Electric arc stud welding was invented by H. Martin in 1918 and developed out of a necessity to connect planks to naval aircraft carriers in the Royal Navy. The process was rediscovered by E. Nelson in the USA twenty years later. Since then, the use of studs has increased enormously and the welding technology has evolved to meet the ever changing needs of modern world.
Today, stud welding is widely used in the appliance, automotive, construction and shipbuilding industries. The behavior of these welded components is extremely critical to the overall structural and functional stability. Due to the pivotal role played by these connections, engineers must give proper attention to their design and execution.
1. Stud Welding
Stud welding, also…show more content… Time: refers to the duration of the actual welding process. Weld time depends on the type and thickness of the base material used.
4. Amperage: is the amount of current flowing through the air gap created by the lift. Amount of heat generated is directly proportional to the amperage.
The sequence of stud welding operations can be understood using Fig. 4.
Step I: A stud and ferrule are loaded into the gun and the gun properly positioned against the base plate.
Step 2: The gun is pushed against the base material taking up the plunge or stud length available for burn off against the gun spring pressure. The trigger button is pressed to start the fully controlled automatic sequence. This sequence consists of initiating the weld current and lifting the stud to create an arc by energizing the gun solenoid.
Step 3: The arc duration time is completed and the stud plunged into the molten pool by means of a spring when the gun solenoid is de-energized and turning off the weld current at the end of the weld cycle.
Step 4: The weld is completed and the gun is lifted off the stud and the ceramic ferrule removed. The stud is inspected for weld quality.
2. The Process
There are mainly two types of stud welding processes available:
1. Arc Stud Welding
2. Capacitor Discharge Stud Welding