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    Discovering Welding Polarity

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    Shafiq Ahmad
    There are three choices of welding current type and polarity for TIG welding: direct current electrode negative (DCEN), direct current electrode positive (DCEP), and alternating current (AC). DCEN is commonly used for welding steel and other materials except aluminum and magnesium, as it provides deep penetration with 70% of heat in the workpiece. DCEP is rarely used as it focuses 70% of heat on the tungsten, causing a large ball to form and an erratic arc. AC is best for aluminum as it provides the penetration of DCEN and cleaning action of DCEP in each half cycle.

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    Discovering Welding Polarity

    Uploaded by

    Shafiq Ahmad
    133 views2 pages
    There are three choices of welding current type and polarity for TIG welding: direct current electrode negative (DCEN), direct current electrode positive (DCEP), and alternating current (AC). DCEN is commonly used for welding steel and other materials except aluminum and magnesium, as it provides deep penetration with 70% of heat in the workpiece. DCEP is rarely used as it focuses 70% of heat on the tungsten, causing a large ball to form and an erratic arc. AC is best for aluminum as it provides the penetration of DCEN and cleaning action of DCEP in each half cycle.

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    There are three choices of welding current type and polarity for TIG welding: direct current electrode negative (DCEN), direct current electrode positive (DCEP), and alternating current (AC). DCEN is commonly used for welding steel and other materials except aluminum and magnesium, as it provides deep penetration with 70% of heat in the workpiece. DCEP is rarely used as it focuses 70% of heat on the tungsten, causing a large ball to form and an erratic arc. AC is best for aluminum as it provides the penetration of DCEN and cleaning action of DCEP in each half cycle.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    133 views2 pages

    Discovering Welding Polarity

    Uploaded by

    Shafiq Ahmad
    There are three choices of welding current type and polarity for TIG welding: direct current electrode negative (DCEN), direct current electrode positive (DCEP), and alternating current (AC). DCEN is commonly used for welding steel and other materials except aluminum and magnesium, as it provides deep penetration with 70% of heat in the workpiece. DCEP is rarely used as it focuses 70% of heat on the tungsten, causing a large ball to form and an erratic arc. AC is best for aluminum as it provides the penetration of DCEN and cleaning action of DCEP in each half cycle.

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    10

    TIG Welding For Dummies, Miller Electric Special Edition

    Aligning the Poles: Discovering Polarity


    With DC, welding can be done on electrode negative or electrode positive (which is rarely used for TIG). These two options cause a change in the electrical charge that the electrode has and changes the direction that the electrons are flowing in the welding circuit. This positive or negative charge is referred to as polarity. If you use a negative electrode while welding, you get a negative polarity. When TIG welding, the welder has three choices of weldingcurrent type and polarity. These choices are Direct current electrode negative (DCEN, or straight polarity) Direct current electrode positive (DCEP, or reverse polarity) Alternating current (AC), which is actually a combination of both electrode negative and electrode positive polarity Each of these current types has its applications, its advantages, and its disadvantages, which we cover in the next few sections. Taking a look at each type and its uses helps you to select the best current type for your job.

    Direct current electrode negative


    Direct Current Electrode Negative (DCEN) is also sometimes called straight polarity. DCEN is used while welding steel, stainless steel, copper, titanium, gold, and pretty much any other material that can be welded with the exceptions of aluminum and magnesium, which are welded using AC. The torch is connected to the negative terminal of the power source and the work lead is connected to the positive terminal. Power sources with polarity switches have the output terminals marked electrode and work. When the arc is established while welding in DCEN, electrons flow from the negative electrode to the positive work piece. In

    Chapter 1: Getting to Know TIG Welding

    11

    a DCEN arc, approximately 70 percent of the heat generated by the arc occurs in the work piece thus you can use a smaller electrode, as well as a smaller gas cup and reduced gas flow. The more concentrated arc allows for faster travel speeds. This concentrated arc also accounts for the deep penetration when using DCEN for TIG welding.

    Direct current electrode positive


    Direct Current Electrode Positive (DCEP) is also known as reverse polarity. Welding is not typically done with DCEP. When using this polarity, the electron flow is still from negative to positive; however, the electrode is now the positive side of the arc and the work is the negative side. About 70 percent of the heat of the arc is focused on the positive side of the welding arc. On DCEP, 70 percent of the heat is focused directly on the tungsten, which creates a large ball on the tungsten. For welding with DCEP, a very large tungsten is typically needed. Between the large tungsten and the nature of a DCEP arc, the arc can be very erratic and quick to wander which is the main reason that this polarity is typically undesirable for TIG welding. The arc, though erratic, does create a cleaning effect for welding on aluminum and magnesium.

    Alternating current
    To weld aluminum, the best combination is the good penetration of electrode negative plus the cleaning action of electrode positive. To obtain the advantages of both polarities, use alternating current to weld aluminum. During a complete cycle of alternating current, there is theoretically one half-cycle of electrode negative and one halfcycle of electrode positive. Therefore, during every cycle, there is a time when the work is positive and the electrode is negative, and a time when the work is negative and the electrode is positive; in theory, the half-cycles of alternating current sine wave arc are of equal time and magnitude.

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