SETT VID FRAMSTELLNING AV EN STUMSVETS MELLAN TVA TJOCKVEGGIGA ARBETSSTYCKEN

A method for butt welding a pair of vertically disposed tubular members having a wall thickness of more than 12 mm in end-to-end relationship by multi-pass shielded arc welding with a consumable electrode, comprising the steps of preparing the opposed edges of the tubular members by forming a root face the width of which being in the range of 0.5 mm to 3.0 mm and beveling the edges adjacent to the root face to a bevel angle in the range of 40 DEG to 50 DEG , coaxially aligning said tubular members so that the gap between the root faces is not larger than 1.5 mm, performing a root pass by continuously feeding an electrode having a diameter not larger than about 1.0 mm into the groove between the prepared edges supplying a shielding gas consisting of 0-40% carbon dioxide and the balance argon, energizing an arc between the electrode and the root face alternately changing the voltage supplied to the arc between a low value and a high value, adjusting the low voltage to produce a droplet metal transfer during short circuit periods, adjusting the high voltage to produce a spray metal transfer, adjusting the welding speed and the electrode feeding speed to deposit metal in the groove in the range of 0.15 to 0.35 grams per mm length of the pass, and successively depositing overlapping passes for filling the groove.