Metal Droplet Formation in Gas Metal Arc Welding

A two-dimensional dynamic treatment has been developed for description of arc and electrode properties in gas metal arc welding (GMAW). The theory is a unified treatment of the arc the welding wire anode and the cathode, and includes a detailed account of sheath effects near the anode. The wire anode is included as a dynamic entity and the volume of fluid method is used to handle the movement of the free surface of the molten metal at the tip of the wire, accounting for effects of surface tension, inertia, gravity, arc pressure, viscous drag force of the plasma, magnetic forces and Marangoni effect, and also for the effects of wire feed rate in GMAW. Results of calculations made for a mild steel wire of diameter 0.16 cm are in good agreement with experimental measurements of droplet diameter and droplet detachment frequency at currents between 150 and 330 A, which includes the transition between ''globular'' and ''spray'' transfer. Quantitative predictions are also made of the amount of metal vapour that is generated from the welding droplets at the tip of the welding wire. (author)