By Clare Goldsbery, Associate Editor

Advancements in welding don’t happen often, but when they do they can open avenues for new applications and permit better quality, greater efficiency and higher productivity. Welding Solutions Inc. is introducing its new technology, Super-MIG™, to the North American market.

While Super-MIG was announced in January, the process had been in the development and validation mode since late 2004.

It will be on display nationally for the first time at the FABTECH/AWS show in Chicago in November.

“New technology takes a while to launch,” said Ray Davis, sales manager for Welding Solutions Inc. (www.weldingsolutionsinc.com)

Super-MIG robotic technology was developed by combining two standard welding processes – plasma arc and MIG arc – into a hybrid process.

Davis said that both of these processes are reliable, but each has limitations.

“Plasma is a slow process, but tremendously reliable and results in good quality. MIG, although cost effective and easily integrated, is unstable at times due to arc start, and weld wire failures. It also has limitations with penetration and with some materials such as coated or cast metals and exotic materials.

“Our goal in developing Super-MIG welding was to take the strengths of both processes and bring them together into a single operation and gain the benefits of both. Those include faster weld speeds, cleaner welds, achieve a much deeper penetration and a higher quality weld aesthetically with less spatter,” Davis said.

He said Super-MIG allows a plasma electrode to be introduced within the MIG welding torch. To establish an arc at the leading position of the welding process, a “keyhole” is created within the parent material resulting in deeper penetration. The preceding MIG operates in the “conduction” welding made to fill the void created by the plasma arc.

Welding Solutions will demonstrate the benefits of Super-MIG welding along with Progressive Systems (www.progressivesys.com), which is building a robotic welding cell for the Super-MIG welding process, and which will make parts prior to the show. Progressive Systems has planned to have the Super-MIG welding robot cell and the parts at its Chicago display in a dry cycle exhibit while the actual welding process is shown on a flat screen monitor behind the cell.

Davis said the the Super-MIG process gives welders the ability to gain the benefits in “overlap” welding through multiple layers of steel without any joint whatsoever, something only that can be achieved otherwise only through the use of laser welding.

He added that Super-MIG can provide these benefits can be had for a tenth of the cost of a laser system. “It’s a cost effective alternative to laser,” Davis said.

He said applications that provide optimum opportunities to use Super-MIG include vehicle exhaust systems in which manufacturers use are welding stainless steel and in which the overlap condition is preferred.

Welding Solutions also has had success with heavier applications, such as manufacturing industrial heat exchangers for power plants and nuclear facilities, and the company is starting to work with shipbuilding and heavy construction applications. Davis also said Welding Solutions is looking to break into the aerospace industry and military applications, for such products as armor plate welding. He said he believes the Super-MIG process provides an advantage in welding armor plate because of reduced heat input into the product.

“Basically, anyone who’s looking to increase the speed, throughput and quality of their welding while reducing heat input will benefit from Super-MIG,” Davis said.

The Super-MIG system consists of an interface (plasma psu with an integrated controller), torch and cleaning system that was developed and is patented by Plasma Laser Technologies of Yokn’am Israel (www.plasma-laser.com). The system is designed to be integrated with any of the commonly used MIG welding systems such as Lincoln, Miller, Fronius, and Panasonic.

Welding Solutions is the exclusive distributor of North America, and has a welding/ prototype lab with three welding cells with Super-MIG systems in operation at its facility in Madison Heights, Mich., where the company performs welding operations for.