SUBMERGED ARC WELDING

Similar to MIG welding, Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) involves formation of an arc
between a continuously-fed bare wire electrode and the workpiece.

The process uses a flux to generate protective gases and slag, and to add alloying
elements to the weld pool. A shielding gas is not required. Prior to welding, a thin layer
of flux powder is placed on the workpiece surface. The arc moves along the joint line
and as it does so, excess flux is recycled via a hopper. Remaining fused slag layers can
be easily removed after welding. As the arc is completely covered by the flux layer, heat
loss is extremely low. This produces a thermal efficiency as high as 60% (compared with
25% for manual metal arc).

There is no visible arc light in SAW, welding is spatter-free and there is no need for fume
extraction.

Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) is a process where the welding arc is totally submerged
and not seen. Most longitudinal pipe seams are welded at the pipe mill by the SAW
process.

Submerged Arc Welding Equipment

The SAW process a flux blanket is laid down in the weld joint by the flux hopper, ahead
of the welding arc. The filler wire, which also acts as the electrode, travels along the
weld groove with the welding. It is completely submerged by the flux blanket (See
Figure 8).

The electrode wire feed rate and position is controlled by the wire feed motor and head
control. The power supply controls the voltage and amperage.

This process can be used semi-automatically by the welder manually using a welding
gun (with a flux hopper attached). This automatically feeds and guides the electrode and
flux at an automatic deposition rate. This process can also be used with fully automatic
equipment where either the work piece or the equipment is automatically manipulated.
 Figure 8. Submerged Arc Welding

Essential Equipment

Essential equipment components for SAW are:

Power source

Wire gun

Flux handling

Protective equipment

As SAW is a high current welding process, the equipment is designed to produce high
deposition rates.

Power Source
SAW can be operated using either a DC or an AC power source. DC is supplied by a
transformer rectifier and AC is supplied by a transformer. The current for a single wire
ranges from as low as 200A (1.6mm diameter wire) to as high as 1000A (6.0mm
diameter wire).
In practice, most welding is carried out on thick plate where a single wire (4.0mm
diameter) is normally used over a more limited range of 600 to 900A, with a twin wire
system operating between 800 and 1200A. In DC operation, the electrode is normally
connected to the positive terminal.

Electrode Negative
(DCEN) polarity can be used to increase deposition rate but depth of penetration is
reduced by between 20 and 25%. For this reason, DCEN is used for surfacing
applications where parent metal dilution is important. The DC power source has a
'constant voltage' output characteristic which produces a self-regulating arc. For a given
diameter of wire, welding current is controlled by wire feed speed and arc length is
determined by voltage setting.

AC power sources usually have a constant-current output characteristic and are,

therefore, not self-regulating. The arc with this type of power source is controlled by
sensing the arc voltage and using the signal to control wire feed speed. In practice, for a
given welding current level, arc length is determined by wire burn-off rate.

Welding Gun
SAW can be carried out using both manual and mechanized techniques. Mechanized
welding, which can exploit the potential for extremely high deposition rates, accounts for
the majority of applications.

Flux
Fluxes used in SAW are granular fusible minerals containing oxides of manganese,
silicon, titanium, aluminum, calcium, zirconium, magnesium and other compounds such
as calcium fluoride. The flux is specially formulated to be compatible with a given
electrode wire type so that the combination of flux and wire yields desired mechanical
properties.

All fluxes react with the weld pool to produce the weld metal chemical composition and
mechanical properties. It is common practice to refer to fluxes as 'active' if they add
manganese and silicon to the weld, the amount of manganese and silicon added is
influenced by the arc voltage and the welding current level. The main types of flux for
SAW are:

Bonded fluxes

Bonded fluxes are produced by drying the ingredients, then bonding them with a low
melting point compound such as a sodium silicate. Most bonded fluxes contain metallic
deoxidizers which help to prevent weld porosity. These fluxes are effective over rust and
mill scale.
Fused fluxes

Fused fluxes are produced by mixing the ingredients, then melting them in an electric
furnace to form a chemical homogeneous product. Then the product is cooled and
ground to the required particle size. Smooth stable arcs, with welding currents up to
2000A and consistent weld metal properties, are the main attraction of these fluxes.

Applications
Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) is ideally suited for longitudinal and circumferential butt
and fillet welds (See Figure 9). However, because of high fluidity of the weld pool, molten
slag and loose flux layer, welding is generally carried out on butt joints in the flat position
and fillet joints in both the flat and horizontal-vertical positions.

For circumferential joints, the work piece is rotated under a fixed welding head with
welding taking place in the flat position. Depending on material thickness, either single-
pass, two -pass or multi pass weld procedures can be carried out. There is virtually no
restriction on the material thickness, provided a suitable joint preparation is adopted.

Most commonly welded materials are carbon-manganese steels, low alloy steels and
stainless steels, although the process is capable of welding some non-ferrous materials
with judicious choice of electrode filler wire and flux combinations.
Figure 9. Submerged Arc Welding

Advantages and Limitations

Advantages

The SAW process advantages are:

It has a high deposition rate

It is appealing to operators since there is no need for protection from the arc and
there is less smoke generated than for the SMAW and FCAW processes

It has the ability to penetrate deeply due to the high current used

Limitations

The SAW process limitations are:

 It is considered to be a flat or horizontal fillet process unless some device is provided
to support the granular flux in the joint

Mechanization of the process may require extensive auxiliary equipment

Residual slag must be removed

The granular flux can prevent the operator from seeing the arc progression