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Investigation on dynamic behaviors of bubble evolution in underwater wet

flux-cored arc welding

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 Journal of Manufacturing Processes 28 (2017) 156–167

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Manufacturing Processes

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

Investigation on dynamic behaviors of bubble evolution in

underwater wet flux-cored arc welding
Jicai Feng a,b , Jianfeng Wang a,b , Qingjie Sun a,b,∗ , Huanyao Zhao b , Laijun Wu b ,
Pengwei Xu b
a
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and Joining, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
b
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Special Welding Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology at Weihai, Weihai 264209, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Bubble evolution behavior has a significant effect on the process stability and weld joint quality in under-
Received 21 March 2017 water wet flux-cored arc welding (FCAW). In this study the visual sensing of bubble evolution behaviors
Received in revised form 24 May 2017 based on high-speed camera method have been explored in attempt to accomplish the study of the
Accepted 5 June 2017
wet welding process. The effects of preset welding parameters on the bubble evolution behaviors are
investigated in detail. Four typical bubble evolution modes during the wet welding process and their
Keywords:
corresponding welding electric information are determined to describe the bubble behaviors along with
Underwater wet welding
arc characteristics. Results indicated that the bubble evolution of underwater wet welding is unstable
FCAW
Bubble evolution
and complicated, necessitating control by adjusting the welding parameters to obtain a more stable pro-
Welding electric information tective effect. And there is a matching relationship between the coefficient of variation, weld appearance
Weld appearance and bubble evolution mode for certain welding parameters. For underwater wet FCAW, a stable welding
process can be acquired with a lower floating frequency and a larger maximum diameter of the bubble
without arc extinguishing.
© 2017 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction to the deterioration of the weld microstructure and final mechan-

The increasing demand, for more and more metal structures
serving in the sea, is favorable for exploring marine resources and
conducting underwater activities. Considering the special service
environment such as material fatigue, corrosion of sea water, exces-
sive operational loads, and accident during assembly, maintenance
and repair of offshore structures have necessitated research to
accomplish some important requirements on underwater welding
technology [1–3]. Actually, underwater wet welding is generally
recognized to repair or even construct the most geometrically
complex structures due to the simplicity of wet welding process
without requiring additional mechanical protection equipment
[4–6]. Unfortunately, since wet welding method is conducted
directly in the water, the extreme conditions around the arc burning
area caused by the water environment can cause a series of adverse
effects. For example, the increased ambient pressure is prone to the
existence of unstable arc burning [7,8]; the rapid cooling rate leads
∗ Corresponding author at: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and Joining,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China.
E-mail address: qjsun@hit.edu.cn (Q. Sun).
ical properties [9,10]; the oxidation of weld pool tends to cause it
to generate more slag [11]; and the water dissociation accelerates
the formation of detrimental porosity [12]. As a result, the above
mentioned issues may deteriorate the welding process stability and
resulting weld joint quality in underwater wet welding. The main
reason causing these adverse effects is still attributed to the under-
water wet welding process in direct contact with water. Hence,
understanding the interaction mechanism of the complicated wet
welding process and surrounding water has been strongly required
and become one of the greatest challenges in underwater wet weld-
ing.
Early investigations are conducted mainly based on the metal-
lurgical investigation and mechanical properties by using special
methods in underwater wet welding. For example, Rowe et al.
[13] reported that ferro-alloy additions were critical to improve
the mechanical property of underwater wet weld. Similarly, Santos
et al. [14] employed an oxyrutile electrode for the wet welding to
obtain lower diffusible hydrogen content and excellent mechanical
property. Sun et al. [15,16] suggested that ultrasonic-assisted wet
welding was a promising way to obtain high-quality weld joints.
Fydrych et al. [17,18] attempted to use temper bead welding tech-
nique to improve wet welding weldability of high strength steel,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2017.06.003
1526-6125/© 2017 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 J. Feng et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 28 (2017) 156–167
thereby decreasing the maximum hardness of heat affected zone.
Based on real-time induction heating, Zhang et al. [19] performed
heat-assisted method in such a way as to decrease the cooling
rate of underwater wet welded joint. Gao et al. [20] adopted the
grinding + underwater ultrasonic impact treatment for improving
the fatigue strength in the weld metal.
From the above studies, it is inferred that these methods have
in part improved the weld joint quality based on metallurgical
process. Furthermore, underwater welding process sensing has
been recognized as an effective method for exploring the inter-
action mechanisms by the effect of harsh water environment.
Spectroscopic study was already reported successfully to occur in
underwater wet welding. Pan et al. [21] reported the underwater
plasma was in local thermodynamic equilibrium using spectro-
scopic analysis under certain conditions. Spectroscopic study was
also used to characterize the temperature of the underwater
welding arc [22] and underwater arc plasma component [23]. Fur-
thermore, Jia et al. [24] found the existence of H in the underwater
arc plasma and spectral radiation was not affected by the water
environment.
As far as the arc stability of underwater wet welding was con-
cerned, there were many indices, such as dynamic characteristic,
probability distribution, variation coefficients of current and volt-
age and voltage and current cyclorama, for the determination
of arc stability [25,26]. They concluded that these indices certi-
fied the validity of assessing the arc stability in underwater wet
welding. Tsai et al. [27] studied the rapid cooling and hydrogen
embrittlement mechanisms in water, and claimed that the rapid
cooling was mainly due to the surface heat conduction. By using
three-dimensional finite difference method, Ghadimi et al. [28]
investigated and analyzed the temperature profile, cooling time as
well as thermal history curves of underwater wet welding. Visual
sensing was also used as an arc physics investigation to assist
underwater wet welding [29–31]. In Guo et al’s study [29,30], the
clear metal transfer process of underwater wet welding was suc-
cessfully monitored by an X-ray transmission method. Applying the
laser emitter method as backlight, Zhang et al. [31] also observed
the images of molten droplets and analyzed the difference between
the onshore welding and underwater wet welding. Their analysis
results showed that the droplet was significantly repelled by the
effect of the gas flow drag force, owing to the disturbances from
the bubbles, and the drifting cathode jet force.
However, due to the particular feature of underwater wet weld-
ing, the welding arc burning and metal transfer process as well
as weld pool behavior proceed in the periodically varying bubble
around the welding area [32]. Consequently, the perturbation of the
bubble is the key factor adversely affecting the stability of welding
arc and metal transfer process due to the upward motion of the
bubble [29,33]. All the issues mentioned above have a close relation
with the dynamic behaviors of bubble evolution which has distinct
characteristics in underwater wet welding, as a result of the special
arc burning atmosphere. So the study of bubble evolution process
has great significance in underwater wet welding. With the limit
of the author’s searching capability, although amounts of litera-
tures are available on the improvement of welding process stability
[34–39], only few of the studies have been reported so far to reveal
the mechanism of the occurrence and influence of bubble evolution
process in underwater wet welding. Tsai et al. [27] predicted the
underwater bubble dynamics mathematically and concluded that
heat loss in wet welding was closely related to the agitation of the
rising gas bubble. Jia et al. [40] obtained the clear images of the bub-
ble and displayed the bubble evolution process during underwater
wet welding by high speed video camera along with dysprosium
lamp. They found that the bubbles play a significant role in pro-
tecting the welding area and reflect the complex interactions in
arc behavior, metal transfer, and weld pool solidification, whereas,
157
the correlation of the bubble between the surrounding water and
welding parameters could not be reflected.
Unfortunately, the mechanism of the occurrence and influence
of bubble evolution process and correlating the welding param-
eters with bubble evolution process in underwater wet welding
have not been revealed so far very well. Further, it has reached a
consensus basically that studying how to control the bubble evo-
lution process coupled with arc characteristic in order to design
and optimize the bubble protective effect is of great importance for
the further development of underwater wet welding technology.
This study carries forward from the observation method devel-
oped by Jia et al. [41] to focus on the study of dynamic behaviors of
the bubble evolution in underwater wet welding, and elaborate on
the mechanisms of interaction between welding parameters and
bubble evolution process. By using the high-speed camera method
combined with their corresponding welding current and arc volt-
age waveforms, different bubble evolution modes are analyzed
and classified in underwater wet welding. The influence of bub-
ble evolution modes on weld appearance is further investigated
to determine the optimal bubble evolution mode and control the
bubble evolution behaviors.
2. Experimental procedure
2.1. Welding system
Bead-on-plate welding experiments were conducted at 0.5 m
water depth in the experimental pool. E40 steel plate with 8
mm-thick was used as base material. Commercial CHT81Ni2 type
self-shielded flux cored wire with a diameter of 1.2 mm was chosen
®
as electrode material. A welding power source, Lincoln Electric
®
Power Wave S350, was employed to generate sufficient heat
source for fusing the electrode material and substrate. In this study,
a constant-voltage mode was used to keep the arc voltage constant
during welding. The welding process was conducted with direct
current electrode positive (DCEP) conditions in all welds. Prior to
welding, the E40 steel plates were cleaned to remove any contami-
nation. When welding, all welds were developed in the flat position
with a stationary welding torch and a welding table controlled to
move at a speed of 1.5 mm s−1 , which allowed the high-speed video
camera to keep stationary with respect to the bubble. From the
point of view of controlling the bubble evolution, arc voltage and
wire feed speed are the two main parameters having the greatest
effects. Table 1 shows the welding parameters used in this paper.
2.2. Synchronous acquisition system of high-speed images and
electrical signal
In order to investigate the relationship between bubble evo-
lution and welding electrical signal, the welding electrical signal
acquisition system and high-speed video camera system are estab-
lished successfully at first, and then a synchronous operation
system is realized, as illustrated in Fig. 1.
The high-speed video camera system consists of a high-speed
camera (Olympus I-SPEED3) used for recording bubble evolution
process with a sampling frequency of 2000 frams per second, and
a background light source located at the other side of water tank
opposite to the camera. In order to capture good contrast images of
the bubble evolution process, a dysprosium lamp with a diameter of
about 0.5 m was used as background light and projected towards
the bubble. A background light blocked by the bubble cannot be
visually viewed by camera, leading to the formation of a shadow
image on the image screen.
The welding electrical signal acquisition system is composed of
a Hall voltage sensor (LV 25-P), a Hall current sensor (HAC 800-S),
158 J. Feng et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 28 (2017) 156–167
Table 1
The optimized welding parameters used in experiments.
Wire feeding speed (m/min) Arc voltage (V) Wire stick-out (mm)
4.5–10.5 20–40 20
a data acquisition card (USB6221), and a computer. The instanta-
neous values of welding current and arc voltage could be acquired
through Hall sensors in the welding process. Subsequently, the data
acquisition card and computer were used to process welding elec-
trical signal and store the transient welding current and arc voltage
data. As a result, the data could be on-line monitored and stored for
off-line analysis.
As shown in Fig. 1, the high-speed camera image kept reliable
synchronization with the collected electrical signal via an appro-
priative program to monitor and analyze the change of welding
electrical information during the bubble evolution process. When
require collecting welding electric signal, a synchronous control
pulse was designed to trigger welding electrical signal and high-
speed camera acquisition system synchronously.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Typical dynamic behavior of bubble evolution
Fig. 2 illustrates the typical dynamic behavior of bubble evolu-
tion obtained when welding at certain welding parameters. It can
easily distinguish the bubble, wire, contact tube, and weld pool
surface. From Fig. 2, it can be seen that the bubbles periodically
form, grow, float up, break up and are generated again accompa-
nied by the high frequency and amplitude. The welding arc burning
and high-temperature weld pool behaviors proceed in the dynamic
bubble, which can keep influencing the stability of the welding
process. A bubble evolution cycle is mainly consisted of four stages:
(1) Formative stage: At the beginning of this stage, the flux-cored
wire is exposed directly in the ambient water environment.
Fig. 1. Schematic view of the assembled device.
Welding speed (mm/s) Workpiece dimension (mm)
1.5 200 × 100 × 8
Once the wire contacts with the substrate, the welding current
produces more resistance heat immediately, which can bring
high temperature adjacent to the welding area. Then the bubble
is induced by the vaporized and ionized water, and gas gener-
ated by decomposed flux in the welding wire. Hence, the bubble
around the welding area is formed to isolate the arc from the
surrounding water, as shown in Fig. 3a. At the same time, the
arc is ignited in the generated bubble due to the increase of
welding current.
(2) Growing stage: Fig. 3b shows a growing bubble. In this stage,
the welding arc can generate more heat to produce gases inside
the bubble continuously. At the beginning of growing stage, the
retention force on the bubble is larger than detaching force. The
bubble volume is drastically increased due to that the bubble is
not detached but remains at the surface of weld pool for a period
of time. Meanwhile, the arc behavior, droplet metal transfer and
weld pool solidification also proceed in the growing bubble. The
arc melts the workpiece and the flux-cored wire, and a droplet is
also formed at the tip of the wire. Furthermore, a transient phe-
nomenon that the bubble grows in a pulsed way with changed
speed is clearly observed. This can be assured by comparing the
results of Jia et al. [40] and the results in this paper.
(3) Detachment stage: From Fig. 3c, due to the difference of den-
sity of water and gas, the bubble is invariably detached from
the weld pool surface and rises up vertically after detaching.
With the growth of the bubble, the balance among buoyancy
force, exterior water pressure, virtual mass force, and interior
gas pressure etc. is lost. Among all the hydrodynamic forces act-
ing on the bubble, only the buoyancy force due to the pressure
difference (pressure difference between the top and bottom of
the bubble will occurs easily as the great pressure the bottom
 J. Feng et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 28 (2017) 156–167
Fig. 2. Dynamic behaviors of the bubble evolution during underwater wet welding.
Fig. 3. Typical bubbles during underwater wet welding. (a) bubble floatation and new bubble generation, (b) a growing bubble, and (c) bubble with maximum diameter.
has) can contribute to the movement of bubble of that direction.
Therefore, it is the buoyancy force which detaches the bubble
from the weld pool surface and towards the upward direction.
The bubble with larger volume tends to detach from weld pool
more easily under the influence of increasing buoyancy force.
As more gases inside the bubble are continuously generated
before floating, the bubble has grown to its maximum volume
and consequent begins to detach from weld pool surface. In this
case, a new bubble emerges when the previous bubble begins
to slightly detach. Meanwhile, the new bubble also generates a
huge effective area in contact with the previous bubble, indicat-
ing the two bubbles together to cover the welding area as shown
in Fig. 3c. Despite undergoing the bubble detachment periodi-
cally, the welding arc still continues to burn in the detachment
stage. Furthermore, the upward motion of the bubble gives the
welding arc a shock and appears to affect the stability of welding
arc, which will be discussed in Section 3.3.
(4) Breaking stage: As described above, the bubble is detached from
the weld pool surface periodically; thus flight trajectory of the
bubble cannot be predictable, resulting in latent instability. An
erratic bubble floating mode occurs at certain welding parame-
ters during underwater wet welding, in which the bubble burst
is sometimes observed in the detachment stage but sometimes
not. When the bubble burst occurs far away from welding area,
the fumes inside the bubble are dispersed in the water environ-
ment and welding arc can still maintain stable (Fig. 3c). There is
seemingly little adverse effect on welding arc under the action
of bubble floating which do not deteriorate the stability of the
welding process. When the bubble burst occurs in the welding
area, the welding arc with being extinguished is not expected
159
to be observed as shown in Fig. 3d, resulting in an unstable
welding process in certain degree.
Therefore, the protective effect of the bubble on the welding
arc burning and weld pool behavior plays a very important role
during wet welding process. It can be deduced that a suitable pro-
tective effect can be afforded when choosing appropriate welding
parameters in the welding process.
3.2. Effect of welding parameters on bubble evolution behavior
The mechanisms of interaction between welding parameters
and bubble evolution behavior are still not clear enough according
to current research results. Understanding the interaction mech-
anisms is fundamental for further improving the underwater wet
welding technology. The effect of welding parameters, including
the arc voltage and wire feed speed, on bubble evolution behav-
ior can be preliminarily discussed. In this study, the bubbles were
assumed to be regular spherical. The maximum diameter of the
bubble before the bubble detaching from the weld pool surface
was calculated by using a quantitative image analyzer in captured
images. Furthermore, the time (t) of being bubbles from the initial
formation in the weld pool surface to the final detachment from
the next emerging bubble was statistically counted. The average
bubble floating frequency was then calculated using the time (t).
3.2.1. Wire feed speed
Fig. 4 shows the images of the bubble with maximum diameter
under different wire feed speeds. We can see that wire feed speed
significantly affects the bubble profile. The maximum diameter and
160 J. Feng et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 28 (2017) 156–167
Fig. 4. The maximum diameter of the bubble as a function of wire feed speed for a given arc voltage of 32 V.
floating frequency of the bubble as a function of wire feed speed
were derived from the consecutive high-speed camera frames and
demonstrated in Fig. 5. Note that there is an inverse correlation
between the maximum diameter and floating frequency of the bub-
ble no matter how the wire feed speed is adjusted. As can be seen in
Fig. 5, the maximum diameter of the bubble increases, whereas the
floating frequency decreases with increasing wire feed speed for a
given arc voltage of 32 V. It can be noticed that wire feed speed has
an obvious effect on the maximum diameter and floating frequency
of the bubble.
3.2.2. Arc voltage
Fig. 6 shows the images of the bubble with maximum diameter
under different arc voltages. Similarly, we can see that arc voltage
significantly affects the bubble profile. Fig. 7 shows the maximum
diameter and floating frequency of the bubble as a function of arc
voltage. It can be seen that the maximum diameter of the bub-
ble increases with increasing arc voltage even though when the
preset wire feed speed is kept at a constant of 7.5 m min−1 . Par-
ticularly, the floating frequency of the bubble falls within a narrow
range from about 17 Hz to 21 Hz with the frequency peak occurring
at about 20 V, regardless of the arc voltage. The changing regu-
larity of the bubble floating frequency with arc voltage at wire
feed speed of 10.5 m min−1 is similar to that of 7.5 m min−1 in this
research. The floating frequency of the bubble with wire feed speed
of 10.5 m min−1 falls within a narrow range from about 16 Hz to
19 Hz. Therefore, it can be concluded that under certain wire feed
speed, arc voltage has little effect on the bubble floating frequency
when changing in its adjustable range from 20 V to 40 V.
Fig. 5. The effect of wire feed speed on the maximum diameter and floating fre-
quency of the bubble.
3.2.3. Influencing mechanism analysis of welding parameters
Based on above analysis, the mechanisms of interaction between
welding parameters and bubble evolution behavior during wet
welding process can be analyzed more specifically. The maximum
diameter and floating frequency of the bubble produced in the
welding process are mainly determined by compound forces on
the bubble and interior gas pressure.
Regarding the floating frequency of the bubble produced in the
welding process, on one hand, Chen et al. [42] reported the melted
and deposited wire should be in fact balanced by the wire pushed
out of the contact tip during welding. That is, the wire melting
rate should be consistent with the actual wire feed speed. Hence,
with increasing wire feed speed, the flux-cored wire melting rate
becomes increased gradually, contributing to the rapid melting of
wire electrode. In this case, more amounts of gases per unit time
inside the bubble can be produced from the decomposed flux. Con-
sequently, the bubble size increases approximately linearly with
the wire feed speed, as indicated in Fig. 4. On the other hand, Guo
et al. [35] demonstrated that arc length increases with increasing
arc voltage during underwater wet welding process. The increase
of arc length implies that the effective action area of welding arc
and water dramatically increases with increasing arc voltage. As
the boiling point of water is only 373 K far below the temperature
of welding arc, the surrounding water can easily get evaporated or
ionized into hydrogen and oxygen under this temperature of weld-
ing arc. In this case, more gases can be substantially generated in the
bubble, contributing to formation of large-size bubble as shown in
Fig. 6. Thus, these analysis results provide the possibility to obtain a
larger maximum diameter of the bubble with increasing wire feed
speed or arc voltage.
In the current research, the dynamic behavior of the arc bub-
ble produced in underwater wet welding resembles that of a gas
injected bubble growth from submerged orifices [27,43]. According
to Bari et al. [43], the size of the submerged orifice has a significant
effect on gas injected bubble growth and detachment characteris-
tics. Generally, it is found that the bubbles tend to be smaller and
detach sooner for the smaller orifice. As for the larger orifice the
bubbles tend to detach with larger volume and detachment times.
Also, as the temperature of weld pool surface is much higher than
the boiling point of water, it is fair to assume that the functional role
of weld pool surface is similar to that of submerged orifices due to
the undisputed gases existed in the weld pool surface [27]. It should
be noted that increase of the wire feed speed corresponds to that
of the welding current and hence the weld heat input, which also
contributes to the formation of large weld pool. Larger weld pool,
equivalent to larger orifice, from the increasing wire feed speed
has a notable influence on the reduction in the floating frequency
of the bubble. Thus, as the wire feed speed increases, corresponding
to the increase of weld heat input, the larger bubble tends to slow
the bubble floating, as shown in Fig. 5.
 J. Feng et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 28 (2017) 156–167 161

Fig. 6. The maximum diameter of the bubble as a function of arc voltage.

Furthermore, according to Fig. 7, the floating frequency of the determines the dynamic behaviors of bubble evolution, which in
bubble remains nearly unchanged for different arc voltages. This turn changes the arc characteristics in underwater wet welding.
may be because that the compressed welding arc with higher cur- Hence, based on those changes, the bubble evolution is classified
rent intensity cannot enlarge the weld pool surface due to the rapid into four modes.
cooling effect from the surrounding water. Based on the minimum
arc voltage principle [44], the welding arc is seriously compressed 3.3.1. First mode
during the wet welding process, and hence the weld pool increases Fig. 8 shows a typical example of the first bubble evolution
only slightly even though the preset arc voltage increases. Conse- mode, in which a low wire feed speed was adopted in the welding
quently, the floating frequency of the bubble are not affected by process. During the bubble evolution mode, the bubble burst occurs
arc voltage under certain wire feed speed. In addition, the interac- in the arc burning area and the welding arc is always extinguished.
tions between the surrounding water and metal welding arc, metal
transfer and weld pool behavior also affected the gas generation at
all time [40]. Recalling that large-size bubble can be generated with
the increasing arc voltage, it is possible that the floating frequency
of the bubble may be increased due to the larger buoyancy force,
which is different from gas injected bubble. For example, the aver-
age floating frequency of the bubble rises from 18.1 Hz to 19.4 Hz
when the arc voltage increases form 28 V to 36 V. So it can be con-
cluded that under certain wire feed speed, the floating frequency
of the bubble is partially decoupled with the arc voltage. Based
on the above analysis, welding parameters can strongly affect the
bubble evolution behavior during wet welding process, which is
considerable different from in-air welding.

3.3. Bubble evolution modes

A set of experiments with different welding parameters were

performed during the underwater wet welding. Observations and
analysis of the change of the maximum diameter and floating Fig. 7. The effects of arc voltage on the maximum diameter and floating frequency
frequency of the bubble indicate that the welding parameters of the bubble.
162 J. Feng et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 28 (2017) 156–167
Fig. 8. Dynamic behaviors of the bubble and welding arc sampled in the first bubble evolution mode.
Fig. 9. Time-dependent welding current and arc voltage waveforms sampled in the
first bubble evolution mode.
At the beginning of the evolution process (from 2.0650 s to
2.0755 s), the growing bubble invariably remains at the weld pool
surface. Owing to the low wire feed speed, in this evolution mode
the bubble volume tends to become really small and the desired
bubble volume cannot be obtained. Consequently, even as the bub-
ble evolution occurs in the growing stage, the volume of the bubble
is too small to sufficiently protect the arc burning area, making it
possible to cause the bubble to burst along with the weld fumes
at 2.0840 s. In this situation, the arc burning area is completely
exposed in the water environment due to the burst bubble. The
Fig. 10. Dynamic behaviors of the bubble and welding arc sampled in the second bubble evolution mode.
electrical signal oscillogram of this mode is shown in Fig. 9. From
2.0840 s to 2.1265 s, the bubble around the arc burning area goes
through the explode stage, and hence the bubble is dispersed in the
vicinity due to the water disturbance, undermining the arc stabil-
ity. As can be seen in Fig. 9, the arc voltage increases from 18.2 V to
48.6 V while the welding current decreases from 102.2 A to 63.2 A.
After this explode occurs, the arc voltage exceeds 86 V and weld-
ing current reduces to approximate 0 A from 2.1360 s to 2.1720 s,
which indicates the arc extinguishing in this period. The arc voltage
enters into the open circuit voltage stage, which is characterized by
high voltage. Then unchanged wire feed speed coupled with the no
wire melting pushes the wire electrode towards the weld pool. As
the solid wire touches the weld pool, the welding arc is reignited
at 2.1740s, and the arc voltage and welding current return to their
original value.
Furthermore, for the given welding parameters, a successive arc
extinguishing phenomenon occurs, indicating the frequent bubble
burst and a worse arc stability as shown in Fig. 9. Obviously, a lower
wire feed speed, characterized by small maximum diameter of the
bubble and relatively low arc stiffness, is favorable for the forma-
tion of this mode. When the growing bubble is not detached but
remains at the weld pool surface, the undersized bubble tends to
explode adversely affecting the persistence arc burning and an arc
extinguishing phenomenon occurs easily, causing the welding cur-
rent and arc voltage to fluctuate violently. Due to the occurrence of
bubble burst and successive arc extinguishing as well as undulate
electrical signals, this bubble evolution mode is not expected to be
obtained during underwater wet welding.
 J. Feng et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 28 (2017) 156–167
Fig. 11. Time-dependent welding current and arc voltage waveforms sampled in
the second bubble evolution mode.
3.3.2. Second mode
The varying bubble evolution in underwater wet welding with
the increase of the wire feed speed (from 4.5 m min−1 to 6 m min−1 )
is shown in Fig. 10, during which the bubble burst is not occurred in
the welding area, contributing to the formation of the stable bubble
behavior. From 0.2715 s to 0.3155 s, the bubble forms in the weld
pool surface and grows dynamically without floating. At 0.2925 s,
part of gases in the newly formed bubble seems to be transferred
to previous bubble, causing the new bubble shrink instantaneously
with larger amplitude. The underlying reason may be attributed
to the complex reactions between the new bubble and welding
arc inside. In this case, the new bubble volume is too small to
completely cover the arc burning area from 0.2925 s to 0.2945 s.
According to Clukey [45], a larger stable bubble could be effective
to significantly improve the arc stability and weld formation. Guo
et al. [35] further concluded that the protective effect provided by
the bubble increased with the increase of the bubble size. Hence,
it can be concluded that the smaller bubble should be insufficient
to maintain the arc stability. This observation is very different from
the first evolution mode. Through analyzing the electrical signal
Fig. 12. Dynamic behaviors of the bubble and welding arc sampled in the third bubble evolution mode.
163
oscillogram combined with the evolution images, even though the
smaller bubble occurs, arc extinguishing is not observed and the
fluctuations of electrical signal are always kept relatively stable
and regular in the second mode, as shown in Fig. 11. For this mode,
there is slight adverse effect of fluctuation on the welding arc by
the action of floating bubble periodically which does not deteri-
orate the stability of welding arc. Subsequently, with the further
growth of the bubble from 0.2975 s to 0.3155 s, the arc burning area
is totally surrounded by the growing bubble over again. Due to the
relatively stable evolution process without arc extinguishing, this
bubble evolution mode is considered a feasible evolution mode in
underwater wet welding.
3.3.3. Third mode
As the wire feed speed increases further, the floating frequency
of the bubble decreases which allows the gases inside the bub-
ble more time to produce, leading to larger size of the bubble.
Fig. 12 shows the typical evolution images of the third mode
in underwater wet welding. From 0.2230 s to 0.2650 s, the bub-
ble grows up gradually and remains there for a period of time,
similar to the second bubble evolution mode. At 0.2745 s, a new
bubble emerges and generates a huge effective area in contact
with the previous bubble, indicating the two bubbles together
to cover the arc burning area as approximated in Fig. 13; con-
sequently, a better protective effect can be realized under the
combined action of the two bubbles. As the previous bubble
continues to float up in the water, the newly formed bubble
is capable of completely covering the arc burning area and the
welding arc can still maintain stable. As shown in Fig. 14, the
electrical signal fluctuates steadily and even superior to that in
the second mode. Then the new bubble is regenerated and a
cycle starts over again. For this evolution mode the bubble floats
smoothly and no arc extinguishing can be observed due to the
small shock nature. The waveforms of welding current and arc
voltage both fluctuated stably, reflecting the good arc stability
during this evolution process. Based on these high properties,
this bubble evolution mode is identified as the ideal evolution
mode for maintaining a stable welding process in underwater wet
welding.
164 J. Feng et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 28 (2017) 156–167

Fig. 13. Simplified bubble dynamic behaviors in the third bubble evolution mode.

to resist this adverse effect and an arc extinguishing phenomenon

emerges occasionally during this evolution mode. Consequently,
the arc requires being reignited and a new bubble forms accord-
ingly to provide a protective atmosphere. This bubble evolution
mode is classified as the fourth mode. The evolution images of this
process are shown in Fig. 15.
At the beginning of the evolution process (from 1.1250 s to
1.1550 s), the growing bubble invariably remains at the weld
pool surface. At 1.1550 s, the bubble reaching the maximum size
detaches from the weld pool surface under the action of increas-
ing buoyancy force, and a new bubble forms between the previous
bubble and weld pool. Owing to the larger arc voltage, in this evolu-
tion mode the maximum diameter of the bubble tends to increase
significantly and more gases inside the bubble are generated before
detaching from the weld pool surface, making it possible to enhance
the interior gas pressure. Once bubble floating, the enhanced pres-
sure is bound to give the welding arc a larger shock. The electrical
Fig. 14. Time-dependent welding current and arc voltage waveforms sampled in
the third bubble evolution mode.
signal oscillogram of this mode is shown in Fig. 16. After this large-
shock takes place, the arc voltage exceeds 82 V and welding current
reduces to approximate 0 A from 1.1750 s to 1.1950 s, which indi-
3.3.4. Fourth mode
cates the arc extinguishing in this period. The arc voltage enters
If choosing larger arc voltage, the bubble size may be over
into the open circuit voltage stage, which is characterized by high
an optimized threshold and oversized bubble appears to form in
voltage. Then unchanged wire feed speed coupled with the no wire
underwater wet welding. Owing to the large-shock effect of the
melting pushes the wire electrode towards the weld pool. As the
oversized bubble associated with floating periodically on the weld-
solid wire touches the weld pool, the welding arc is reignited at
ing arc, the arc stiffness induced by larger arc voltage is difficult

Fig. 15. Dynamic behaviors of the bubble and welding arc sampled in the fourth bubble evolution mode.
 J. Feng et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 28 (2017) 156–167
Fig. 16. Time-dependent welding current and arc voltage waveforms sampled in
the fourth bubble evolution mode.
1.2050 s, and the arc voltage and welding current return to their
original state.
Obviously, a larger arc length, characterized by large maximum
diameter of the bubble and relatively low arc stiffness, is favorable
for the formation of this mode. When bubble floating in the water,
it is feasible for the oversized bubble to generate a large-shock on
the welding arc and even the arc extinguishing phenomenon occurs
easily, causing the welding current and arc voltage to fluctuate dra-
matically. Due to the occurrence of arc extinguishing and erratic
electrical signals, this evolution mode is not recommended to be
observed during underwater wet welding.
The coefficient of variation is defined as the quotient of the stan-
dard deviation and average of a set of data, and can also be used to
expediently and intuitively assess the degree of dispersion of these
data [25,46]. Thus, a greater coefficient of variation corresponds to
a more intense degree of fluctuation for the arc voltage and welding
current in the welding process. According to the welding current
and arc voltage waveforms of the four modes mentioned above,
the coefficients of variation of the arc voltage and welding current
at the four bubble evolution modes are exhibited in Fig. 17. The
results indicated that the coefficients of variation of the arc voltage
and welding current present significant differences in the four bub-
ble evolution modes. The coefficient of variation of the arc voltage
follows the order: first mode > fourth mode > second mode > third
mode. The bubble floats up periodically, which perturbs the weld-
ing arc and aqueous environment around the arc burning area. More
floating bubbles give rise to successive perturbation corresponding
to undermining arc stability. A decrease in the coefficient of varia-
tion of the arc voltage for the second and third modes indicates an
increase in the stability of the welding arc, which is also in accor-
dance with the above mentioned bubble evolution mode. Hence,
Fig. 18. Weld appearances for different bubble evolution modes. (a) First mode, (b) Second mode, (c) Third mode, and (d) Fourth mode.
165
Fig. 17. Dependence of the coefficients of variation of voltage and current on the
different bubble evolution modes.
the stable bubble behavior has pivotal effects on the adjustment of
the varying welding current and arc voltage waveforms for stabiliz-
ing the welding process. Normally, under the four evolution modes,
it can be observed that the dynamic change of variation coefficient
of welding current is very similar to that of arc voltage. In addi-
tion, Fig. 17 also shows that, for a given mode, the change in the
variation coefficient of welding current is more obvious than that
of arc voltage because of a constant-voltage power source used in
welding process.
In summary, welding current and arc voltage waveforms as well
as their corresponding coefficient of variation demonstrate that it
is reasonable to elaborate the change of bubble evolution mode in
underwater wet welding condition using the dynamic arc charac-
teristic, and the factors producing the different arc characteristics
under different welding parameters mainly attribute to the change
of the bubble evolution mode. By adjusting the preset welding
parameters, the actual bubble evolution process can be optimized
and controlled to realize a more stable welding process with less
arc extinguishing.
3.4. Weld morphology
Due to its active nature, underwater wet welding commonly
adopts a self-shielded welding method. While weld beads main-
tain metallic luster due to the protective atmosphere provided by
the continuously generated gases and slag layers, the slag layers in
weld pool can easily float up to the surface and exhibit dark color
at elevated temperature. However, these slag layers and vicinal
166 J. Feng et al. / Journal of Manufacturing Processes 28 (2017) 156–167
spatters can be easily removed by means of mechanical polish-
ing. Fig. 18 presents the weld appearance under the four bubble
evolution modes. As it shows, for the first mode, characterized by
the successive arc extinguishing and bubble burst occurring in the
welding area, uneven weld appearance with some spatters and
weld tumours can be observed due to its undermining arc stabil-
ity. For the second mode, characterized by a moderate maximum
diameter and a moderate floating frequency of the bubble without
arc extinguishing as compared to the third mode, uniform weld
appearance without obvious defects can be achieved even though
the smaller bubble occurs in underwater wet welding. There are
only few spatters in the vicinity of weld bead under the influence
of floating bubble periodically which do not deteriorate the qual-
ity of the weld joint. In the third mode, characterized by a larger
maximum diameter and a lower floating frequency of the bubble
without arc extinguishing, the weld appearance is the most uni-
form and continuous because of the excellent arc stability. In the
fourth mode, characterized by an oversized maximum diameter
of the bubble along with arc extinguishing, poor weld appearance
with some arc pits can be observed due to its compromised arc
stability resulted from arc extinguishing when bubble beginning to
float up in the water. The weld appearance is also a good reflec-
tion of the four bubble evolution modes during underwater wet
welding, which is consistent with the aforementioned conclusion
in Section 3.3.
From another perspective, the arc stability of underwater wet
welding can be improved by controlling the maximum diameter
and floating frequency of the bubble. When the welding parameters
are larger than the optimized values in underwater wet welding
process, the oversized bubble may be formed to allow the bub-
ble more time to grow and not to detach quickly due to the large
welding current and arc voltage. The large-shock nature of the over-
sized bubble also contributes to the formation of arc extinguishing
when bubble floating in the water, undermining the stability of the
welding arc and deteriorating weld appearance. When the weld-
ing parameters are lower than the optimized values in underwater
wet welding process, the floating frequency of the bubble may
be increased which cannot allow the bubble more time to grow,
leading to the occurrence of undersized bubble. In this case, the
undersized bubble cannot completely cover the arc burning area,
which possibly causes a reduction in maintaining the arc stability.
Thus, we can effectively control the bubble evolution process cou-
pled with arc characteristic by adjusting the welding parameters.
Further, when developing the database for underwater wet FCAW,
a better protective effect afforded by the bubble should be designed
with a lower floating frequency and a larger maximum diameter of
the bubble without arc extinguishing to keep the arc stable. Using
the welding parameters to control the bubble evolution process can
be of great significance for the steady development of underwater
wet welding technology.
4. Conclusions
The dynamic behaviors of the bubble evolution in underwater
wet welding are investigated by high-speed camera, and different
bubble evolution modes are analyzed and classified in underwater
wet welding. Main conclusions can be drawn as follows:
(1) The bubble burst is sometimes observed in the growing stage
but sometimes not under certain welding parameters during
underwater wet welding, which may lead to the occurrence of
an erratic bubble floating mode, resulting in an unstable weld-
ing process in certain degree.
(2) The welding parameters which define the wire feed speed and
arc voltage, have shown their distinct influences on the bub-
ble evolution process. The maximum diameter of the bubble
increases while the floating frequency decreases with increas-
ing wire feed speed. Particularly, the floating frequency of the
bubble for a given wire feed speed of 7.5 m min−1 falls within
a narrow range from about 17 Hz to 21 Hz with the frequency
peak occurring at about 20 V, regardless of the arc voltage.
(3) With welding current and arc voltage waveforms, the bubble
evolution mode appears as a new variable which affects the arc
characteristic during underwater wet welding.
(4) The bubble evolution mode can be divided into four types
according to the evolving bubble behavior coupled with arc
characteristic in the welding process. In the third evolution
mode, the bubble floats smoothly and no arc extinguishing can
be observed, reflecting the good arc stability.
(5) A better protective effect afforded by the bubble can be real-
ized with a lower floating frequency and a larger maximum
diameter of the bubble without arc extinguishing. Therefore,
by adjusting the preset welding parameters, the actual bubble
evolution process can be optimized and controlled to realize a
more stable welding process.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant Nos. 51475104, 51435004), the National Key Research
and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFB0300602),
and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
(Grant No. HIT. MKSTISP. 201617) for the financial support to this
study.
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