Consumable double electrode with a single arc GMAW

Double-electrode gas metal arc welding (DE-GMAW) was developed to control the heat input to the work piece when the filler wire deposition rate was increased. Consumable DE-GMAW was developed to enhance the welding productivity by replacing the non-consumable electrode in DE-GMAW with a consumable electrode. However, the process of consumable DE-GMAW was unstable without a particular control system. In order to improve the stability of the welding process on condition of keeping the main characteristics of DE-GMAW, a novel welding method named consumable double electrode with a single arc (DESA)-GMAW was proposed. In this welding system, there were two consumable electrodes but only one arc. The distance between the tips of the main wire and the bypass wire mainly determined whether the welding method was consumable DESA-GMAW or consumable DE-GMAW. The welding process could be very stable with appropriate welding parameters: one filler wire kept arcing stably with regular metal transfer process, and the other filler wire was kept short-circuited with workpiece all through the time and was fed into the welding pool stably and smoothly. The transverse section of the weld bead was analyzed, and it was found that the penetration could be effectively decreased with high metal deposition rate by using consumable DESA-GMAW.