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Welding Process Training Series

Submerged Arc Welding

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 SAFETY
Safety in Welding, Cutting, and Allied Processes, CSA Standard
W117.2, from Canadian Standards Association, Standards Sales, 5060
Arc Spectrum Way, Suite 100, Ontario, Canada L4W 5NS (Phone: 800-463-
Welding 6727, website: www.csa-international.org).

and Cutting Safe Practice For Occupational And Educational Eye And Face Protec
Protec-
tion,, ANSI Standard Z87.1, from American National Standards Insti
Insti-
the tute, 25 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 (Phone: 212-642-4900,
website: www.ansi.org).
Safe Way! Standard for Fire Prevention During Welding, Cutting, and Other Hot
Work,, NFPA Standard 51B, from National Fire Protection Association,
Quincy, MA 02269 (Phone: 1-800-344-3555, website: www.nfpa.org.)

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OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Standards for General Indus
Indus-
try, Title 29, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 1910, Subpart
As in all occupations, safety is paramount. Because there are Q, and Part 1926, Subpart J, from U.S. Government Printing Of Of-
numerous safety codes and regulations in place, we recommend fice, Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh,
that you always read all labels and the Owner’s Manual carefully PA 15250-7954 (Phone: 1-866-512-1800) (There are 10 OSHA Re Re-
gional Offices—phone for Region 5, Chicago, is 312-353-2220,

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before installing, operating, or servicing the unit. Read the safety
information at the beginning of the manual and in each section.
Also read and follow all applicable safety standards, especially
ANSI Z49.1, Safety in Welding, Cutting, and Allied Processes.

ANSI Z49.1:, Safety in Welding, Cutting, and Allied Processes is

available as a free download from the American Welding Society
at: http://www.aws.org

Here is a list of additional safety standards and where to get

them.
website: www.osha.gov).

Booklet, TLVs, Threshold Limit Values

website: www.acgih.org).
Values, from American Confer-
ence of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), 1330 Kem

Towing a Trailer − Being Equipped for Safety

Kem-
per Meadow Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45240 (Phone: 513−742−3355,

Safety, Publication from U.S. De-

partment of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administra
tion, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20590

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), 4330 East

Administra-
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Safe Practices for the Preparation of Containers and Piping for Weld-
Weld- West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814 (Phone: 301-504-7923,
ing and Cutting,, American Welding Society Standard AWS F4.1, from website: www.cpsc.gov).
Global Engineering Documents (Phone: 1-877-413-5184, website:
www.global.ihs.com). Applications Manual for the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation
Equation, The
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), 1600
National Electrical Code,, NFPA Standard 70, from National Fire Protec
Protec- Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333 (Phone: 1-800-232-4636, website:
tion Association, Quincy, MA 02269 (Phone: 1-800-344-3555, website: www.cdc.gov/NIOSH).
www.nfpa.org and www. sparky.org).
SA

Safe Handling of Compressed Gases in Cylinders,

Cylinders, CGA Pamphlet P-1,
from Compressed Gas Association, 4221 Walney Road, 5th Floor,
Chantilly, VA 20151 (Phone: 703-788-2700, website:www.cganet.com).

Prepared by the Miller Electric Mfg. Co. Training Department.

©2014 Miller Electric Mfg. Co.

The contents of this publication may not be reproduced without permission of Miller Electric Mfg. Co., Appleton Wisconsin, U.S.A.

WARNING

This document contains general information about the topics discussed herein. This document is not an application manual and does not contain a
complete statement of all factors pertaining to those topics.

The installation, operation, and maintenance of arc welding equipment and the employment of procedures described in this document should be con-
ducted only by qualified persons in accordance with applicable codes, safe practices, and manufacturer’s instructions.

Always be certain that work areas are clean and safe and that proper ventilation is used. Misuse of equipment and failure to observe applicable codes and
safe practices can result in serious personal injury and property damage.

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 Submerged Arc Welding
Welding Process and Filler Metals Table of Contents
Training Series: Submerged Arc Welding Principles 1
Welcome to the Welding Process and Filler Metals Training System Components 2
Series. This training series was developed for the purpose of SAW Welding Power Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
providing a basic set of educational materials that can be used Operator Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
individually or in a classroom setting. Wire Feed Drive System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Dual (Twin) Wire Feeding System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
The topics covered in the series are: Tandem Wire Feeding System.
System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Welding Torch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Welding Processes Flux Delivery/Retrieval System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Re-baking / Flux Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Positioning Equipment.
Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
• Introduction To Welding

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Semiautomatic Welding Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
• Welding Safety SAW Consumables 12
• Basic Electricity For Welding Flux Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Neutral Fluxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
• Welding Power Source Design Active Fluxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
• Engine-Driven Power Sources
• Shielded Metal Arc Welding
• Gas Tungsten Arc Welding
• Gas Metal Arc Welding
• Flux Cored Arc Welding
• Metal Cutting
roubleshooting Welding Processes
• Troubleshooting
PL Alloying fluxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Fused Fluxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Agglomerated and Bonded Fluxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Mechanically Mixed Fluxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Flux Basicity Index (BI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Flux Hydrogen Content.
Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Flux Grain Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Flux Storage And Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Wires/Electrodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Metal-Cored (Composite) Wire Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Wire And Flux Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
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elding
• Submerged Arc Welding Preparing to Weld 20
Joint Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Joint Fit-Up And Weld Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Filler Metals Bead Placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Flux Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
• Introduction TToo Metals Preheat And Interpass Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Effects Of Welding Parameters 21
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• Low Alloy Steel

Starting The Weld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
• Stainless Steel Setting Weld Voltage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
• Aluminum Amperage/Wire Feed Speed (WFS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Travel Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
• Hardfacing Electrode Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Effects Of AC And DC Polarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Please note, this series was not developed to teach the skill of
Electrode Extension, Stickout, And Contact Tip-To-Work
welding or cutting, but rather to provide a foundation of general
Distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
knowledge about the various processes and related topics.
Circumferential Welds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Fillet Welds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Lap Welds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Special Applications 30
Strip Cladding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Stainless Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Welding Symbols 31
Troubleshooting SAW. 31

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 Submerged Arc Welding Principles The three main types of Submerged Arc Welding are automatic,
semiautomatic, and mechanized:
Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) uses heat generated by an arc
formed when an electric current passes between a welding wire • Automatic welding − Welding with equipment which
and the workpiece. The tip of the welding wire, the arc, and the performs the welding operation without adjustment of
weld joint are covered by a layer of granular flux. The heat gen- controls by a welding operator. The equipment may or may
erated by the arc melts the wire, the base metal and the flux. not perform the unloading and loading of the work.
The flux shields the molten pool from atmospheric contami- • Semiautomatic welding − Arcc welding with equipment
nation, cleans impurities from the weld metal, and shapes the where one or more of the process variables is controlled
weld bead. Depending on the design of the flux, it can also add automatically, such as the voltage and filler metal feed rate.
alloying elements to the weld metal to alter the chemical and The remaining welding process conditions are manually
mechanical properties of the weld. controlled, such as travel speed, work and torch angles,
The American Welding Society defines Submerged Arc Weld- etc.
ing (SAW) as “An arc welding process that uses an arc or arcs • Mechanized welding − Arc Arc welding with equipment that

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between a bare metal electrode or electrodes and the weld pool. performs the entire welding operation. The process still
The arc and molten metal are shielded by a blanket of granular must be monitored by an individual who positions the
flux on the workpieces. The process is used without pressure work, starts and stops the equipment, adjusts the controls,
and with filler metal from the electrode and sometimes from a refills the flux, and sets the travel speed.
supplemental source (welding rod, flux, or metal granules).” The primary advantages of the Submerged Arc Welding process

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A continuous consumable electrode is inserted into the flux that
covers the weld area and, when the arc starts, the base metal,
electrode, and the flux in the immediate vicinity of the arc melt
to form a molten pool. Wire is continually fed into the arc and
flux is steadily replenished. The melted flux forms a protective
layer and the metallic components flow together to create the
weld. Pressure is not used, and filler metal is provided by the
electrode(s) and sometimes from a supplemental source (weld-
(weld-
ing rod, flux, or metal granules). Submerged Arc Welding has
been used for years to produce high quality welds in compliance
are as follows:

•
•

•
•
Higher deposition enhances welding speed and produc
tion.
produc-

Deep penetration may eliminate joint preparation.

Excellent mechanical properties to meet high-quality code
and X-ray requirements.
Easy slag removal, no spatter
spatter, and little smoke.
Improved operator comfort.
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with ASME, AWS, API, and American Bureau of Shipping codes.

Contact Tube
Solid Slag Flux Delivery Nozzle
(Optional)
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Electrode Wire
Unmelted Flux
Metal Droplets
Arc
Solidified Weld Metal Penetration Depth
Base Metal

Molten Weld Pool

Figure 2 – Automatic Welding System
Figure 1 – SAW Welding Arc

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 Submerged Arc Welding
When the process is performed correctly, Submerged Arc Weld- SAW Welding Power Sources
ing produces welds with good ductility, high impact resistance The Submerged Arc Weld-
and uniform bead appearance. The weld’s mechanical properties ing power source is often
are at least equal to that of the base metal on a consistent ba- the first piece of equipment
sis. The base metal/filler metal dilution for single pass welds is selected. Because the pro-
greater than multi-pass welds. Thus, the filler metal will have a cess is usually automated
greater influence on the chemical and mechanical properties of or mechanized, the weld-
the deposited weld when using only a single pass. Because of ing power sources must be
this, electrodes of the same chemical composition as the base capable of achieving 100%
metal are not always used. Multi-pass welds, however, are less duty cycle at the required
affected by the base metal/filler metal dilution and rely more on welding output. (Duty cycle
the combination of the electrode, flux, and welding conditions to is the number of minutes a
achieve acceptable results. welding power source can be
operated at maximum rated

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Commonly associated only with low carbon steel, Submerged
output in a ten minute period
Arc Welding is used with other metals such as low alloy steel, Figure 4 – Subarc DC 1000
(see Figure 5.) The thickness
high carbon steel, stainless steel, nickel alloys, and many special Welding Power Source
of the weld material will dic-
dic-
alloys for surfacing applications.
tate the amperage requirements.

System Components

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
Welding power source.
Control unit.
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The basic welding equipment requirements for the Submerged
Arc Welding process are identified below and shown in Figure 3:

Manipular system to hold and move the welding head.

Filler metal supply.
Flux delivery system.
Welding
elding head/torch with wire drive assembly.
Weld tooling/fixturing/positioner.
Definition
Duty Cycle is percentage of 10 minutes that unit can weld at
rated load without overheating
0

Minutes
10
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For example a 60% Duty Cycle
At 800 A DC
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D
C 6 Minutes Welding
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F
G B
A

Figure 3 – SAW System Components

4 Minutes Resting

Figure 5 – Duty Cycle Definition

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 Submerged Arc Welding
Here are some guidelines to follow when making Submerged
Arc Welds on circumferential weldments:
Proper O.D.
• For outside diameter welds, position the wire/weld pool Displacement
ahead of the point to where the weld pool will travel uphill
to the vertical center line of the weldment. (For example,
if making a weld on a pipe, the puddle would be at the 11
o’clock position for a clockwise rotation and the weld pool ROTATION
would be traveling to the 12 o’clock position as it solidi-
fies [Figure 47].) For outside diameter welds, angle the
electrode toward the direction of travel. The amount of Proper I.D.
Displacement
displacement from the center line (12 o’clock position) will
vary with each cylinder diameter (see Figure 46).
• For inside diameter welds position the wire/weld pool

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ahead of the point to where the weld pool will travel
downhill to the vertical center line of the weldment. (For
example, if making a weld on the inside of a pipe, the
puddle would be at the 5 o’clock position for a clockwise
rotation and the weld pool would be traveling to the 6
o’clock position as it solidifies [Figure 47].) For inside di-

•
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ameter welds, angle the electrode away from the direction
of travel. The amount of displacement from the center line
(6 o’clock position) will vary with each cylinder diameter
(see Figure 46).
Limit bead sizes by reducing the amperage (wire feed
speed), reducing the voltage, using smaller diameter wire
or using faster travel speeds. Small beads solidify faster
and the fused flux cools quicker for easier slag removal.
Support the flux with flux dams or shields to maintain
proper flux depth at the arc.
ROTATION

Not Enough
Displacement
Not Enough
Displacement

Slag
Spills
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• Consult the wire and flux manufacturers for information on
fast-freezing wire and flux combinations.
• Small multiple passes in heavy metals reduce the possibil-
ity of undercutting
cutting and give better contour for easier slag
removal.
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Cylinder Diameter Wire Displacement

Too Much
1 in. - 3 in. (2.5 cm - 7.6 cm) 0.375 in. - 0.75 in. (10 mm - 19 mm)
Displacement
3 in. - 18 in. (7.6 cm - 46 cm) 0.75 in. - 1 in. (19 mm - 25 mm)
18 in. - 36 in. (46 cm - 91 cm) 1.25 in. - 1.5 in. (32 mm - 38 mm)
36 in. - 42 in. (91 cm - 107 cm) 1.5 in. - 1.75 in. (38 mm - 44 mm) ROTATION
42 in. - 48 in. (107 cm - 122 cm) 1.75 in. - 2 in. (44 mm - 50 mm)
Slag
48 in. - 72 in. (122 cm - 183 cm) 2 in. - 2.5 in. (50 mm - 64 mm) runs
72 in. + (183 cm +) 3 in. (76 mm) ahead Too Much
Displacement
Figure 46 – Displacement From The 12 Or 6 O’Clock Center
Line For Circumferential Welds

Figure 47 – Torch Placement For Circumferential SAW

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