The influence of the consumable and power supply type on welding fume characteristics

A study of the effect of power supply characteristics on the fume generation rate, composition and characteristics of the fume was carried out using mild steel and stainless steel wire consumables. Inductively coupled plasma elemental analysis, atomic absorption spectrometry, x-ray diffraction, particle size analysis, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry were used to characterise the fumes and to gain insight into what occurs in the arc region during welding. Significant decreases in fume formation rate were found for several combinations of power source and consumable type. Chemical analyses of the collected fume indicated that in most instances power source type did not have a major influence on the chemical composition . However, the results for the stainless steel suggested that the highest hexavalent chromium (Cr^Vl) levels were achieved with more sophisticated power supplies.