Effect of Welding Current and Electrodes on Weld Width in Shielded Metal Arc Welding Process

Shielded metal arc welding process is a simple and a commonly used method of joining materials. The weld widthis an important macroscopic welding output parameter whch affects the mechanical properties of the weld. In the present work the investigation of the effect of three different types of electrodes at three different welding currents in shielded metal arc welding process utilizingLow Carbon Steel plate of API 5L Grade X 52, was done. The three different electrode were used as E 6013, E 7016 and E 7018 and the varying currents utilized were as 90 A, 100 A and 110 A. Total 9 pairs of work pieces were welded to obtain 9 welds which were used to analyze the effect of current and the electrode on the depth of penetration. The dimensions of the work pieces utilized were as 75 mm x 50 mm x 5 mm. The values of weld width in each weld were written in a table and respective diagrams were drawn to make clear the effect of welding current on weld width for different electrodes. It was found that weld width decreased for all the cases of electrodes if the value of current was increased.