Modelling of bead hump formation in high speed gas metal arc welding

Without any presupposed mechanism, a unified three-dimensional model is developed to predict the formation of humping bead in high speed gas metal arc welding, which considers the three phase coupling of solid, liquid and gas and the effect of shear stress exerting on weld pool surface caused by arc plasma. A strong backward fluid flow in weld pool is identified as the major factor for bead hump formation. The generation of thin liquid transition zone and its premature solidification are two conditions responsible for the occurrence of humped weld. In case of low inner contact angle between the liquid metal and workpiece surface, the bead hump is still generated. With increasing welding current, the bead hump can be suppressed.