Submerged arc welding is a process of forming an arc between a continuously fed electrode that is submerged beneath a layer of powder flux and the workpiece. The electrode is usually a solid or cored wire but can also be a strip of sheet or sintered material.

Sub arc welding is used for longitudinal and circumferential butt and fillet welds. The process has uses in many different applications. It is used for industries involving heavy steel plate fabrication, including the welding of structural shapes and the manufacture of machine components, as well as vessels and tanks for pressure and storage use. Submerged arc welding is commonly found in the shipbuilding industry for splicing and fabricating sub-assemblies, as well as surfacing and buildup work, maintenance, and repair.

Submerged Arc Welding Equipment

• A welding machine or power source
• Electrode material
• Welding head and control system
• Welding torch for automatic welding or the welding gun and cable assembly for semiautomatic welding
• The flux hopper and feeding mechanism
• Welding flux oven
• A travel mechanism for automatic welding

Depending on what capabilities you want from your Sub arc welding process, a few variations in equipment can be made. Using multiple wires instead of only one electrode can provide travel speed and deposition rate improvements. Multiple power sources can also be used to utilize different polarities in multiple electrodes.