Cylinder valve

Flow meter
Safety nut

Wire spool Drive roll tension

Cylinder adjustment
Wire guide

Volt and/or amp meters

Wire spool
Over run Gun
adjustment

Gas
Feed rolls hose

Welding current
adjustment Welding current Ground clamp
Ground
taps
Lead
 GMAW power sources
• CV
– Self-adjustment
• CC
– Conductive wires: wire feed control
– Resistive wires: self-adjustment
 Metal Transfer in GMAW
Free-flight
• Spray (drop, projected, streaming, rotating)
• Globular (drop, repelled)
• Pulsed (spray)
Dip
• Short-circuit (short-arc)
• Modified short-circuit
6 fundamental modes
Physics of Metal Transfer
 Gravitational force

m = mass of the droplet

g = 9.81 cosθ m/s
θ = angle between arc axis and vertical
Aerodynamic drag
Electromagnetic force
Vapor Jet Force
 Surface tension force

Temperature
Surface active elements
 Basis
• Droplet size
• Transfer frequency
 Globular drop transfer
Low currents
Droplet size: > wire diameters
Low transfer frequency (~ 1Hz)
Lot of spatter
Down-hand only
Slow
Rough bead
Shallow penetration
 Globular repelled transfer

Low currents
Droplet size: > wire diameters
Low transfer frequency (~ 1Hz)
Lot of spatter
Down-hand only
Unstable arc
Slow
Rough bead
Shallow penetration
Streaming transfer
Pulsed Spray
Synergic control
Short-arc transfer
 Modified short-circuit transfer
• Miller Electric: RMD (Regulated Metal
Deposition)
• Lincoln Electric: STT (Surface Tension
Transfer).
• Fronius: CMT (Cold Metal Transfer)
T0-T1: Background time (50-100A)
T1-T2: Balling time (10 A)
T2-T3: Pinch mode (controlled increase in current)
T3: At a specific dv/dt value, reduce current
T4: droplet separation
Total time: 25-35 ms
T5: Plasma boost
T6-T7: tail-out
CMT-MIG
Melting rate
 Question
• High burn-off rate/high deposition rate means
----- dilution!
• May or may not be desirable
• Watch-out!