Surface Topography of MIG-C02 Welds (Solid vs Fluxcored Wires)

Welding is a major fabrication process in various machine building, automobile and structural fabrication industries. Out of the wide range of welding processes available, CO₂ welding is finding increased applications, because of its versatality and economy. The recent development of flux-cored wires for MIG-C0sub>2 welding has increased their utility further. In this paper, results of the experiments carried out with solid as well as flux-cored wires are presented. For the first time, the surface topography of the weld beads has been quantitatively represented. It is shown that fluxcored welding process provides smoother metal transfer with less spatter and together with the slag cover available, results in a better bead topography than solid wire welding ; thereby requiring less post-weld cleaning and dressing.