ASSIGNMENT N0-3

• NAME- ROHIT ARORA

• ROLL NO.-10113057
• BRANCH-IPE(2nd YEAR)
 SOURCE:
NPTEL video course by
Dr D K Dwivedi
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Dept.
IIT Roorkee

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TUNGSTEN INERT GAS
WELDING
PARAMETERS AND
APLLICATIONS

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ELECRTODE DIAMETER AND
CURRENT RANGE

•For given diameter of electrode current

range is fix.
•DCEP is not used for very small diameter
electrodes.

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ROHIT ARORA
EWP – PURE TUNGSTON ELECTRODE
EWTh & EWZr – COATED ELECTRODE
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 ELECTRODE SIZE
Electrode size in TIGW affects the following
parameters:
• Weld bead geometry ( width and penetration).
• Electrode life.
• Welding speed.

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 SELECTION OF ELECTRODE
DIAMETER
It is governed by following factors :
Type of current (AC/DC).
Magnitude of current to be used.
Polarity (Heating DCEP/ Cooling DCEN).
Materials to be welded.

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 SHIELDING GAS
•Shielding gas id used to protect the weld pool
from atmospheric contamination.
•Argon or Helium may be used successfully for
welding of most applications , with the possible
exception of the welding of extremely thin
material for which argon is essential.
•Argon generally provides an arc which operates
more smoothly and quietly and is less penetrating
than the arc obtained by use of helium.

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IMPROPER SIZE OF ELECTRODE
•Excessive current lowers life of electrode.
•Low current for a given electrode size leads to
poor arc stability.
•To overcome the problem of arc wandering at
low current , tapering ( 30-120°) of electrode
can be used.
•However tapering affects penetration and bead
width.

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EFFECT OF POLARITY ON
ELECTRODE TIP

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 APPLICATION OF HELIUM

When higher heat input and penetration

characteristics is required for welding metals
of high heat conductivity in larger thickness
He is used.

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 SHIELDING GAS APLLICATIONS
•Aluminum and copper are metals oh high
conductivity and helium is advantageous in
welding of relatively thick sections.
•Pure argon can be used for welding of structural
steels , low alloyed steels , stainless steels ,
aluminum , copper , titanium and magnesium .

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 MIXTURE OF SHIELDING GASES
•Argon hydrogen mixture is used for welding of
some grades of stainless steels and nickel alloys.
•Helium argon mixtures may be used for low alloy
steels , aluminum and copper.
•Addition of hydrogen in He for Al , Cu and Mg
welding can be detrimental.

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 HELIUM Vs ARGON
•Higher ionization potential of He (25ev)
compared to that of Ar (16ev) results in higher
arc voltage and different VI arc characteristics .
•Higher arc voltage generated by helium for a
given arc length than argon burns the He arc
hotter than Ar arc.
•Hence helium is preferred for the welding of
thick plates at high speed of metal having high
thermal conductivity and melting point
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 EFFECT OF SHIELDING GAS ON ARC
CHARACTERISTICS
•Arc characteristics have been found different for Ar
and He. Lowest arc was found with both the gases.
•The welding current corresponding “ to the lowest
arc voltage” is usually found around 50A for Ar
while that for He is about 150A.
•Reduction in welding below this critical level (up to
certain range) increases the arc voltage; which in
turn permits more flexibility in arc length to control
the welding operation

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SHIELDING GAS AND ARC
CHARACTERISTICS

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 LIMITATIONS OF HELIUM
In addition to many advantages associated with
helium , there are certain limitations:
Poor arc stability
Difficult arc initiation
Very costly
Poor availability

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 ARGON Vs HELIUM
• Argon is about 1.33 times heavier than the air
and about 10 times heavier than the helium.
•Density of argon is about 1.78g/l therefore
immediately after coming out of nozzle it forms a
blanket over the weld pool and provide the
protection against the environmental attack.
•While helium due to its low density immediately
tends to rise up in turbulent manner away from the
weld pool

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 ARGON Vs HELIUM

•Therefore , for effective shielding of the arc

zone flow rate of helium must be 2-3 times
higher than the argon .

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 ADVANTAGES OF ARGON
Advantages of argon over helium are given below:
• Easy arc initiation
• Smooth arc
• Cost effective
• Good availability
• Good cleaning action
• Less penetration important in thin sheet welding

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 HELIUM AND ARGON MIXTURE
•To take the advantage of good characteristics
of He (thermal conductivity , high
temperature of arc) and Ar ( good arc initiation
and stability ) . The mixture of two Ar-He is
also used.
•Increasing He % in mixture enhances the
welding speed and penetration.

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FLOW RATE OF SHIELDING GAS
For effective shielding inert gas flow rate may
vary from 5-50 liters/min.
Flow rate of shielding gas for effective
protection of weld pool is determined by :
• Size of molten weld pool
• Size of electrode
• Size of nozzle
• Distance b/w the electrode and work piece
• Extent of turbulence being created ambient air
movement( above 8-10 km/hr)
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 OPTIMUM GAS FLOW RATE
For a given set welding conditions and welding
torch , the flow rate of shielding gas should be
such that it is able to produce a jet of shielding
gas.
Unnecessarily high flow rate leads to:
• Poor arc stability
• Atmospheric contamination due to suction
effect

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 IGNITING ARC IN TIG

TIGW arc can ignited by :

• Touch start : (Carbon block as scrap material)
• HF Unit : High voltage (3000-5000 V) and high
frequency (100-2000 kHz) pulses
•Low current pilot arc

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 USE OF CARBON BLOCK
• It is based on touch and draw of electrode on
carbon block.
• Then arc is maintained for a short while so that
electrode tip is heated up for electrode emission.
• Then arc can be initiated easily at the spot where
it required.
• However , this method is not flawless due to
tendency of carbon pick up.
• Carbon pick up causes WC formation at tip of
electrode
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 CARBON BLOCK METHOD

Formation of WC leads to :
• Increased size of electrode tip
• Wandering of arc
• Reduces life of electrode

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 HF UNIT

It offers many advantages:

• Clean arc initiation
• Efficient starting an arc
• Longer life of electrode

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 LOW CURRENT PILOT ARC

• Highly efficient and reliable method and is

used with DC welding.
• Low pilot arc is powered by an auxiliary power
source.
• Pilot arc can also be started by using scratch
technique or using HF unit.

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ARC INITIATION BY PILOT ARC

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 PULSE TIG WELDING
•Pulse TIG is a variant of tungsten inert gas welding
in which welding current pulses ( varies) between a
high and low level.
•High level current is termed as peak current
primarily used for melting of faying surfaces of the
base metal while low is generally called
background current performs two functions
1) Maintaining the arc with very low heat input.
2) Allows the solidification of weld pool by the
heat to base metal.
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PULSING CURRENT

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 SELECTION OF PULSE
PARAMETERS
• Base metal of heavier section and greater thermal
conductivity needs higher peak current.
•Background current must be enough to maintain
the arc
•The peak and background current duration
determines the pulse frequency.
•The frequency of pulses and their duration are set
according to the required heat input and degree of
weld pool control.
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 PULSE CURRENT
•DCEN is preferred method of power supply
however AC can be used for cleaning action in
welding of Al and Mg alloys.
•Background current usually varies from 10 to
25% of peak current in a range of 40A to 100A
depending upon the thickness of base metal.
•Whereas peak current is generally set at 150 to
200% of steady current corresponding to the
conventional TIG for same base metal.

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 PULSE DURATION
•Selection of pulse current duration depends on
the weld pool size and penetration required in
light of section size of work piece being welded.
•While background current duration determines
the rate of solidification.
•Solidification in turn affects the microstructure of
weld metal grain which determines the
mechanical performance of weld joints.

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 PULSE CURRENT & ITS DURATION

• If weld pool becomes too large then pulse

period is reduced.
• If the penetration is too deep then pulse
current magnitude is reduced.

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 ROLE OF PULSATION CURRENT
Pulsation of welding current facilitates the
welding of especially thin sheet by using very
low heat input thereby avoids undesirable
effects of comparatively high heat input of
conventional TIG welding such as :
Melt through
Buckling
Fit up(tolerance)
Wider heat affected zone
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 WHEN PULSE TIG ?

• Pulsed TIG is particularly suited to the welding

of sheet less than 1 mm thick as it reduces the
risk of burn through.
• In Pulsed TIG , the weld bead is composed of a
series of overlapping weld spots, when welding is
done with low frequency pulsing.

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WELD BEAD & PULSE
FREQUENCY

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 AVERAGE CURRENT IN PULSE
WELDING
Average current of welding for calculation of heat
input can be made by using following equation:
Ip = Peak current(A)
Tp=Peak pulse duration(ms)
Ib=Background current(A)
Tb=Background duration(ms)
Im= Average current (A),defined as:
Im=[(Ip X Tp)+(Ib X Tb)]/(Tp+Tb)
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EFFECT PULSING ON WELDMENT
•Increasing pore formation has been
observed with low pulse frequencies.
•The same has been explained as a
consequence of rapid solidification which
occurs with a long background current
duration and so inadequate opportunities
for gases to escape from weld pool.

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 EFFECT ON STRUCTURE AND
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
•A fine grained structure can be obtained in both
cases ( low and high frequencies) and this leads to
uniformity in microstructure and enhancement of
mechanical properties.
•The effect of pulse frequency is particularly
marked and the best results w.r.t. mechanical
properties and structures are obtained with low
frequencies.

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 HOT WIRE TUNGSTEN ARC
WELDING
•This process id based on the principle of using
preheated filler in TIG welding in order to reduce
the heat input to base metal and increases the
deposition rate ( comparable with MIG ) so as to
obtained higher welding speed.
•Preheating can be achieved by any suitable
means however AC current is conventionally used
to heat the filler wire by electrical resistance
heating.
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COMPARISON OF DEPOSITION
RATE

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HOT WIRE TIGW

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 HEATING CURRENT IN THIS
PROCESS
•AC is preferred over DC for preheating of FILLER wire
due to the fact that electromagnetic field generated
by DC flowing through filler wire interferes with the
electro magnetic field of the welding current
producing arc which in turn leads to arc blow.
•This process is commonly used for ferrous metals
and Ni alloys while welding of aluminum and copper
is difficult as they need heavy current for electrical
resistance heating of filler wire.
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 APPLICATIONS OF TIG WELDING
•It can be used in all positions. It is normally used for
root pass during welding of thick pipes but is widely
being used for welding of thin walled pipes and tubes.
•This process can be easily mechanised i.e. movement
of torch and feeding of filler wire , so it can be used for
precision welding in nuclear, aircraft , chemical and
petroleum industries.
•Aircraft frames and its skin are few examples where
TIG is very popular.

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