Investigation on the stepping arc stud welding process

Through the investigation on traditional arc stud welding process, a new welding gun and its control system were developed in this paper. The stepping arc stud welding gun was mainly made by a stepping motor as actuating unit and a screw-driven device as moving unit. A control system with a MCS-51 single-chip microcomputer as main control component was used to realize the new stud welding procedure. This new welding process with stepping stud welding gun is named as stepping arc stud welding. In the new welding process, the stud action can be looked as constituted by some micro steps. The setting and adjusting of the stepping arc welding gun behavior parameters are accomplished independently. It is indicated from the results of process tests and bending test that the stepping arc stud welding process is practicable.