This program has an objective of developing new and improved volume selling products for manufacture in Australia both for the domestic and export markets. There is also intended to be close interaction with Sub-program 6 (Health and Safety) in ensuring a safe and healthy working environment for those working with welding equipment

These objectives will be achieved through the completion of the following projects:

Optimised arc behaviour
Following the successful completion of the first phase of this project in 97/98 information on process optimisation was passed to the sponsor for commercialisation. The results indicated that optimised pulsed transfer GMAW welding parameters produced more stable operating envelopes and lower fume levels. During the current reporting period the sponsor required time to absorb the initial research but it was decided to continue the funding of the PhD student in order to explore fundamental aspects of metal transfer control in the short circuiting mode. The student, Dominic Cuiuri, has built an advanced flexible power supply which has been used to develop a better understanding of transient arc characteristics and process stability. A unique synchronised image capture facility has also been developed and this has been used to validate predictions of droplet size growth. On the basis of this work several new control strategies have been proposed and will be investigated in the next part of the work.

Rutile low hydrogen wire for high toughness applications
Currently a factor affecting the wider use of gas shielded rutile flux cored wire is the relatively high hydrogen content of the welds. This project is aimed at developing a rutile based flux core formulation which will produce a weld metal with < 5 ml/100g of diffusible hydrogen

Also a better understanding of the variation in the weld metal oxygen content caused by changes in the flux composition of rutile flux cored wires is necessary in order to improve their toughness. This project will be aimed at obtaining this improved understanding and at developing a general purpose rutile type flux cored electrode to produce a weld deposit meeting high impact toughness requirements.

Dry lubricants for drawing fabricated flux cored wires
Commercially available wire drawing lubricants will be evaluated in regard to minimisation of weld metal hydrogen for FCAW with tubular flux cored wires.

Effects of wire composition in welding
This project has two interrelated aims: firstly to investigate the effect of cored wire chemical composition on the arc welding process, including hydrogen contamination, and to develop a real-time technique for monitoring changes in composition; and secondly to develop a unique diagnostic facility for rapid investigation of a given welding procedure's stability and metal transfer characteristics, to allow optimisation of weld appearance and minimise fume and spatter.