Study of welding productivity for MIL A 46100steel weldments produced using GMAW and SMAW

A study was conducted to measure welding productivity for MIL A46100 specification steel joints welded following five different welding procedures (WPS) which used gas metal arc welding (GMAW), in mechanized mode, and shielded metal arc welding (SMAW). E110118M (2,4 mm in diameter) and E312-16 (2,4 and 3,2 mm in diameter) electrodes were used for SMAW. Spray and short circuit metal transfer modes were used for GMAW procedures. Single pass weldments were made using GMAW and SMAW (with E312-16 φ 3,2 mm) procedures using copper baking plates; the remaining joints were done using two passes procedures needing root grinding prior to the second pass. It was found a cost reduction of up to 75% when GMAW procedures are used and the time for joint completion is reduced by nearly 80% when compared to the SMAW procedures leading to a potential increase in production rate.