Abstract
Narrow gap welding has many advantages over conventional V-grooved butt welding such as high productivity, small deformation and improved mechanical property of joints. With narrower groove gap, less arc heat input is expected will all the other advantages of narrow gap welding. The main defects of narrow gap welding include the lack of root fusion, convex bead surface and irregular surface, all of which have negative effects on the next welding pass. This paper suggests an up-and-down torch oscillation for ultra narrow gap welding with gap size of 5mm and investigates the proper welding conditions to fulfill the reliable and high welding quality. First, GMA welding model was suggested for ultra narrow gap welding system with Halmoy's model referenced for wire melting modeling. And the arc length in ultra narrow gap was defined. Secondly, based on the experimental results of up-and-down torch oscillation welding, phase shift of current and wire extension length were simulated for varying oscillation frequency to show that weld the bead shape in ultra narrow gap welding can be predicted. As the result, it was confirmed that reliable weld quality in ultra narrow gap welding can be achieved with up-and-down torch oscillation above 15Hz due to its ability to provide uniform heat input along the sidewall of gap.