Bonal Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Bonal International Inc., (www.bonal.com) has released a report on its pulse puddle arc welding (PPAW) sub-harmonic weld conditioning technology and its potential to reduce distortion when welding structural components.

Bonal hired Applications Technologies Company LLC of Columbus, Ohio, to investigate the use of their pulse puddle arc welding, and asked that it test three metals – low carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminum.

The preliminary results released in the report concern A36 carbon steel. The stainless steel and aluminum tests are not complete.

The results indicate that users would see a reduced amount of distortion in welds that use the pulse puddle arc welding process. The report said that optimal pulse puddle arc welding can reduce distortion as much as 95 percent compared to other weld processes. In addition, the report said that pulse puddle arc welding can allow a welder to increase weld travel speed by 25 percent while still achieving a 65 percent improvement in distortion over other welded samples.

For the study, nine trials were run using pulse puddle arc welding at various settings. Then, three additional trials at three different travel speeds were run without the use of pulse puddle arc welding.

Welds were cross-sectioned in the middle of the weld and distortion was measured as a function of angular and linear distortion.

Additional information is available at the company’s Internet site.