Droplet transfer behavior in Pulsed Plasma-MIG welding

The coaxially compound pulsed plasma arc with MIG arc was proposed to utilize the high-speed plasma jet to impact the arc and weld pool. Thus both the metal transfer and weld depth can be promoted. A data acquisition system that synchronizing the high-speed camera and arc variables was developed to precisely analyze the droplet transfer of Pulsed Plasma-MIG hybrid welding. Experimental results indicated that the plasma arc current was adjusted to be pulse, which can be contributed to reduce the welding input and enhance the droplet transfer effectively. Furthermore, the effects of plasma peak current, width and droplet transfer position in the plasma arc on the droplet transfer were analyzed respectively, and the one droplet per pulse mode was obtained by adjusting the plasma arc parameters. The window of plasma pulse parameters for achieving one droplet per pulse transfer mode was thus determined.