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Phys. Technol.. Vol. 15. 1984. Printed in Northern Ireland

THE PHYSICS OF WELDING

J F Lancaster

Greater understanding of the physics of Welding is an ancient art, and has been practised
welding is leading to improved application ever since man first learned to extract and refine
and control of welding processes. Further iron. Until about the beginning of this century, the
gains in welding productivity could follow method of welding was the same as that used in
Roman times, and still employed in the black-
smith's forge today. The two pieces of metal to be
joined are heated and then hammered or pressed
together, so as to squeeze out slag and oxide and
allow the surfaces to bond together. This is forge
welding, and is an example of a solid-phase
welding process.
The alternative technique is fusion welding. Here
the edges of the two pieces of metal to be joined
are melted and fused together. In order to melt the
metal locally in this way an intense heat source is
required, and it is largely in the provision and use
of such energy sources that physical problems arise.
In the case of a surface heat source the minimum
rate of energy release per unit area q" required to
maintain a molten weld pool of radius r is
approximately
q" = AkT,/r
where k is thermal conductivity, T, is melting
temperature and A is a factor dependent on
welding speed, weld size and thermal diffusivity.
The weld pool size is limited by practical
considerations: it must be manageable, on the one
hand, and it must be large enough to fuse the edges
of a weld preparation, on the other. Manual welds
in steel are usually 10-20" in width giving a
required power density of the order of lo7 W m-'.
The electric arc, which is the most generally used
heat source in fusion welding, generates such a
power density. Figure 1 shows the energy densities
for various types of welding heat source.
The temperature distribution relative to a point
heat source of power q on the surface of a
semi-infinite medium moving at velocity U in the x
direction is
030~624/84/020073+07$02.2501984 The Institute of Physlcs 73
 ism of such non-thermionic cathodes, which is
described later. implies that there is substantial
power generation in a thin layer (1 nm to 1 km) at
1013
the surface. Part of this power is absorbed in the

t
Vaprisptior evaporation of electrons and in ionisation, but
conductton
and meltin some is transferred to the metal. Normally the heat
10
Ion (keyholing7
1' input per ampere of arc current is greater at the
positive electrode, where the electrons give up their
heat of condensation, than at the negative
Radial
electrode, where heat is absorbed by electron
mduction emission.
dominated
with meliing The electric arc in welding: the cathode
Arc processes
The tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding process
employs a thoriated or zirconiated non-consumable
tungsten electrode, and the arc operates inside an
argon or. less frequently, a helium gas shield.
Except for welding aluminium, the electrode forms
the cathodic pole of the arc. Various cathode
Figure 1 Power density for various welding processes
(from Lancaster 1984) modes have been described, but in most cases
welding is performed with a pointed electrode at
the tip of which a well defined thermionic cathode
spot is formed. The current density of the cathode
does not vary much with electrode material (e.g.
T = (qi2;rkr) exp [- u(r - x)/2cu] zirconium instead of tungsten) and is probably
where 2 = x2 + y 2 + z2 and (Y is thermal diffusivity. governed by conditions in the arc column. This is
When T = T, and z = 0 this equation gives the fortunate since with pure tungsten electrodes the
theoretical boundary of the molten weld pool. tip of the electrode melts to form a small sphere.
Measurements of weld pool width and length have and at low currents the cathode spot wanders over
been made over a wide range of heat input rates the surface of the sphere, causing the arc column
and for different materials and processes (Christen- to wander and the welder to lose control. The
sen et a1 1965). Assuming that the thermal addition of small amounts of zirconia or thoria to
properties of the liquid metal are the same as for the tungsten reduces the work function. and allows
the solid, the calculated width and length of the thermionic emission at the required current density
pool are, in almost every case, smaller than the to occur at a lower temperature. For thoriated and
measured values. This is consistent with a high zirconiated material this temperature is below the
effective thermal conductivity in the liquid metal, melting point, and the geometry of the electrode tip
and indicates that (as would be expected) heat is maintained, thus stabilising the arc.
transfer in the weld pool is partly convectional. In Other metals that are encountered as electrodes
general, however, the simple formulae for tempera- in welding. such as steel and aluminium, boil at
ture distribution that have been derived assuming temperatures below that required for a sufficiently
point or line sources of heat, and ignoring high thermionic current density level. The cathode
variations of thermal properties with temperature, that forms on these metals is not fixed in any one
agree reasonably well with the results obtained by position, but moves rapidly over the surface in a
experiment. random fashion. Understanding of the mechanism
The manner in which heat is transferred to and behaviour of such non-thermionic cathodes has
the weld pool depends on the character of the made a significant advance following recent work
welding process. Most arc welding is done with a by Guile (1979). There are at least three types of
consumable electrode, so that heat generated at non-thermionic cathode: the vapour type, which
both poles of the arc is absorbed by the workpiece. forms on unfilmed metal; the tunnelling type, which
When a non-consumable electrode is used, and the forms on metal having a thin oxide film (less than
workpiece forms the positive electrode of the arc, about 10 nm); and the switching type, which forms
heat is generated by the condensation of electrons on thicker oxide films. Guile suggests that positive
and by conduction and radiation from the arc ions originating from the arc plasma condense on
plasma across the boundary layer at the metal the oxide surface and set up a high electric field. In
surface. If the workpiece is the negative pole, then the case of thin films electrons may 'tunnel' through
a non-thermionic cathode is formed. The mechan- the film and generate an emitting site; for thicker

74
films a phenomenon known as switching makes the
film locally conductive. Such mechanisms allow
relatively large currents to flow in filamentary
channels through the oxide. Individual emitting
sites are 1nm to 1 pm in diameter, and have a
lifetime of 1ns to 1 ps. Examination of the cathodic
afea by the scanning electron microscope after
arcing for a short duration such as 1 ps shows a
pattern of craters, as in figure 2. Thus, the
non-thermionic cathode operates by the formation
and decay of numbers of small emitting sites, and
removes the oxide film from the cathodic area.
This effect is put to good use in the TIG welding
of aluminium. Aluminium oxide persists as a solid Figure 2 Mild steel cathode with 2.5 nm oxide film.
film after the metal has melted, and may cause Surface damage caused by a 4.5 A arc of 30 ns duration.
Magnification X3000 (photograph courtesy A E Guile)
discontinuities in the completed weld. Welding with
the workpiece negative results in the oxide being
stripped by cathodic action, and the weld is free conductivity. For the TIG arc at atmospheric
from oxide film. In practice alternating current is pressure Pe is about 10, at which value convection
used to avoid overheating the electrode. dominates. At low pressures Pe may fall below 1,
In other cases the formation of a thick oxide film where heat flow is primarily by conduction and the
is employed to control the extent of movement arc column becomes spherical in form, whilst at
of the cathode spot. Metal inert gas (MIG)welding, high pressures Pe increases above the atmospheric
in which a consuniable bare wire electrode is value.
protected by an inert gas shield, can normally be Most of the measurements of temperature
operated with electrode positive only. With distribution have been for the argon-shielded TIG
electrode negative the cathode wanders up and arc, illustrated in figure 3. The visible boundary
down the electrode, making the process uncontroll- represents an isotherm, probably about 1 x lo4 K.
able. Coating the electrode surface with a relatively The measured temperature level varies quite
thick oxide, however, confines the arc root to the significantly from one observer to another; earlier
tip of the rod, giving a symmetrical and controllable investigators found temperatures of about 2 x lo4 K
arc. In welding steel by the same process with near the cathode, whereas others obtained values of
electrode positive and a pure argon gas shield, the 1 X 104K in the same location. Arcs between iron
cathode spots may wander over the plate to an electrodes have a column temperature of about
extent that makes the process unstable. Adding a 6 X lo3 K, presumably because of the higher
few per cent oxygen to the argon forms a thicker conductivity of iron vapour at lower temperatures.
oxide film on the metal surface and restricts
movement of the cathode to an acceptable degree. Mass flow in the arc column
Mass flow in the arc plasma may result from
The arc column chemical reactions, such as the breakdown of an
The column or gaseous portion of the electric arc is electrode coating, or it may be externally imposed,
characterised by two features: high temperature, as in plasma welding. The plasma torch is similar to
such that the gas is sufficiently ionised to be that used in TIG welding, but with a constricted
conductive; and high flow velocity, the direction of nozzle so as to direct a jet of hot plasma on to the
which is, under welding conditions, from electrode metal surface. The primary interest here, however,
to workpiece. The temperature is maintained by lies with the electromagnetically induced jets that
ohmic heating, which balances losses by conduc- are observed in TIG and MIG welding.
tion, convection and radiation. The proportion of In virtually all arc welding operations the current
energy lost from a TIG arc by radiation increases flow is between a point-like electrode and an
with current and at 100A is about 20% of the approximately flat plate. The current streamlines
total column energy. The relative importance of therefore spread outwards from the electrode.
conduction and convection may be assessed from Because of this configuration, the interaction of the
the Peclet number Pe current and its self-induced magnetic field results in
forces that induce flow from the electrode towards
Pe = puLC,/k
the plate. The flow is jet-like and the axial velocity
where p is density, U is flow velocity, L is a typical is of the order of hundreds of metres a second.
dimension, C,, is specific heat and k thermal Increasing the ambient pressure (as may occur in

75
underwater welding) causes the jet to become more
intense, and vice versa.
Calculations of mass and heat flow have been
attempted for simple cases like the TIG arc. A
complete analysis requires the simultaneous solu-
tion of the equations for conservation of mass,
energy, momentum and electric charge, together
with Ohm’s law and Maxwell’s equations for
magnetic fields. Such an analysis is possible using
numerical methods, and promising results have
been obtained (Lancaster 1984).
Axial flow in the welding arc column is desirable
in two ways. In using coated electrodes the gas flow
produced by decomposition of the coating protects
the molten metal from contamination by atmos-
pheric nitrogen and oxygen. In TIG and MIG
welding the electromagnetically induced flow gives
the arc the quality of ‘stiffness’; it may be directed
as required and is resistant to deflection by external Figure 3 Argon-shielded arc with tungsten cathode. The
forces such as stray magnetic fields. The flow is arc column is typically bell-shaped (photograph courtesy
converted to a stagnation pressure where it The Welding Institute)
impinges on the weld pool. This pressure generates
the ‘arc force’, which may have useful effects in Details of the transfer process are visible in high
ensuring good penetration of the molten weld into speed motion pictures of the arc, which may if
the workpiece. On the other hand, if the flow, and necessary by correlated with oscillographic records
the resulting arc force, are too high, instabilities of arc current and voltage. Transfer from coated
may occur and in extreme cases the molten metal electrodes has been examined by radiography, and
may be blown out of its proper location. in this way the movement of metal may be
distinguished from that of the slag. When the
Metal transfer electrodes are fully deoxidised, a depression forms
In welding with a consumable electrode, the at the root of the arc, distorting the drop at the
electrode is at one and tlie same time a conductor electrode tip and eventually resulting in detach-
for the arc current, thereby providing a heat ment either by short circuit or by the pinching-off
source, and a source of liquid filler metal for of droplets. In electrodes that are not fully
the joint to be welded. It is essential for good deoxidised a bubble of CO forms inside the drop;
welding that the major part of this liquid metal is eventually the bubble bursts and a spray of fine
transferred to the weld pool, and not dispersed as drops is projected towards the electrode.
spatter over the surrounding plate Transfer from steel electrodes in gas metal arc
There are two ways in which a smooth transfer welding with argon, argon-oxygen or argon-COz
may be effected. Where the flight path of droplets shielding is altogether more regular in character.
detaching from the electrode tip is erratic, as in gas At low currents (below 200A with a 1.2”
metal arc ( G M A ) ~welding with a CO2 shield, the diameter wire) the drops form as oblate spheroids,
arc is kept short and the drop contacts the weld elongated in line with the axis of the electrode.
pool before it detaches, causing a short circuit until These detach with an initial velocity and accelera-
the liquid metal is drawn into the pool by surface tion at fairly regular intervals. Above 200A a
tension and electromagnetic forces. When the flight conical tip appears at the end of the electrode, and
of such droplets is directed in line with the droplets form and detach - again in a regular
electrode axis, on the other hand, it is possible to fashion - from the tip of the cone. At still higher
operate in a ‘free flight’ mode. This is the case with currents (about 250 A) the conical tip transforms
argon-shielded gas metal arc welding. We will here into a relatively long cylinder of liquid metal from
be primarily concerned with the free flight mode of the end of which a stream of fine drops is projected
metal transfer. (streaming transfer). Further increase of current
causes the cylinder to transform into a rotating
spiral (rotating transfer). Applying a longitudinal
t GMA welding is similar to MIG, but the shielding gas magnetic field to streaming transfer causes the
may be wholly or in part chemically active. Likewise
gas tungsten arc (GTA) may employ a chemically active transition to a rotating spiral to occur at a lower
gas shield. current (Lancaster 1984).
76
 Metals of higher thermal and electrical conduc- ment time of drops may be estimated as a function
tivity, such as aluminium and copper, do not show of current for various electrode diameters and
the same transitions of metal transfer mode as materials. The values so obtained are consistent
steel. Metal is detached in the form of drops, as for with experimental results (Lancaster 1984).
steel below 200A. Typical figures for the rate of In the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field a
drop detachment at 200 A are 10 dropsis for steel, higher unstable mode may appear. This is the kink
20dropsls for copper and 170drops/s for alumin- unstability, when the liquid cylinder collapses into
ium. an expanding spiral. Figure 4 shows metal transfer
The regular behaviour of transferring drops in in the case of high current plasma-MIG welding.
gas metal arc welding has encouraged various In this process an arc is maintained between
investigators to attempt a quantitative analysis of an auxiliary tungsten electrode and the workpiece
the phenomenon. One method of approach has and the consumable electrode, which also carries a
been to assess the forces to which the drop at the current, passes through the plasma so formed. In
electrode tip is subject. Those tending to detach the this instance the kink instability has developed first,
drop are gravity (assuming downward welding). the but the pinch mode is visible at the end of the
drag force due to the shielding gas flow, and electrode, which eventually disperses into drops. In
(usually) the electromagnetic force, whilst surface the normal MIG or GMA process the appearance of
tension acts in the opposite sense. These forces rotating transfer is similar to that shown in figure 4.
have been measured for steel in the range 0-220 A . In neither case is there an imposed magnetic field,
The electromagnetic force on the drop at the tip of but of course the spiral formation will generate its
a cylindrical electrode may be calculated assuming own longitudinal field. Thus the character of metal
that there is no internal flow. The magnitude and transfer in GMA welding is consistent, at least
direction of the force so calculated depends on the qualitatively, with the theory of instability of liquid
relationship between the diameter of the electrode cylinderst.
and that of the anode spot. If the diameter of the In submerged arc welding drops are directed
anode spot is smaller than that of the electrode, towards the weld pool in a different manner. This
then the force acts towards the electrode: when it is process uses a bare wire electrode and the arc and
larger it acts in the opposite direction. It was found weld pool are protected from the atmosphere by a
that at low currents, corresponding to a small powdered flux. Flux melts around the arc, forming
anode spot size, the electromagnetic force did an expanding bubble that periodically bursts and
indeed act towards the electrode, whilst at higher then reforms. Drops are detached from the
values up to 1 6 0 A there was good agreement electrode tip in random directions, but those that
between calculated and measured values (Waszink fly outwards are trapped by the bubble of molten
and Graat 1983). flux and therby directed into the weld pool.
The dynamics of metal transfer have also been
explored using the linear approximation employed Flow in the weld pool
by Lord Rayleigh (1879) for investigating the If current enters a hemisphere of liquid in a
stability of a liquid cylinder or jet. This analysis was symmetrical manner from the plane surface, the
extended to the case of a cylinder carrying an electromagnetically induced flow should be toroidal
electric current by Murty (1961. see also Alfven in form. Such toroidal flow is rarely, if ever,
and Falthammar 1963). Various modes of instability observed in weld pools. The closest approach to an
are possible for the current-carrying cylinder. ideal geometry is in TIG welding at low current,
The simplest case is the pinch, varicose or when the weld pool is almost hemispherical. This
sausage-type instability. when the surface of the type of weld pool tends to rotate. The rotation may
cylinder is deformed so that its longitudinal section take the form of a double circulation or, more
has a sinusoidal form. causing it eventually to
disperse into drops. Analysis of the electromagnetic, t Recent work (including that of Murty 1961) on the
surface tension and inertia forces associated with stability of cylindrical systems relates mainly to problems
this mode of deformation shows that there is a in cosmology and nuclear fusion devices (Alfven and
critical wavelength above which the system is Falthammar 1963. Chandrasekhar 1961). It may be of
interest theretore to note a possible application in
unstable. It has been suggested that the drop at the welding. The quantities concerned are of course rather
tip of the electrode in G M A welding will grow until different. In GMA welding the time for development of an
its length is about equal to the critical wavelength, electromagnetic pinch instability is of the order s; in
after which it becomes unstable and may be cosmology Chandrasekhar (1961) instances the case of a
cylinder 250parsecs (7.7 x 10I8m) in diameter and of
pinched off (Lancaster 1984). density 2 x kg r C 3 , for which the characteristic
The analysis also yields a time constant from time of break-up due to gravitational instability is
which the initial velocity. acceleration and detach- 10'years.

77
 and other organic substances. Attempts to generate
flow due to surface tension gradients in mercury
were however unsuccessful, except under high
vacuum. It is thought that under normal atmos-
pheric exposure the metal surface becomes
contaminated with surface-active material, and that
stresses generated by temperature gradients are
nullified by a redistribution of the surface-active
agents.
High energy density welding
The electron beam and laser welding processes are
both capable of producing very narrow, deep-
penetration welds, such as that illustrated in figure
6. This capability is particularly attractive for the
welding of machined components such as gears and
aero-engine components, since the volume occu-
pied by the weld is much smaller than for normal
fusion welding, and distortion is correspondingly
reduced.
Such deep penetration welds are made by
producing a cavity, known as a 'keyhole', and
traversing this along the joint. In electron beam
and laser welding this cavity is maintained by the
vaporisation of metal. The internal pressure so
Figure 4 Metal transfer in high-current plasma-MIG generated is balanced by the stress due to surface
welding. A rotating spiral of liquid metal eventually tension y in the film of liquid metal surrounding the
disperses into drops (photograph courtesy Philips, cavity
Eindhoven)
p = yfr

commonly, the pool rotates as a whole. The where r is the radius of the keyhole. The tendency
direction of rotation may be dhanged by changing for a cylindrical cavity of this type to collapse
the location of the earth return, and it would inwards is counteracted by increased evaporation at
appear that the magnetic field due to assymmetric the point of collapse, so that a stable configuration
current flow in the workpiece is sufficient to cause can be maintained.
rotation. As in conventional welding processes the width
In low current TIG welding the weld pool surface of the completed weld is determined by practical
is flat or slightly raised, but in many welding considerations. A very narrow weld may require
operations a depression forms in the liquid metal excessive accuracy in preparation and positioning
below the electrode, due to the stagnation pressure of the joint, whilst if the weld is too wide it may
generated by gas flow or to the impingement of show protrusion at the root and sink-away at the
liquid drops or both. Metal that is melted at the surface. Typical weld widths lie within the range
front of the weld pool is accelerated through the 0.75-3". Now in heat flow generated by a line
restricted cross-section around the depression.
Thus there is a circulation along the bottom of the
weld pool from front to back and along the surface Figure 5 Flow pattern in a submerged arc welding pool.
from back to front (figure 5). This circulation For clarity the electrode and arc have been omitted
(from Lancaster 1984)
convects heat backwards along the weld axis, and
causes the weld pool to be more elongated than
would be calculated assuming isotropic thermal
properties. For weld pools generally the Peclet
number lies within the range 10-5 X lo3, so that
heat flow is predominantly convectional.
Some investigators have suggested that flow may
be induced in a weld pool by surface tension
gradients. Such flows, which are toroidal, have
been demonstrated in liquid pools of paraffin wax

78
source, such as the deep penetration electron
beam, at least half the heat is absorbed into the
solid metal, the remainder being used to melt the
weld metal. Assuming this minimum value, the
total power of the line source is
q = 2wdvp C,T,
where w is weld width, d is weld depth, v is
velocity, p density and C, specific heat. This heat
must be generated within the keyhole, which may
reasonably be expected to have a radius about
one-half that of the weld pool, i.e. w14. Then the
surface power density must be at least
q” = 16q/nw2
which for a 5 mm weld leads to a minimum power
density of 1.5 X lo1’ Wm-’. This is indeed at the
bottom end of the spectrum for deep penetration
electron beam welding.
Plasma welding may be operated in the keyhole
mode, but the power density is lower than for
electron beam welding, and the cavity is
maintained by pressure from the plasma jet.
Vaporisation of the,metal does not occur to any
significant extent in plasma welding.
Both electron beam and plasma welding torches
may be operated as surface heat sources, as in Figure 6 Typical deep-penetration weld produced by the
electric arc welding, and for certain applications electron beam process (photograph courtesy The Welding
this may be advantageous. But the keyhole mode is znstitute)
the most important, since it makes possible novel
joint configurations, reduces distortion and per- weld are such that much effort goes into methods
mits the welding of some’ of the more difficult of for applying the EB process to the welding of thick
metals and alloys. sections. Success in this activity could lead to a
major advance in welding productivity, always
Future developments provided that the limitations of the vacuum
At present the emphasis in development work is on chamber can be overcome.
the improved application and control of existing
processes, rather than the introduction of new References
methods. The major use of arc fusion welding is in
A,fvCnH and Fllthammar C-G 1963 Cosmical Electroe
the construction Of process plant, bridges, steel dynamics (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
buildings, ships, machine frames and the like, and Chandrasekhar S 1961 Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic
the processes most commonly employed here are Stability (New York: Dover)
manual welding with coated electrodes, submerged Christensen N, Davies V de L and Gjermundsen K 1965
arc welding and gas metal arc welding, whilst TIG or ‘Distribution of temperature in arc welding’ Brit.
GTA welding is used for thinner sections and special we1ding J . U 54-74
materials. There is a requirement for improved Guile A E 1979 ‘Processes at arc cathode roots on
non-refractory metals having films of their own oxide’
quality, and at the Same time for improved in Arc Physics and Weld Pool Behaviour (Cambridge:
productivity through automation and the use of The Welding Institute)
robots. To this end numbers Of Current investiga- Lancaster J F (ed) 1984 The Physics of Welding (to be
tors are working on diagnostic techniques, with the published Oxford: Pergamon Press for the International
object of providing feedback control and improving Institute of Welding)
the consistency of the welding operation. Murty G S 1961 ‘Instability of a conducting fluid cylinder
in the presence of an axial current’ Ark. F. Fys. 19 483
The use of electron beam (EB) and laser welding
continues to be limited by high capital cost and, in Rayleigh Lord 1879 ‘On the instability of jets’ Proc.
Land, Math. soc, 1o 4-13
the case of EB welding, by the need, in most cases,
Waszink J H and Graat L H J 1983 GExperimental
to evacuate the welding chamber. Nevertheless, the investigation of the forces acting on a drop of weld
inherent advantages of a deep penetration keyhole metal’ Welding J. 62 108-S-16-s

79