The Use of Cu-W Sinters in MIG-MAG Welding Contact Tips for Improved Continuous Wire Abrasion Performance

Abstract

Gas metal arc welding is one of the most widely used welding methods in the industry. Especially when large volume welded manufacturing is required, this method is very successful and practical. The wear of the contact guides, which guide the wire at the tip of the welding torches, but most importantly, provide electrical current transmission, may cause the production time to be extended and the calibration period to be minimized. In this study, the most worn part of the contact guides used in the Gas Welding robots were assembled by making pins from doped and undoped copper powders using the powder metallurgy method. The wear performance was compared by making the obtained pin driven contact guides under mass production conditions. In the study, pressing and sintering processes were carried out with Cu and Cu+W powders. The hardness of the contact guides was characterized by their microstructure and XRD results. It was observed that CuW5 and CuW10 powder mixtures were more successful.