10.4 GMAW Operation and Welding Techniques

Stephanie Oostman

GMAW Modes of transfer

An illustration of the four typical wire transfer modes and what the weld pool and wire look like during welding. Each of these modes’ impact on the wire to pool behavior is described in greater detail in the text below
Figure 10.15. Wire Transfer Mode Types / Photo Credit: Nicholas Malara, CC BY 4.0

At the beginning of this chapter, you read a reference to the terms spray transfer and short circuit transfer as a “mode” in MIG welding.

But what does that mean, and what are the distinguishing differences?

We have already discussed how MIG/MAG offers versatility. That is because the operator can easily interchange the relationship between wire and heat. This, along with the ability to change wire types, sizes, and shielding gasses, creates different behavioral changes in how the electrode wire melts and gets transferred to the base metal. These are referred to as transfer modes, which are the key to this process’s diversity and utility.

A weld being created in the corner of two intersecting plates, one plate lies flat on the table, while the other metal plate is perpendicular, forming a ‘T-joint’. The images shows the copper GMAW nozzle in the upper left corner with the weld trailing behind in a ‘pull’ travel direction using the GMAW spray transfer mode.
Figure 10.16. A GMAW Fillet Weld / Photo Credit: Dako99, CC BY-SA 3.0

Attributions

  1. Figure 10.15: Wire transfer mode types by Nicholas Malara, for WA Open ProfTech, © SBCTC, CC BY 4.0
  2. Figure 10.16: Schweißen2 by Dako99 is released under CC BY-SA 3.0
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License

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Introduction to Welding Copyright © by Stephanie Oostman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.