Influence of type of welded joint on welding efficiency

The influence of the type of welded joint on welding efficiency is investigated in the present paper. The study shows that in the welding of butt, overlapping, corner, and T joints, the arc shape and the energy distribution in the are depend on the shape of the welding area. Also in tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding without a filler material, four times more energy was required to weld a T joint than a corner joint of the same thickness. By means of mathematical conformal mapping the arc shape is shown as a function of the type of welded joint. The parameters influencing the welding efficiency are stated Finally, a coefficient referring to the arc position, the workpiece position, and the type of heat removal from the welding area is given. This coefficient can be used to calculate the relative welding efficiency as a function of the type of welded joint. (C) 2003 IoM Communications Ltd. Published by Maney for the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.