Arc characteristics and metal transfer behavior of CMT plus P welding process

The cold metal transfer (CMT) with addition of pulses (CMT+P) process is a new CMT welding method. The CMT + P transfer mode is a combination of a projected transfer mode with one droplet per pulse and a short circuit transfer mode during the cold metal transfer period. The results indicate that the current and voltage waveforms of the CMT + P welding process were quite different from those of the traditional CMT process. The appearance of the high initial arcing current and the current pulse steps as well as the low current for the pulse time phase for the first CMT period indicate a stable, smooth CMT+ P transfer process. The high pulse current of the CMT + P process results in a higher heat input compared to the CMT process. A greater penetration and contact angle of the weld bead can be obtained by increasing the pulse number. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.