Kinetics of manganese in MAG/MIG welding with a 18/8/6 wire

Abstract

The paper deals with a study of MAG/MIG welding of low-alloy ferritic steel and highalloy austenitic steel with a 18/8/6 wire. Manganese burn-off from the wire in welding a single-V butt weld was studied. It was found that manganese burns off in the arc during melting of a droplet at the wire end, and from the weld pool during weld formation. The range of manganese burn-off depends mainly on the type of shielding gas used and the arc length, i.e., from the arc voltage. The manganese burn-off increases with an increase of the content of active gases, i.e., CO₂ and O₂, in the neutral gas, i.e., argon. It also increases with an increase in arc voltage. The longer the welding arc, the longer exposition of the filler material to the welding arc and the wider the penetration, which allows manganese vapours to evaporate from the weld pool. The most important finding is that manganese burn-off from the 18/8/6 wire during welding of austenitic stainless steel with low-alloy ferritic steel is considerably strong, i.e., from 20% to 30%; nevertheless the wire concerned is perfectly suitable for welding of different types of steel.