Applied weld heat input needs to be reduced as much as possible to make the welding operation more Sustainable (and Green).

The welding process that uses no shielding gas and gives out least welding heat radiation/fume, improves welding environment. If the same welding process can give higher productivity, better quality welds, then that will be the optimal choice for improving welding environment and also for reducing welding project cycle time, cost.

Submerged Arc Welding process does not use shielding gas. Since the molten metal is always submerged under molten/granular flux, the heat lost to the environment (in the form of radiation) and fumes are the least among the conventional arc welding processes.

In this investigation, the effect of SAW wire type, size, welding current is studied and optimum wire type/size/current combination that produces acceptable weld with much lower heat input than the presently used SAW combination is identified and established through series of bead on plate trials, subjected to visual, macro, micro, hardness and chemical analysis.

The experimental results show that the $2.4 mm MCT wire will need 34% lesser current (or Heat Input) than $3.2 mm MCT wire and 122% lesser current (or Heat Input) than $ 4.0 mm solid wire to deposit same weld quantity.

This article is shared by R. Bashkar, Dr. V. Balasubramanian and Dr. C. Mani