
and experimental results. However, this
agreement is anticipated since there is a
range of working solutions instead of a
single-valued pulsing condition as
shown experimentally by Allum (Ref. 3).
In this study, a theoretical framework
is described for prediction of the range
of optimum pulsing frequencies. The
method uses a combination of the
 O u *
STICK-OUT 35 MM
•• STICK-OUT 26 MM
STICK-OUT 16 MM

o o ~> 1
2=0
' 1
333
WELDING CURRENT (AMPERE)
' 1
358
' T"
433

(a) globular (b)spray (c) streaming (d) streaming

with tapered tip

Fig. 1 — Schematic representations of metal transfer modes as weld- Fig. 2 — Melting rates of steel electrodes (1.6 mm diameter) shielded
ing current increases from A to D. with Ar-2%02.

droplet size predicted from the static
force balance theory, and the melting
rate from the weighted sum of melting
rates at the peak and base currents
equivalent to DC welding. This theoret-
ical model is then compared with the
experimental results obtained using
steel, Ti-6Al-4V and aluminum elec-
trodes.
Theoretical Framework for
Pulsed Current G M A W
As one increases the current during
DC welding in argon-rich atmospheres,
the metal transfer mode changes from
globular to spray. W i t h further current
increases in the spray current regime,
the anode spot increases in size until it
begins to c l i m b the sides of the solid
cylindrical electrodes. The condensa-
tion heat produced by the current on
these vertical surfaces causes melting of
the cylinder edges (Ref. 11). At suffi-
ciently high currents, this produces a ta-
pered solid electrode tip as seen in Fig.
1. In order to obtain one liquid metal
drop with a size similar to the electrode
diameter at every pulse, the operating
conditions must be such that significant
tapering does not occur at the tip of the
electrode. If tapering occurs, the pulsed
current process degenerates into stream-
ing metal transfer mode (Ref. 7) and it
becomes difficult to obtain one drop
with each pulse.
Among the four pulsing parameters,
which include peak current, peak time,
base current and base time, the pulsing
frequency and the load duty cycle were
used as the operational parameters of
interest instead of the more commonly
used peak time and base time. Pulsing
frequency is defined as 1/(peak time +
base time) and load duty cycle as (peak
time) / (peak time + base time) X 100
(%). The employment of pulsing fre-
quency and load duty cycle as the op-
erational parameters eliminates some of
the complexity of adjusting the process.
For instance, if the load duty cycle is
kept constant, the pulsing frequency can
be changed without affecting the aver-
age welding current, which may lead to
a relatively constant electrode melting
rate. In this manner, it is possible to de-
termine a range of optimum pulsing fre-
quencies at a constant electrode melt-
ing rate.
In pulsed current G M A W , a theoreti-
cal pulsing frequency is obtained by d i -
viding the electrode melting rate with cur-
rent pulsing by the mass of one drop :
theoretical pulsing frequency
m
ru,,e
(1)
V",. ('>
where:
inputs, is the electrode melting
rate with current pulsing,Vdrop(lp) is the
predicted volume of the drop at the peak
current, and p,j is the density of the drop.
The average melting rate for a square
wave current may be estimated as the
weighted sum of the DC melting rate at
the peak current and at the base current.
mP„,„=^m(/„) + (l- y 8)m(/ B ) (2)
P: load duty cycle
m[l\. DC melting rate at peak current

a.300 —

0.270 —

0.240 —
\ 1 0 M/S EC
Insufficient pulse
frequency —- one drop per pulse
-+ excessive pulse
frequency

0.210 — 100 M/SE&^Sw

2
0.180 — ^ \
a
<
0.150 — ^\.
0.120 — ^^^~^__
o
0.090 — ~~
cc 0.060 — natural base •naximum puls
current frequency
frequency
0.030 —

i | i | i | , | i |
320 408 480
WELDING CURRENT (AMPERE)

Fig. 3 — The equilibrium droplet size from a 1.6-mm-diameter steel

electrode calculated from the static balance theory at two different pulsing frequency (fp)
argon gas speeds (10 m/s and 100 m/s) around drops.
Fig. 4 — Schematic diagram of weld current pulsing.

280-s I JULY 1993

cooling water Z?\
00-
L&1
I.
shielding g a s ~ * - i — A

current regulate

J5
240.0 329.3 400.0 41
Fig. 5 Overall layout of welding equipment.
PEAK CURRENT (AMPERE)

Fig. 5 — Overall layout of welding equipment. Fig. 6 — Theoretical pulsing frequency for steel electrodes shielded
with Ar-2%02 as a function of peak current.

m(lb): DC melting rate at base current given by Equation 1. Therefore, the the- fined as the actual droplet transfer rate
As shown in our previous work (Ref. oretical pulsing frequency is the theoret- divided by the applied pulsing fre-
8), the melting rate undergoes a transi- ical maximum pulsing frequency (TMPF) quency. When the droplet to pulse fre-
tion as the welding current increases as that should be applied to the system. O n quency ratio is equal to one, each pulse
shown in Fig. 2. This transition is related the other hand, as the pulsing frequency produces one drop. This is the optimum
to formation of the taper. Since fully de- is decreased below the TMPF, each pulse pulsing frequency region for practical
veloped tapers have less tendency to can still produce one drop over a limited welding. When the droplet to pulse fre-
form in pulsed current welding, the DC range of lower frequencies, but the quency ratio is larger than 1.0, the nat-
melting rate measured in the pretransi- droplet size becomes larger than the ural frequency becomes larger than the
tion region has been extrapolated to the equilibrium droplet size at the TMPF. If pulsing frequency, hence insufficient
peak current levels in order to estimate the pulsing frequency is decreased fur- pulse frequency is present. Finally, when
the melting rate at the peak current. ther, droplet transfer frequency at the DC the droplet to pulse frequency ratio is
The droplet size in pulsed current base current w i l l eventually become less than 1.0, pulsing becomes so fast
welding may be determined at the peak fasterthan the applied pulsing frequency. that not every pulse can produce a drop,
current using the static force balance Hence the droplet transfer frequency at hence the pulse frequency is excessive.
model. Figure 3 shows the results of this the DC base current sets the lower limit
calculation. The higher the peak current, of the one drop per pulse region. When
Experimental Procedures
the smaller will be the droplet size. The the pulsing frequency is lower than the
details of this calculation can be found limit, the drop w i l l be detached in t w o Mild steel (AWS E70s-3), aluminum
elsewhere (Ref. 7). modes: one controlled by the base cur- alloy (AA11 00, AA5356), and titanium
rent and the other controlled by the peak alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) were used in the ex-
When the pulsing frequency is i n -
current. Therefore, within one cycle of perimental portion of this study. The
creased above the theoretical pulsing fre-
pulsing, several drops may be detached shielding gases were pure argon and
quency of Equation 1 with other opera-
and the size of the droplets will become argon-2% oxygen. The welding equip-
tional parameters held constant, not
nonuniform. ment included a constant current-type
every pulse can detach one drop. In other
words, the droplet size and the melting Figure 4 schematically shows the power supply, a transistorized current
rate remain the same; theoretically it is concepts of the preceding paragraph. regulator, and a voltage-controlled elec-
impossible to produce more drops than The droplet transfer frequency to pulse trode feed with a low inertia motor. The
predicted by the theoretical frequency frequency ratio on the vertical axis is de- power supply could provide a total out-

8.240
LOAD D U T Y CYCLE 5 %
BASE CURRENT IMA
PEAK CURRENT 300 A
PEAK CURRENT « w A BASE CURRENT. 180 A
PEAK CURRENT 500 A 0.200 PEAK CURRENT : 500 A
: P R E D I C T E D MAX F R E Q U E N C Y LOAD DUTY CYCLE : 5 %
o
r~ 0 . 168 O

0 . 120 ©
O
o G
3
DL
0.080
tt.
O o
CQ cc 0.840
Q Q

8.088
1 1
' I ' I ' I ' I ' 1 1 1 '
0 10 20 30 40 50
PULSING FREQUENCY (/SEC) PULSING FREQUENCY (/SEC)

Fig. 7 — Optimum pulsing frequency regions for steel electrodes Fig. 8 — Droplet size variation in the range of optimum pulse fre-
shielded with Ar-2%02. The base current was 180 A and the load quency for steel electrodes with Ar-2%02 shielding. The peak cur-
duty cycle was 5%. rent is 500 A.

W E L D I N G RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT I 281-s

 Table 1 — Conditions used for Pulsed Current Welding
Peak current (A) Base current (A)
Mild steel 300,400,500 180,200,220,260
Aluminum 300, 400, 500 170,200
(1100)
Ti-6AI-4V 300,400,500 130,200
put p o w e r of over 1 2 0 0 A.
The transistorized current regulator
u s e d in t h i s s t u d y c a n s u p p l y D C c u r -
r e n t w i t h less t h a n 1 % r i p p l e (Ref. 9 ) .
T h i s s y s t e m uses t r a n s i s t o r s t o c o n t r o l
t h e w e l d i n g c u r r e n t a n d is c a p a b l e o f
pulsing the D C current to a m a x i m u m
of 5 k H z for s m a l l s u p e r i m p o s e d signals.
The e q u i p m e n t can control pulsing pa-
r a m e t e r s , p e a k c u r r e n t , base c u r r e n t ,
peak t i m e a n d base t i m e , i n d e p e n d e n t l y
f r o m a f u n c t i o n generator i n c l u d e d w i t h
the controller. A n a l u m i n a tube was in-
serted i n t o the c o n t a c t t i p of a c o m m e r -
c i a l w e l d i n g g u n l e a v i n g o n l y 5 m m for
c o n t a c t length rather than the n o r m a l
c o n t a c t length o f 2 4 m m . A transversing
w e l d t a b l e w a s used so that t h e w e l d g u n
c o u l d r e m a i n at a f i x e d p o s i t i o n . Figure
5 s h o w s t h e o v e r a l l l a y o u t o f the w e l d -
ing e q u i p m e n t .
Analysis of metal transfer was per-
formed using high-speed videography
w i t h a backlighted shadow graphic
m e t h o d (Ref. 10). This m e t h o d e x c l u d e s
m o s t o f t h e i n t e n s e arc l i g h t a n d t r a n s -
m i t s m o s t o f t h e laser l i g h t b y a s p a t i a l
f i l t e r t h a t is p l a c e d at t h e f o c a l p o i n t o f
the o b j e c t i v e lens. The h i g h - s p e e d v i d e o
c a m e r a is c a p a b l e of p r o d u c i n g images
at a m a x i m u m 1 0 0 0 f u l l f r a m e pictures
p e r s e c o n d (pps). T h e d r o p l e t t r a n s f e r
240 328 400
PEAK CURRENT (AMPERE)
Fig. 9 — Comparison between droplet size from the static force bal-
ance theory and minimum droplet size in pulsed current welding for
steel electrodes with Ar-2%0, shielding.
282-s I JULY 1993
Frequency (Hz) Duty cycle %
5 to 300 5,10,20
3 to 150 10
3 to 100 10
rate w a s m e a s u r e d for 10 s a n d an aver-
aged d r o p l e t transfer rate for each w e l d -
ing c o n d i t i o n was calculated. The
d r o p l e t size w a s m e a s u r e d f r o m the still
i m a g e o n the screen o n c e e v e r y s e c o n d
for 1 0 s a n d a v e r a g e d . T h e v a r i a t i o n in
d r o p l e t size a n d f r e q u e n c y is e s t i m a t e d
to be + 5 % in most cases.
M e l t i n g rates o f t h e e l e c t r o d e w e r e
measured using a t a c h o m e t e r that was in
contact w i t h the m o v i n g w i r e electrode.
The o u t p u t voltage of the tachometer and
of the current shunt, w h i c h was filtered
b y a l o w b a n d pass f i l t e r , w a s r e c o r d e d
w i t h a high-speed recorder.
The ranges of operational variables for
pulsed current w e l d i n g used in this study
are s h o w n in T a b l e l . Based o n the initial
pulsing frequency, w h i c h was d e t e r m i n e d
using predictions f r o m the theoretical
m o d e l d e v e l o p e d in this study, the puls-
ing frequencies w e r e c h a n g e d in order to
d e t e r m i n e t h e range of p u l s i n g f r e q u e n -
cies o f o n e d r o p per pulse. This range of
the pulsing frequencies was judged pri-
m a r i l y f r o m the recordings o f arc voltage
and pulse current on a high-speed
recorder and was later analyzed m o r e ac-
curately using high-speed videography.
W i t h the high-speed videography, the
d r o p l e t transfer f r e q u e n c y a n d the d r o p l e t
size w e r e d e t e r m i n e d .
0.90 r
BASE CURRENT: 180 A
LOAD DUTY CYCLE : 5%
0.80
O
LU
CXI
g
UJ
I
rr
0.70
CD
0.60 -
0.50
480
Fig. 10 — Melting rate of steel electrodes at three different peak cur-
rents with Ar-2%02 shielding.
Pulsed C u r r e n t G M A W with
Steel E l e c t r o d e s
Effect of Peak Current
Figure 6 s h o w s the T M P F c a l c u l a t e d
f r o m E q u a t i o n 6 as a f u n c t i o n o f p e a k
c u r r e n t at v a r i o u s levels o f base c u r r e n t .
T h e T M P F increases as t h e peak c u r r e n t
increases because the m e l t i n g rate of the
e l e c t r o d e increases d u e t o t h e increase
in a v e r a g e c u r r e n t a n d t h e d e c r e a s e in
d r o p l e t size. U s i n g this T M P F as a refer-
e n c e f r e q u e n c y , a series o f p u l s i n g f r e -
q u e n c i e s w a s tested e x p e r i m e n t a l l y i n
order to d e t e r m i n e the range of o n e d r o p
per p u l s e w i t h o t h e r p u l s i n g c o n d i t i o n s
r e m a i n i n g constant.
Figure 7 shows the regions of puls-
ing f r e q u e n c y w i t h a 1 8 0 - A base c u r r e n t
at t h r e e different peak c u r r e n t s : 3 0 0 , 4 0 0
and 5 0 0 A . T h e l o a d d u t y c y c l e used w a s
5 % . As seen in t h e f i g u r e , as t h e p e a k
c u r r e n t increases, t h e w i d t h of t h e o n e -
pulse-one-drop ( O P O D ) region in-
creases. W h e n t h e p e a k c u r r e n t is 3 0 0
A , t h e O P O D r e g i o n is v e r y n a r r o w (4
to 6 H z ) . W h e n t h e p e a k c u r r e n t i n -
creases to 4 0 0 A , t h e range w i d e n s to 4
to 12 H z a n d , f i n a l l y , w h e n the peak c u r -
rent is 5 0 0 A , t h e range e x p a n d s t o 4 t o
3 8 H z . This e x p a n s i o n of the O P O D re-
g i o n as t h e p e a k c u r r e n t increases w a s
also o b s e r v e d at d i f f e r e n t base c u r r e n t s .
This e x p a n s i o n of the O P O D r e g i o n , es-
p e c i a l l y the increase of T M P F w i t h peak
c u r r e n t , is d u e t o t h e increase in t h e e l e c -
t r o d e m e l t i n g rate a n d t h e d e c r e a s e i n
the d r o p l e t size as t h e p e a k c u r r e n t i n -
creases. T h e l o w e r b o u n d p u l s i n g fre-
q u e n c y , 4 H z , was not affected by the
peak c u r r e n t . This v a l u e agrees w e l l w i t h
the measured natural D C droplet trans-
fer f r e q u e n c y o f 3.5 H z at a c u r r e n t o f
: PREDICTION
: EXPERIMENTAL
300 400 von
WELDING CURRENT (AMPERE)
 LOAD DUTY CYCLE 5%
BASE CURRENT 200 A
_. PEAK CURRENT 400 A
0 PEAK CURRENT SCO A
i : PREDICTED MAX FREQUENCY

<
tr

CL
O
a a.
o
-

T
3CJ
PULSING FREQUENCY (/SEC) PULSING FREQUENCY (/SEC)
Fig. 11 — Pulsing frequency regions of steel electrodes at a base cur- Fig. 12 — Pulsing frequency regions of steel electrodes at a base cur-
rent of 200 A with Ar-2%02 shielding. rent of 220 A Ar-2%02 shielding.

1 80 A. However,the TMPF, w h i c h are
indicated by the arrows in the figure, do
not coincide w i t h the measured maxi-
mum pulsing frequency.
Figure 8 shows the variation of the
droplet size as the pulsing frequency
changes at a peak current of 500 A. As
the pulsing frequency increases, the
droplet size decreases until it reaches a
minimum value. This corresponds to the
equilibrium droplet size at which the de-
taching forces at the peak current are
just equal to the retaining surface ten-
sion force. Figure 9 compares the equi-
librium droplet size from the static force
balance theory with the experimentally
measured minimum droplet sizes at dif-
ferent peak currents. The prediction and
the experimental results agree with er-
rors of less than + 10%. These results
show that the static force balance the-
ory can be used to predict the droplet
size at various peak currents.
The discrepancy of the TMPF from
the experimental results may be caused
by two possibilities as one can see from
Equation 1: either the equilibrium
droplet size is in error or the melting rate
predicted from the weighted sum
method is in error, or both. Since the
predicted equilibrium droplet size
agrees reasonably well with the experi-
mentally measured m i n i m u m droplet
size, the actual melting rate during
pulsed current welding was measured
to compare w i t h the melting rate pre-
dicted from the weighted sum method.
The melting rates measured at differ-
ent peak currents along with the melt-
ing rates predicted from the weighted
sum method of Equation 1 are shown in
Fig. 10. As mentioned in the previous
section, the melting rate for the peak cur-
rent is calculated from the curve extrap-
olated from the pretransition melting rate
curve of the DCEP welding process. As
seen in the figure, the measured elec-
trode melting rate is higher than the cal-
culated melting rate predicted by Equa-
tion 1. When the increased melting rate
under current pulsing is used in Equa-
tion 1, the TMPF at 1 80 A base current,
500 A peak current, and 5% load duty
cycle is calculated to be 30 Hz, which
is closer to the experimentally observed
37 Hz. Therefore, this increased melt-
ing rate under pulsed current welding
must cause a significant portion of the
discrepancy between the TMPF and the
measured maximum pulse frequency.
Effect of Base Current
Figures 1 1 , 1 2 and 1 3 show the ex-
perimental results of the droplet to pulse
frequency ratio as a function of the puls-
ing frequency at base currents of 200,
220 and 260 A, respectively. When the
base current is 200 (Fig. 11) and 1 80 A
(Fig. 7), the predicted TMPF lie within
the O P O D region. As the base current
is increased to 220 A as in Fig. 1 2, the
TMPF starts to shift outside of the OPOD
region. W i t h peak currents of 400 and
500 A, the TMPF are within the region
of OPOD, but with a peak current of 300
A the TMPF becomes smaller than the
lower frequency of the O P O D region.
When the base current is increased to
260 A, the TMPF of all peak currents be-
comes smaller than the measured lower
limit frequency of the OPOD region.
These large deviations of theoretical
prediction from the experimental mea-
surements can be explained from the re-
sults of the droplet size measurements
in our previous studies (Ref. 7). Around
21 0 A in DCEP welding the measured
droplet size becomes significantly
smaller than the droplet size predicted
by the static force balance theory due to

o \ LOAD DUTY CYCLE 5%

LOAD DUTY CYCLE 5 *
\ BASE CURRENT 260 A
BASE CURRENT 180 A
BASE CURRENT 2 0 0 A

-
\o * PEAK CURRENT SCO A
; PREDICTED MAX FREQUENCY
BASE C U R R E N T 220 A

5
O
X 3
°--0 Q £
t
500 A
o o
0-
O
o DC
O
cr
rv
\
1
1 ' 1 1 1
1 , 1 1 1 1 ~T~
250 350 400

PULSING FREQUENCY (/SEC) PEAK CURRENT (AMPERE)

Fig. 13 — Pulsing frequency regions of steel electrodes at a base cur- Fig. 14 — The minimum droplet size of steel electrodes at three dif-
rent of 260 A Ar-2%02 shielding. ferent base currents Ar-2%02 shielding.

W E L D I N G RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT I 283-s

 3
Q

O
cr
cv

350 400
PEAK CURRENT (AMPERE)

Fig. 15 — Partial tapering at the tip of the steel electrode when shielded Fig. 16 — The minimum droplet size of steel electrodes at three dif-
with Ar-2%02. The base current is 220 A and the peak current is 400 ferent peak currents when shielded with Ar-2%02. The base current
A. is 180 A and the load duty cycle is 10%.

t a p e r i n g of the e l e c t r o d e . T h e r e f o r e , w i t h Effect of Load Duty Cycle c i a l if t h e d e g r e e o f t a p e r i n g is s m a l l

p u l s e d w e l d i n g c o n d i t i o n s in w h i c h t a -
pering of the electrode occurs, the
T M P F , w h i c h are c a l c u l a t e d b y t h e
d r o p l e t size p r e d i c t e d f r o m t h e s t a t i c
f o r c e b a l a n c e t h e o r y , w i l l be s m a l l e r
than the measured d r o p l e t transfer fre-
q u e n c y . Figure 14 s h o w s the d r o p l e t size
m e a s u r e d at d i f f e r e n t b a s e c u r r e n t s
w h e n t a p e r i n g o c c u r s as in Fig. 1 5 . It
c a n be seen t h a t t h e m i n i m u m d r o p l e t
size is smaller t h a n that p r e d i c t e d b y the
D C (nontaper) p r e d i c t i o n at the 2 2 0 base
c u r r e n t . T h u s , it is b e l i e v e d that it is the
f o r m a t i o n of a taper t h a t causes the p r e -
d i c t e d T M P F to be smaller t h a n that m e a -
sured e x p e r i m e n t a l l y . T h e t e n d e n c y for
t a p e r i n g o f t h e e l e c t r o d e i n c r e a s e s as
b o t h base currents a n d peak currents i n -
crease.
W h e n l o a d d u t y c y c l e is increased t o
1 0 % , t a p e r i n g of the electrode occurs
even at l o w base c u r r e n t s . For instance,
w i t h 1 0 % l o a d d u t y c y c l e , t a p e r i n g is
o b s e r v e d at a base c u r r e n t of 180 A a n d
a p e a k c u r r e n t of 4 0 0 A . W i t h s u c h a
high load duty cycle, the electrode ta-
pers d u r i n g the peak c u r r e n t p e r i o d a n d
d o e s n o t r e t u r n to a c y l i n d r i c a l s h a p e
i m m e d i a t e l y after t h e c u r r e n t is l o w e r e d
t o t h e base c u r r e n t . T h i s p h e n o m e n o n
is e s p e c i a l l y easy t o o b s e r v e at p u l s i n g
f r e q u e n c i e s near t h e l o w e r b o u n d a r y o f
the o p t i m u m p u l s i n g f r e q u e n c y r e g i o n .
Since a s m a l l a m o u n t o f t a p e r i n g c a n
e x p a n d the O P O D region by creating
d e c r e a s e d m i n i m u m d r o p l e t sizes, t h e
t a p e r i n g o f t h e e l e c t r o d e c a n be b e n e f i -
e n o u g h s u c h t h a t d r o p l e t sizes s i m i l a r
to t h e e l e c t r o d e size can be o b t a i n e d .
Figure 1 6 s h o w s the measured decrease
in d r o p l e t size d u e to the partially d e -
v e l o p e d t a p e r seen in Fig. 1 5 . W h e n
there is partial t a p e r i n g of the e l e c t r o d e ,
t h e O P O D r e g i o n is i n c r e a s e d s i g n i f i -
c a n t l y as s h o w n i n F i g . 1 7 . T h e p u l s e
f r e q u e n c y w o r k i n g range at a base c u r -
rent of 1 8 0 A a n d a peak c u r r e n t of 4 0 0
A w i t h 1 0 % l o a d d u t y c y c l e is a p p r o x i -
m a t e l y t w i c e as w i d e as t h a t w i t h 5 %
load d u t y c y c l e , w h i c h p r o d u c e s n o par-
tial t a p e r i n g .
A s t h e l o a d d u t y c y c l e is f u r t h e r i n -
c r e a s e d u p to 2 0 % , t h e O P O D r e g i o n
increases s i g n i f i c a n t l y because the
d r o p l e t sizes are f u r t h e r r e d u c e d by t h e
w e l l - d e v e l o p e d taper on the electrode.

LOAD DUTY CYCLE 10%

BASE CURRENT 180 A
A PEAK CURRENT 30O A
» PEAK CURRENT 4D0 A
© PEAK CURRENT 500 A
4 PREDICTED MAX FREQUENCY

<
rr

o
rr O
Q DC
•
! ]
i [ 1 '—i ' i ' r
50 100 150 200 250 300

PULSING FREQUENCY (/SEC) PULSING FREQENCY (/SEC)

Fig. 17 — The pulsing frequency region of steel electrodes shielded Fig. 18 — The pulsing frequency region of steel electrodes at 20%
with Ar-2%02 at three different peak currents. The width of the opti- load duty cycle Ar-2%02 shielding. The base current is 220 A.
mum pulsing frequency region has increased significantly at 10%
load duty cycle.

284-s I JULY 1993

 ZC
Q

c
DC -. " ~ T g - CC TAPER
Q -^ —O- _ FORMED

— I | I | I | I | I (—

160 240 320 400 480 560

WELDING CURRENT (AMPERE)

Fig. 19 — A fully developed taper at peak current during pulsed Fig. 20 — The minimum droplet size of steel electrodes shielded with
GMAW. The steel electrode is shielded with Ar-2%0-,. Ar-2%02 under different pulsing conditions. Depending on the de-
gree of tapering, the droplet size forms over a range of droplet size.

Figure 1 8 shows the O P O D range with
base current of 220 A and 2 0 % load duty
cycle. The minimum droplet sizes mea-
sured with pulsed current w e l d i n g are
as small as the droplet sizes obtained
with streaming transfer in DC welding.
Therefore, it is only possible to achieve
one pulse per drop at very high pulsing
frequencies under these high duty cycle
conditions. In this case, there is no ad-
vantage of using pulsed current welding
since the droplet size is no longer simi-
lar to the droplet size of projected spray
transfer; one could use DC streaming
transfer just as well.
In pulsed current welding, it is ob-
served that there are various taper shapes
depending on the pulsing parameters.
For example, there is a fully developed
taper as seen in Fig. 19 and a partially
developed taper as seen in Fig. 1 5. As
the base current and load duty cycle in-
crease, the tapering becomes larger and
w i l l decrease the equilibrium droplet
size. Figure 20 shows the m i n i m u m
droplet sizes measured under different
pulse conditions. As seen in this figure,
when there is no taper, the droplet size
is very close to the theoretical value pre-
dicted by the static force balance the-
ory. When the taper starts to develop
with increases in the base current and/or
the load duty cycle, the droplet size be-
gins to decrease depending on the de-
gree of tapering. Finally, when the puls-
ing condition develops a fully developed
taper (such as w i t h the 2 0 % load duty
cycle and 220-A base current), the
droplet size approaches the droplet size
of streaming transfer in DCEP welding.
The formation of a taper causes vari-
ous problems in analyzing pulsed cur-
rent w e l d i n g ; however, tapering pro-
vides one important advantage of pro-
viding a wider range of the optimum
pulsing frequency region. Therefore, by
controlling the development of the taper,
the OPOD range can be widened, which
leads to easier control of the process.
The addition of helium to argon shield-
ing gas has been known to suppress the
tendency to form a taper (Ref. 11). Thus,
the use of helium gas mixtures is ex-
pected to widen the range of frequency
over which OPOD can be obtained.
Effect of Materials
Ti-6AI-4V and Aluminum 11 00 elec-
trodes were also tested. With Ti-6Al-4V
electrodes, the general trend of the
O P O D region is the same as with the
steel electrode. As shown in Fig. 2 1 , the
optimum frequency region increases
with the peak current. Also, the mini-
mum droplet size decreases with the
peak current but is larger than the
droplet size predicted from the static
LOAD DUTY CYCLE 10%
BASE CURRENT 130A
A
•
© PEAK CURRENT 500 A
o •
<
o
rc
Q
PULSING FREQENCY (/SEC)
force balance theory, which may reflect
the repulsive forces experienced in this
process.
With Ti-6Al-4V electrodes, tapering
was not observed up to 240 A with DCEP
welding. However, Fig. 22 shows that a
taper forms during pulsed current weld-
ing at 200-A base current, 500-A peak
current, with 1 0% load duty cycle, and
20-Hz pulsing frequency. This shows
that tapering of the electrode may occur
with argon shielding in materials other
than steel, but the onset current of ta-
pering is dependent on the properties of
the material.
W i t h the aluminum electrode, the
O P O D range was measured for 300-,
400- and 500-A peak currents using a
load duty cycle of 10%. With these con-
ditions, it was not possible to find any
satisfactory optimum pulsing frequency
region. With most of the conditions, ta-
pering occurs, leading to streaming
transfer. When tapering does not occur,
secondary small drops occur after pri-
mary droplet detachment as shown in
Fig. 21 — The puls-
ing frequency
region with TI-6AI-
PEAK CURRENT 300 A
PEAK CURRENT 400 A
4V electrodes
PREDICTED MAX FREQUENCY
shielded with pure
argon.

W E L D I N G RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT I 285-s

Fig. 22 — Tapering of TF6AI-4V electrode with argon shielding. A — Beginning of the tapering; — an established taper of the electrode. The
base current is 200 A and the peak current is 500 A. The load duty cycle is 10%.
Fig. 23. This may be due to the fact that
the peak currents used in this study were
too high for aluminum. The low surface
tension of aluminum causes the detach-
ing force to create too much disturbance
in the liquid drop. With lower peak cur-
rents and with a lower load duty cycle,
there may be a range of optimum puls-
ing frequencies for aluminum welding.
Further Observations with
Pulsed Current GMAW
From the observations made in this
study, several important aspects of the
pulsed current welding process can be
identified. Firstly, peak current has the
most significant effect on the O P O D
range, as seen in Fig. 7. In general, the
higher the peak current, the wider the
Fig. 23 — Secondary
metal transfer with alu-
minum electrodes in
pulsed current weld-
ing. The shielding gas
is pure argon.
286-s I JULY 1993
OPOD range. However, when peak cur- gas, pulsed current G M A W may pro-
rent is increased too much, tapering of duce projected metal transfer in the nor-
the electrode w i l l occur, leading to a mal DC range of repelled globular trans-
streaming transfer mode in which the fer. The repelled metal transfer mode at
droplet size is too small to control. Taper- low welding current transforms into the
ing may be suppressed by using a shield- projected spray transfer mode as weld-
ing gas consisting of Ar-He mixtures. ing current increases. Therefore, if the
Secondly, when welding with steel peak current used is greater than the
electrodes using carbon dioxide as a transition current of repelled-projected
shielding gas, the application of pulsed transition, pulsed current G M A W w i l l
G M A W will not provide any advantages produce a projected transfer mode. The
in controlling droplet size. Since the same reasoning can be applied when
droplet size remains nearly the same and welding with titanium electrodes
the mode of metal transfer is repelled shielded with argon, which exhibit the
transfer (Ref. 11), pulsing of current will same transition phenomenon as the
not produce projected spray transfer welding current increases.
when welding steel electrodes shielded
with carbon dioxide. Conclusions
Thirdly, when welding with steel
electrodes using helium as the shielding A theoretical model of pulsed current
welding is developed to predict ranges
of one pulse per one drop pulse fre-
quency. Experimental results confirm
this approach.
The width of the optimum pulsing fre-
quency region increases as the peak cur-
rent increases. This is due to the fact that
the range of droplet sizes available and
the melting rate increase as the peak cur-
rent increases.
The static force balance theory can
predict the droplet size at a given peak
current provided that there is no signifi-
cant tapering at the tip of the electrode.
The melting rates under pulsing cur-
rent conditions are greater than melting
rates calculated using a weighted sum
of the melting rate (for DC currents) at
the peak current and at the base current.
The workable ranges of base current and
load duty cycle can be expanded when
tapering of the electrode can be sup-
pressed. This may be achieved by adding
helium and/or carbon dioxide to the
argon gas.
 Acknowledgments
T h i s research w a s f u n d e d b y a grant
f r o m t h e U n i t e d States D e p a r t m e n t of
Energy u n d e r c o n t r a c t n u m b e r DE-
FG02-85ER-13331.
References
1. Needham, J. C. 1962. Control of trans-
fer in aluminum consumable electrode weld-
ing. Physics of Welding Arc, The Institute of
Welding, London, pp. 114-124.
2. Shimada.W., and Ukai, J. Effects of
pulsed current control on welding quality im-
provement. IIW Document # XII-B-11 - 8 1 .
3. Q u i n t i n o , L., and A l l u m , C. J. 1984. of metal transfer in gas metal arc w e l d i n g .
Pulsed G M A W : interaction between process Welding Journal 71 (6):269-s to 278s..
parameters — part II. Welding and Metal Fab- 8. Kim, Y. S., and Eagar, T.W. 1989. Tem-
rication, Vol. 4, pp. 1 26-1 29. perature distribution and energy balance in
4. Q u i n t i n o . L., and A l l u m , C. ). 1984. the electrode during G M A W . Proc. of Trends
Pulsed G M A W : interaction between process in Welding Research, Gatlinburg, TN.
9. Eickhoff, S. T. 1988. Gas-metal arc
Z
parameters — part I. Welding and Metal Fab- LU
rication, Vol. 3, pp. 85-89. welding in pure argon. M.S. thesis, MIT, Cam- £
5. Samati, Z. 1986. Automatic pulsed MIG bridge, Mass. Q.
welding. Metal Construction, V o l . 18, N o . 1 , 10. Allemancl, C D . , Schoeder, R., Ries,
pp. 33R-44R. D.E., and Eagar, T.W. 1985. A method of film-
o
_1
6. Lesnewich, A. 1958. Control of melt- ing metal transfer in the w e l d i n g arc. We/d-
tu
ing rate and metal transfer in gas-shielded ing Journal 64(1):45-47. >
metal-arc welding. Part I — Control of elec- 11. Kim, Y. S. 1989. Metal transfer in gas UJ
trode melting rate. Welding lournal metal arc w e l d i n g . Ph.D. thesis, MIT, Cam-
37(8):343-sto353-s. bridge, Mass.
o
7. Kim, Y. S., and Eagar, T. W . Analysis

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WELDING RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT I 287-s