Abstract
The effect of Si content in welding wires on spattering characteristics and droplet transfer phenomena was studied. In MAG welding using 80% Ar-20% $CO_2$ shielding gas, spattering characteristics and droplet transfer phenomena were varied with Si content of wire. With increasing Si content, the spattering ratio and the ratio of large size spatter $(d\geq1.0mm)$ were increased. The increase of Si content in molten metal made surface tension increase due to reduction of oxygen content, which resulted from deoxidizing action of silicon. The increase of surface tension resulted in unstable transfer phenomena and arc instability in both short circuit and spray region. With changing Si content of wire, spattering characteristics and droplet transfer phenomena was directly influenced by the variation of surface tension, compared with the effect of arc stability.
