Gas Metal Arc Welding for High Productivity Applications

In a continuing effort to increase productivity and reduce welding costs in shipbuilding, heavy manufacturing, and other industries, EWI’s Arc Welding group is developing new applications for standard (single-wire) gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and tandem gas metal arc welding (T-GMAW). Methods for increasing productivity, reducing costs, and increasing quality include mechanizing or automating GMAW applications that are currently performed using semi-automatic techniques, or applying higher productivity process variations such as T-GMAW. For the shipbuilding and heavy manufacturing industries, mechanized or automated GMAW and T-GMAW are attractive alternatives to the submerged arc welding (SAW) process because these processes are not limited to the flat position.

A fundamental overview of GMAW and T-GMAW is provided along with the advantages and disadvantages of each. Examples of how EWI has applied these processes to applications requiring high productivity for industries including shipbuilding, heavy manufacturing, and automotive are presented. Details of a productivity study comparing the welding of thick steel joints using semi-automatic GMAW with manual gouging versus using mechanized GMAW with mechanized gouging is provided. Data for thick steel sections welded in the flat, horizontal, vertical, and overhead positions using T-GMAW are presented and compared to baseline data for the GMAW process. Finally, examples of how T-GMAW has been applied for producing high speed fillet welds on steel plate, and on coated and non-coated sheet metal for the automotive industry are discussed.