Kobe Steel, Ltd.

Hitoshi Shioyama

Motomi Kano

Masahiro Niikawa

Yasuhito Takeuti

There is disclosed a novel arc welding process of the type in which an electrode is placed in a weld groove with an insulating material interposed between the electrode and the inner surfaces of said groove. The process utilizes the principle by which an arc produced tends to be directed toward a region having the least or thinnest density of magnetic flux. Accordingly, this permits the welding arc produced to be directed toward the desired portion in the weld groove, thereby giving greater penetration thereat. For such purposes, various embodiments are presented, such as placing a subsidiary backing member of a ferromagnetic substance above or beneath the weld groove, causing electric current to flow through the backing member independently of the welding current, or providing two backing members in the same manner described through which, for instance, alternating currents having a phase difference of 180.degree. are caused to flow with a direct current used as a welding current to thereby alternately direct the welding arc between said inner surfaces of the weld groove, with a resultant uniform but deep penetration therein. This principle further permits the adjustment of the depth of penetration by controlling the amount of the electric current flowing through the backing member.

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Kamakura, Japan

Hitoshi Shioyama