• WELDING PROCESS EMPLOYED IN SHIPBUILDING

ARE OF THE FUSION WELDING TYPE, WHICH IS

ACHIEVED BY MEANS OF A HEAT SOURCE
INTENSE ENOUGH TO MELT THE EDGES OF THE
METALS TO BE JOINED AS IT TRAVERSES ALONG
THE JOINT.
• Arc welding is a type of welding that uses a welding power
supply to create an electric arc between an electrode and
the base material to melt the metals at the welding point.
They can use either direct (DC) or alternating (AC) current,
and consumable or non-consumable electrodes. The
 welding region is usually protected by some type of
shielding gas, vapor, and/or slag.
• AC SUPPLY 80-100V
• AMPERAGE 200-300A
• TEMPERATURE 4000-5000 C 0

• TYPES OF WELDING
• GAS WELDING
• ELECTRIC ARC WELDING
• THERMIT WELDING
• RESISTANCE WELDING
• FORGE WELDING
• BRAZING
• FLOW WELDING
• INDUCTION WELDING

• SAVING IN WEIGHT (APP. 15-20%)

• REDUCED SKIN FRICTION RESISTANCE
• WATER/OIL TIGHTNESS
• EASIER REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE
• REDUCED CORROSION
• PREFABRICATION USED TO MAXIMUM BY MAKING
PANELS
Purpose of flux
• However, joining metals requires more than moving an
electrode along a joint. Metals at high temperatures tend to
react chemically with elements in the air - oxygen and
nitrogen. When metal in the molten pool comes into contact
with air, oxides and nitrides form, which destroy the
strength and toughness of the weld joint. Therefore, many
arc-welding processes provide some means of covering to
the arc and the molten pool with a protective shield of gas,
 vapor, or slag. This is called arc shielding.
• This shielding prevents or minimizes contact of the molten
metal with air.
• Shielding also may improve the weld. An example is a
granular flux, which actually adds deoxidizers to the weld
• FUNCTION OF FLUX
• IT STABILISES THE AC ARC AND HENCE MAKES AC
TO BE USED SATISFACTORILY
• PROVIDES GAS SHIELDING TO THE ARC
• PROVIDES EASY STRIKING AND ARC STABILITY
• PROVIDES PROTECTIVE SLAG
• PROVIDES A GOOD WELD SHAPE
• PREVENTS ATMOSPHERIC CONTAMINATION
• GAS SHIELD CONSUMES THE SURROUNDING
OXYGEN AND PROTECTS THE MOLTEN METAL

• FUNCTION OF SLAG
• PREVENTS OXIDATION OF WELD METAL
• REDUCES COOLING RATE
• FLOATS UP THE IMPURITIES AND LEVELS OUT THE
WAVE FORM OF THE WELD
• WELDING POSITIONS
• DOWN HAND(FLAT) POSITION
• HORIZONTAL POSITION
• VERTICAL POSITION
• OVERHEAD POSITION

• TYPES OF WELD JOINTS

• ( V JOINT, DOUBLE V JOINT, SINGLE U JOINT,
DOUBLE U JOINT, FILLET V JOINT, FILLET J JOINT,
TACK WELDING)
• DEFECTS OF WELDING
• IMPROPER REINFORCEMENT (LACK OF,
EXCESSIVE)
• LAMELLAR TEARING
• UNDERCUT
• LACK OF PENETRATION
• POROCITY
• PIPES
• SLAG INCLUSION
• INTERRUN FUSION

• Arc Welding or SMAW

• Generally known as stick or arc welding. Arc welding is the
most basic of all welding types, is easy to master in a home
welding situation.
Stick welding can be used for manufacturing, construction
and repairs, very much well suited for heavy metal size 4
mm upwards. Thinner sheet metals and alloys are usually
more suited to the MIG welding types.
• Arc-Welding Fundamentals
• Arc welding is one of several fusion processes for joining
metals. By applying intense heat, metal at the joint
between two parts is melted and caused to intermix -
directly, or more commonly, with an intermediate molten
filler metal. Upon cooling and solidification, a
metallurgical bond is created. Since the joining is an
intermixture of metals, the final weldment potentially has
the same strength properties as the metal of the parts. This
is in sharp contrast to non-fusion processes of joining (i.e.
soldering, brazing etc.) in which the mechanical and
physical properties of the base materials cannot be
duplicated at the joint.
• In arc welding, the intense heat needed to melt metal is
produced by an electric arc. The arc is formed between the
actual work and an electrode (stick or wire) that is
manually or mechanically guided along the joint. The
electrode can either be a rod with the purpose of simply
carrying the current between the tip and the work. Or, it
may be a specially prepared rod or wire that not only
conducts the current but also melts and supplies filler metal
 to the joint. Most welding in the manufacture of steel
products uses the second type of electrode.
• An AC or DC power source, fitted with whatever controls
may be needed, is connected by a work cable to the work
piece and by a "hot" cable to an electrode holder of some
type, which makes an electrical contact with the welding
electrode.
• An arc is created across the gap when the energized circuit
and the electrode tip touches the workpiece and is
withdrawn, yet still with in close contact.
• The arc produces a temperature of about 6500ºF at the tip.
This heat melts both the base metal and the electrode,
producing a pool of molten metal sometimes called a
"crater." The crater solidifies behind the electrode as it is
moved along the joint. The result is a fusion bond.
• The arc itself is a very complex phenomenon. In-depth
understanding of the physics of the arc is of little value to
the welder, but some knowledge of its general
characteristics can be useful.
• An arc is an electric current flowing between two electrodes
through an ionized column of gas. A negatively charged
cathode and a positively charged anode create the intense
heat of the welding arc. Negative and positive ions are
bounced off of each other in the plasma column at an
accelerated rate.
• In welding, the arc not only provides the heat needed to melt
the electrode and the base metal, but under certain
conditions must also supply the means to transport the
molten metal from the tip of the electrode to the work.
Several mechanisms for metal transfer exist. Two (of
many) examples include:
• Surface Tension Transfer® - a drop of molten metal touches
the molten metal pool and is drawn into it by surface
tension.
• Spray Arc - the drop is ejected from the molten metal at the
electrode tip by an electric pinch propelling it to the molten
pool. (great for overhead welding!)
• MIG or GMAW or Gas Metal Arc Welding
• More commonly called MIG welding this welding type is
the most widely used and perhaps the most easily mastered
type of welding for industry and home use. The GMAW
process is suitable for fusing mild steel, stainless-steel as
well as aluminium.
• MIG Welding
• Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) is frequently referred to
as MIG welding. MIG welding is a commonly used high
deposition rate welding process. Wire is continuously fed
from a spool. MIG welding is therefore referred to as a
semiautomatic welding process.
• The shielding gas, forms the arc plasma, stabilizes the arc on
the metal being welded, shields the arc and molten weld
pool, and allows smooth transfer of metal from the weld
wire to the molten weld pool.
• There are three primary metal transfer modes:
• Spray transfer
• Pulse transfer
• Drip transfer
• The primary shielding gasses used are:
• Argon
• CO 2

• CO is also used in its pure form in some MIG welding

2

processes. However, in some applications the presence of

CO in the shielding gas may adversely affect the
2

mechanical properties of the weld

• MIG Welding Benefits
• All position capability
• Higher deposition rates than SMAW
• Less operator skill required
• Long welds can be made without starts and stops
• Minimal post weld cleaning is required
• TIG or GTAW or Tungsten Inert Gas
• TIG welding is comparable to oxy acetylene gas welding
and needs a lot more expertise from the operator. Employed
for carrying out high-quality work when a superior standard
of finish is needed without making use of excessive clean
up by sanding or grinding.
• Manual gas tungsten arc welding is often considered the
most difficult of all the welding processes commonly used
in industry. Because the welder must maintain a short arc
length, great care and skill are required to prevent contact
between the electrode and the workpiece. Unlike other
welding processes, GTAW normally requires two hands,
since most applications require that the welder manually
feed a filler metal into the weld area with one hand while
manipulating the welding torch in the other. However,
some welds combining thin materials (known as
autogenous or fusion welds) can be accomplished without
filler metal; most notably edge, corner and butt joints.
• To strike the welding arc, a high frequency generator
provides a path for the welding current through the
shielding gas, allowing the arc to be struck when the
separation between the electrode and the workpiece is
approximately 1.5-3 mm . Bringing the two into contact
 also serves to strike an arc, but this can cause
contamination of the weld and electrode. Once the arc is
struck, the welder moves the torch in a small circle to
create a welding pool, the size of which depends on the size
of the electrode and the current. While maintaining a
constant separation between the electrode and the
workpiece, the operator then moves the torch back slightly
and tilts it backward about 10-15 degrees from vertical.
Filler metal is added manually to the front end of the weld
pool as it is needed.
• Welders often develop a technique of rapidly alternating
between moving the torch forward (to advance the weld
pool) and adding filler metal. The filler rod is withdrawn
from the weld pool each time the electrode advances, but it
is never removed from the gas shield to prevent oxidation
of its surface and contamination of the weld. Filler rods
composed of metals with low melting temperature, such as
aluminum, require that the operator maintain some distance
from the arc while staying inside the gas shield. If held too
close to the arc, the filler rod can melt before it makes
contact with the weld puddle. As the weld nears
completion, the arc current is often gradually reduced to
prevent the formation of a crater at the end of the weld.
Submerged-arc Welding
• The first patent on the submerged-arc welding (SAW)
process was taken out in 1935 and covered an electric arc
beneath a bed of granulated flux.
• Process features
• Similar to MIG welding, SAW involves formation of an arc
between a continuously-fed bare wire electrode and the
work piece. 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 work piece
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, welding is spatter-free and there is no
need for fume extraction.
• Process variants
• According to material thickness, joint type and size of
component, varying the following can increase deposition
rate and improve bead shape.
• Wire
• SAW is normally operated with a single wire on either AC
or DC current. Common variants are:
• twin wire
• multiple wire (tandem or triple)
• single wire with hot or cold wire addition
• metal powder addition
• tubular wire
• All contribute to improved productivity through a marked
increase in weld metal deposition rates and/or travel
speeds.
• A narrow gap process variant is also established, which
utilizes a two or three bead per layer deposition technique.
• 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 - 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 - produced by mixing the ingredients, then
melting them in an electric furnace to form a chemically
homogeneous product, 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
• SAW is ideally suited for longitudinal and circumferential
butt and fillet welds. 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 multiphase 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.
• The plasma welding process was introduced to the welding
industry in 1964 as a method of bringing better control to
the arc welding process in lower current ranges. Today,
plasma retains the original advantages it brought to industry
by providing an advanced level of control and accuracy to
produce high quality welds in miniature or precision
applications and to provide long electrode life for high
production requirements. The plasma process is equally
suited to manual and automatic applications. It has been
used in a variety of operations ranging from high volume
welding of strip metal, to precision welding of surgical
instruments, to automatic repair of jet engine blades, to the
manual welding of kitchen equipment for the food and
dairy industry.
• How Plasma Welding Works
• A plasma is a gas which is heated to an extremely high
temperature and ionized so that it becomes electrically
conductive. Similar to GTAW (Tig), the plasma arc welding
process uses this plasma to transfer an electric arc to a work
piece. The metal to be welded is melted by the intense heat
of the arc and fuses together.
• In the plasma welding torch a Tungsten electrode is located
within a copper nozzle having a small opening at the tip. A
pilot arc is initiated between the torch electrode and nozzle
 tip. This arc is then transferred to the metal to be welded.
• By forcing the plasma gas and arc through a constricted
orifice, the torch delivers a high concentration of heat to a
small area. With high performance welding equipment, the
plasma process produces exceptionally high quality welds.
• Plasma gases are normally argon. The torch also uses a
secondary gas, argon, argon/hydrogen or helium which
assists in shielding the molten weld puddle thus minimizing
oxidation of the weld.
 • Electro slag welding
• Electro slag welding is a very efficient, single pass process
carried out in the vertical or near vertical position and used
for joining steel plates/sections in thicknesses of 25mm and
above
• Unlike other high current fusion processes, electro slag
welding is not an arc process. Heat required for melting
both the welding wire and the plate edges is generated
through a molten slag's resistance to the passage of an
electric current.
Plates are held vertically approximately 30mm apart with the
edges of the plate cut normal to the surface. A bridging run-on
piece of the same thickness is attached to the bottom of the
plates. Water cooled copper shoes are then placed each side of
the joint, forming a rectangular cavity open at the top. Filler
wire, which is also the current carrier, is then fed into this cavity,
initially striking an arc through a small amount of flux.
Additional flux is added which melts forming a flux bath which
rises and extinguishes the arc. The added wire then melts into
this bath sinking to the bottom before solidifying to form the
weld. For thick sections, additional wires may be added and an
even distribution of weld metal is achieved by oscillating the
wires across the joint. As welding progresses, both the wire feed
mechanism and the copper shoes are moved progressively
upwards until the top of the weld is reached.
• Benefits
• The principal benefits of the process are:
• speed of joint completion; typically 1 hour per metre of
seam, irrespective of thickness
• lack of angular distortion
• lateral angular distortion limited to 3mm per meter of weld
• high quality welds produced
• simple joint preparation, i.e. flame-cut square edge
• major repairs can be made simply by cutting out total weld
and re-welding
• Risks
• Electro slag welding is not one of the major welding
processes because the high heat input generates large,
coarse grained weld metal and HAZs which lead to poor
fracture toughness properties in these areas. Toughness
improvements can only be achieved by post-weld
normalising treatment. Additionally, the near parallel-sided
geometry of the weld, combined with the coarse grains, can
make it difficult to identify defects at the fusion boundary
by standard ultrasonic NDT techniques.
The process has considerable potential for increasing
productivity. However, its use has been limited because of
relatively poor understanding of the process and, for specific
applications, the significance of the fracture toughness values.
As a result, use of the process has been restricted to a few niche
applications

Arc Stud Welding - The Process

Arc stud welding involves the same basic principles and
metallurgical aspects as any other arc welding procedure, in that
a controlled electric arc is used to melt the stud or electrode and
a portion of the base metal. The stud is thrust automatically into
the molten metal and a high quality fusion weld is accomplished
where the weld is stronger than the stud itself. Stud welding is
applicable to mild steel, stainless and aluminum.

Welded fasteners or studs may be almost any size or type, and

there are literally hundreds. However, they must be made of
weldable materials, and one end of the fastener must be
designed for welding. Conventional DC welding machines of all
types may be used, but special power units designed specifically
for stud welding are also available.
• Stud welding joins a stud and another piece of metal
together. The stud is usually joined to a flat plate by using
the stud as one of the electrodes. The polarity used in stud
welding depends on the type of metal being used. Welding
aluminum, for example, would usually require direct-
current electrode positive (DCEP). Welding steel would
require direct-current electrode negative (DCEN).
• Stud welding uses a type of flux called a ferrule, a ceramic
ring which concentrates the heat generated, prevents
oxidation and retains the molten metal in the weld zone.
The ferrule is broken off of the fastener after the weld is
completed.
• Advantages of Arc Stud welding
• Stud Welding Can Help You Reduce Costs
Where end joined components are required, stud welding
can reduce costs through labor savings and material
savings. Stud welding can speed up design time and
application rates, and can eliminate the need for many
common secondary operations. Bosses and spotfacing,
counterboring, undercutting and manual fillet welding,
soldering, drilling and tapping, riveting, inserts and special
retainers are often totally eliminated. Yet in most cases the
 welded joint is stronger than many of those traditional
joining methods.
• Larger diameter Fasteners (up to 1-1/4")
• Penetration of weld zone for structural-type strength
• Welded metal fastening to heavier base materials
• 230, 460, 575 volt sourcing
• Ceramic Arc Shields or Ferrules used to maintain weld
• Electric resistance welding (ERW) refers to a group of
welding processes such as spot and seam welding that
produce coalescence of faying surfaces where heat to form
the weld is generated by the electrical resistance of material
vs the time and the force used to hold the materials together
during welding.
• Small pools of molten metal are formed at the point of most
electrical resistance (the connecting surfaces) as a high
current (100–100,000 A) is passed through the metal. In
general, resistance welding methods are efficient and cause
little pollution, but their applications are limited to
relatively thin materials and the equipment cost can be
high. Types:
• Spot welding is a resistance welding method used to join
two to three overlapping metal sheets, studs, projections,
electrical wiring hangers, some heat exchanger fins, and
some tubing.
• Resistance seam welding is a process that produces a weld
at the faying surfaces of two similar metals. The seam may
be a butt joint or an overlap joint and is usually an
automated process.
• Gas or Oxy Acetylene Welding And Cutting
• Not used as widely for general welding of mild steel.
Consists of mixing oxygen and acetylene gas to greate a
flame capable of melting steels. Mostly used today for
maintenance work and gas metal cutting. Also common for
brazing softer metals such as copper and bronze. Can also
 be used for welding delicate aluminium parts such as
refrigeration pipes.
• Gas Cutting equipment for metal construction and
maintenance. The most accessible of thermal cutting gear is
by qxy-acetylene gas cutting and plasma cutting machines.
Other methods include the use of a thermal cutting
electrode for use with the arc welder machine

• THERMIT WELDING
• Take a mixture of powdered aluminum and iron oxide, ignite
it, and stand back! Within seconds the mixture flames to
twice the temperature of molten steel, and from the bottom
of the special crucible comes molten iron.
• In 1914 Thermit was a cheap and simple way to weld heavy
iron.
Crew welding the cracked axle of a paddle wheel on a
Mississippi steamboat.
Brazing
• Brazing is a metal-joining process whereby a filler metal is
heated above melting point and distributed between two or
more close-fitting parts by capillary action. The filler metal
is brought slightly above its melting temperature while
protected by a suitable atmosphere, usually a flux. It then
flows over the base metal (known as wetting) and is then
cooled to join the workpieces together. It is similar to
soldering, except the temperatures used to melt the filler
metal are higher.
VERTICAL-POSITION WELDING
• A “vertical weld” is defined as a weld that is applied to a
vertical surface or one that is inclined 45 degrees or
fewer. Tanks, and pipelines, require welding in this
position.
• Welding on a vertical surface is much more difficult than
welding in the flat or horizontal position due to the
force of gravity.
• Gravity pulls the molten metal down. To counteract this
force, you should use fast-freeze or fill-freeze electrodes.
• Vertical welding is done in either an upward or
downward position. The terms used for the direction of
welding are vertical up or vertical down.
• Vertical down welding is suited for welding light gauge
metal because the penetration is shallow and diminishes
the possibility of burning through the metal.
• Furthermore, vertical down welding is faster which is
very important in production work.
• Current Settings and Electrode Movement
• In vertical arc welding, the current settings should be
less than those used for the same electrode in the flat
position.
• Another difference is that the current used for welding
upward on a vertical plate is slightly higher than the
current used for welding downward on the same plate.
• To produce good welds, you must maintain the
proper angle between the electrode and the base
metal. In welding upward, you should hold the
electrode at 90 degrees to the vertical, when weaving is
necessary, oscillate the electrode.
• In vertical down welding, incline the outer end of the
electrode downward about 15 degrees from the
horizontal while keeping the arc pointing upward
toward the deposited molten metal when vertical down
welding requires a weave bead, you should oscillate the
electrode.
Overhead-Position Welding
• Overhead welding is the most difficult position in welding.
Not only do you have to contend with the force of gravity
but the majority of the time you also have to assume an
awkward stance. Nevertheless, with practice it is possible
to make welds equal to those made in the other positions.
• Current Settings and Electrode Movement
To retain complete control of the molten puddle, use a very
short arc and reduce the amperage as recommended. As in
the vertical position of welding, gravity causes the molten
metal to drop or sag from the plate.
• When too long an arc is held, the transfer of metal from the
electrode to the base metal becomes increasingly difficult,
and the chances of large globules of molten metal dropping
from the electrode increase. When you routinely shorten
and lengthen the arc, the dropping of molten metal can be
prevented; however, you will defeat your purpose should
you carry too large a pool of molten metal in the weld.
• One of the problems encountered in overhead welding is the
weight of the cable. To reduce arm and wrist fatigue, drape
the cable over your shoulder when weld-ing in the standing
position. When sitting, place the cable over your knee.
With experience, cable placement will become second
nature.
• WARNING: Because of the possibility of falling molten
metal, use a protective garment that has a tight fitting collar
that buttons or zips up to the neck. Roll down your sleeves
and wear a cap and appropriate shoes
Weld Defects
• Weld Defects-Their Causes and How to Correct Them
With the correct welding conditions, techniques and
material quality standards, the mig process will yield a very
high quality weld deposit. However, as with any other
welding process, weld defects can occur.
• Most defects encountered in welding are due to an improper
welding procedure. Once the causes are determined, the
operator can easily correct the problem.
• Defects usually encountered include incomplete penetration,
incomplete fusion, undercutting, porosity, and longitudinal
cracking. This section deals with the corrective action that
 should be taken.
POROSITY
• A. OIL, HEAVY RUST, SCALE, ETC. ON PLATE
• B. WIRE – MAY NEED WIRE HIGHER IN Mn AND Si
• C. SHIELDING PROBLEM; WIND, CLOGGED OR
SMALL NOZZLE, DAMAGED GAS HOSE,
EXCESSIVE GASFLOW, ETC.
• D. FAILURE TO REMOVE GLASS BETWEEN WELD
PASSES.
• E. WELDING OVER SLAG FROM COVERED
ELECTRODE.

LACK OF PENETRATION
• A. WELD JOINT TOO NARROW
• B. WELDING CURRENT TOO LOW; TOO MUCH
• C. ELECTRODE STICKOUT WELD PUDDLE ROLLING
IN FRONT OF THE ARC

LACK OF FUSION
• A. WELDING VOLTAGE AND/OR CURRENT TOO
 LOW
• B. WRONG POLARITY, SHOULD BE DCRP
• C. TRAVEL SPEED TOO LOW
• D. WELDING OVER CONVEX BEAD
• E. TORCH OSCILLATION TOO WIDE OR TOO
NARROW
• F. EXCESSIVE OXIDE ON PLATE

UNDERCUTTING
• A. TRAVEL SPEED TOO HIGH
• B. WELDING VOLTAGE TOO HIGH
• C. EXCESSIVE WELDING CURRENTS
• D. INSUFFICIENT DWELL AT EDGE OF WELD BEAD

CRACKING
• A. INCORRECT WIRE CHEMISTRY
• B. WELD BEAD TOO SMALL
• C. POOR QUALITY QF MATER IAL BEING WELDED