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What is a welding contact tip?

6/9/2018

18 Comments

 
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Contact tips are highly misunderstood components in a welding gun setup. Choosing the correct contact tip for your welding application and understanding how to keep it performing at its best are just as critical as anything else needed to produce a quality weld.

Using a contact tip that is too big or too small can create problems such as microarcing, overheating, friction, and wire jamming—all of which can lead to wire burnback.

Contact tips are one of the most frequently misunderstood and most often replaced components of a welding gun setup. The contact tip is responsible for guiding the wire and transferring the current from the conductor tube—sometimes referred to as a swanneck or gooseneck—through the filler wire and ultimately to the workpiece. Its critical functions include current transfer and wire targeting.

Contact tip size determines what wire size you can use and the amount of filler material that will be distributed during welding. When a contact tip begins to wear, the through-hole elongates and loses electrical conductivity, which greatly affects the gun’s ability to transfer current to the welding wire. Additionally, the tool center point (TCP) begins to fluctuate as the wire dances around inside the now oversized tip. These conditions lead to poor arc starts, lower penetration, and decreased weld quality.
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Choosing the correct contact tip for your welding application and understanding how to keep it performing at its best are just as critical as choosing all the other components and parameters needed to produce a quality weld.

Common Contact Tip Types
Four types of contact types are most commonly used in welding applications, and each has its pros and cons:

#1: Standard Copper Contact Tip (E-Cu)
A standard copper contact tip has a relatively high current transfer rate at greater than 55 S/m* electrical conductivity, and it is used mostly in hand-held welding applications.
Although standard copper offers the highest conductivity of all of the standard alloys, it is more susceptible to mechanical wear than other materials. As a raw mineral, copper naturally is relatively soft, which means it makes current transfer easier, but it also means the material has a lower melting point. As the temperature rises in an E-Cu tip, it becomes softer than the wire that is being fed through it. As the copper softens, the wire wears and deforms the internal diameter of the tip. This prevents the wire from contacting the tip correctly, which decreases conductivity and leads to arc-start issues, burnback, and poor welds.
The E-Cu tip is usually the most affordable, so it’s generally an acceptable trade-off to frequently replace it when precise wire targeting is not critical.

#2: Copper-Chrome-Zirconium Contact Tip (CuCrZr)
A copper-chrome-zirconium tip generally is used in automated and robotic welding applications where precise TCP is needed and high duty cycles occur. Although there is some decline in electrical conductivity compared with the standard copper tip (50 S/m), it is sufficient for most steel applications.
However, since CuCrZr alloy softens at a much higher temperature, it tends to have a longer life span than standard copper tips. Generally speaking, the tip maintains its shape up to approximately 932 degrees F versus 500 degrees for E-Cu. Therefore, the higher-density material leads to a lower wear rate and increases the tip’s performance and productivity.
For hot wire feeding processes in laser optics,  copper chrome zirconium are must-use because of their ability to hold up to hot wire feeding processes.

#3: Silver-Plated Contact Tip
Over the years technological advancements in contact tips have revealed that silver plating the interior and exterior of a contact tip further enhances its overall performance.
When a contact tip begins to wear, the through-hole elongates and loses electrical conductivity, which greatly affects the gun’s ability to transfer current to the welding wire.
Silver is more conductive than copper (62.1 S/m), which reduces micro-arcing, extends contact tip life, improves arc starts, and provides consistent weld quality. Silver is approximately 17 percent denser than copper and it has a higher melting point. Silver’s shiny surface helps to reflect heat. As a result, spatter doesn’t adhere to the tip as easily and it doesn’t wear down quite as quickly. In fact, the life span of a silver-plated contact tip can be nine times longer than that of a standard precision-drawn copper tip.
With significant improvements in material, a silver-plated contact tip can cost up to 50 percent more than the standard non-plated CuCrZr tip. Welders who choose to use a silver-plated contact tip usually do so for one reason—less welding downtime. The more the welding robot welds, the greater the throughput. Based on the overall longevity, current transfer, and quality of material, the silver-plated tips are an excellent choice for automatic and robotic welding applications.

#4: Heavy Duty Silver-Plated CuCrZr Contact Tip
Using a process called dispersion-hardening, which basically keeps the properties of metal from dispersing at elevated temperature, the Heavy Duty Silver-Plated Contact Tips can last even longer than the Silver-Plated contact tips noted above.
This make of contact tip carries a hardness value of 180, and won't experience wear until the contact tip temperature reaches upwards of 800 degrees Celsius. Because of it's conductivity, it will also experience a lot less spatter adhesion than copper or non-plated copper chrome zirconium.
Heavy Duty Silver-Plated are always made using CuCrZr contact tips as the base because it combines the better hardening of the copper chrome zirconium with the superior conductivity of the silver. This produces an overall better electrical conductivity profile while still being harder. They are more expensive than the standard ones, but have a low cost of ownership in right application - typically heavy amperage robotic processes.

#5: Stainless Steel Contact Tip X8CrNi18-9 
These types of contact tips only really have an application in laser optic processes. Stainless is good to use for Cold Wire Feeding processes. Steel equal poor electrical conductivity, but it does have good wear resistance. Stainless steel is also harder than copper, so there's usually less wear experience in the contact tip bore.
Stainless steel contact tips are recommended when using copper wire in laser optic processes. If you use Aluminum, it would be better to look to copper or copper chrome zirconium, because this contact tip profile is often too hard for a soft aluminum wire profile.

Advice to Common Contact Tip Problems
Once you’ve matched your contact tip to your welding application, there are a few things you can do to make sure you are getting the most out of it and not inadvertently creating problems that could decrease its life span or effectiveness.
  • Let the torch cool before you change a contact tip. A hot torch can make changing a contact tip very difficult and hazardous. The presence of heat makes it easier to cross-thread the new contact tip, ruining not only the tip, but also the torch neck.
  • Use the correct tip size. Using an oversized tip results in poor current transfer; increased microarcing; and hotter tip temperatures, which lead to wire burnback. Using an undersized tip increases friction and causes the wire to jam in the tip or feed erratically, which also results in wire burnback.
  • Properly tighten the tip. A contact tip that has not been tightened down correctly causes poor current transfer, microarcing, and overheating. When this takes place you will most likely experience erratic wire feeding, poor arc starts, and burnback of the weld wire into the tip.
  • Read your tip’s appearance for problems that you can’t necessarily see. A contact tip that has turned blue or purple is generally a sign that you have a poor connection (including the ground), your consumables are too big, or you have exceeded the torch’s amperage rating or duty cycle. In severe instances the contact tip’s exterior surface will become covered in scale.

Matthew sciannella

Marketing Manager for ABICOR BINZEL
This blog post is reposted with permission from ABIBLOG

18 Comments
essaywritingservices.org/blog/leadership-term-papers.html link
6/18/2018 07:01:27 am

I know that for each type of welding I use my contact, because it allows me to get the most durable type of welding.

Reply
essaychecker.us/ link
7/31/2018 02:27:53 am

A good specialist always knows what he should pay attention to when choosing one or the other part of the equipment to obtain the maximum quality of welding.

Reply
John Stokes link
6/5/2019 03:23:33 am

I totally agree with you! For producing quality weld you need to choose proper contact tip. Different contact types have different pros and cons, you have to choose which is suitable for your welding application. Keep sharing!

Reply
robotic welding systems link
6/27/2019 06:20:48 am

Well contact tips are very useful and helpful in welding as with its help welding takes place and you can weld properly without any hassle as there are different types of contact tips which you need to keep in mind which you need during welding of product. As the robotic welding systems are being implemented in every industrial sectors, things are going to be easy for sure.

Reply
Skyler Williams link
9/6/2019 12:12:32 pm

Thank you for your tip on how to change the contact tip after the torch has cooled. I had no idea that the heat would cross-thread the new contact tip and the torch neck. My sister has been learning to weld because she wants to get into the business. I will pass this tip onto her.

Reply
Derek McDoogle link
9/18/2019 10:26:03 am

I like how you mentioned that using a contact tip that is too big or too small can create problems such as microarcing, overheating, friction, and wire jamming. One of my friends likes to spend time doing iron and aluminum projects because his dad used to be a welder. It would be nice for him to read this article so he can better develop his skills as a welder.

Reply
Penelope Smith link
7/14/2020 10:14:23 pm

I liked that you pointed out that it would be smart to consider if you are making contact when you are trying to weld. It might be best to get a professional to do any welding for you. That way, you know it will be done correctly. Personally, I don't think I could make secure welds.

Reply
Adam Golightly link
1/19/2021 06:00:41 pm

I can imagine that a business could really benefit from getting the right welding into being more effective. Making sure that they can prevent the metal from splattering could allow them to be a lot safer. I liked what you said about how a contact tip that works can transfer current into the wire with one that is made of silver plating.

Reply
Steel Fabrication Boulder link
5/26/2021 08:48:26 am

Thanks for delivering such an exciting post. I hope to see more great posts like this in the future and keep the good work going on.

Reply
Tez link
6/28/2021 09:16:29 pm

I wasn't aware that silver-plated contact tips were so essential. I need to get a welder to redo my bumper. It needs to be closed off with aluminum.

Reply
Tex Hooper link
10/11/2021 05:38:58 pm

You make a great point about how contact welding is done by laser optic processes. I need to have some aluminum put together. I'll have to consider getting a welder to do it for me.

Reply
matt link
10/28/2021 11:29:56 am

Different types of tips for different kind of metal. Thanks very useful for beginners like me.

Reply
Hailey Miller link
1/21/2022 01:40:36 am

Thanks for pointing out that the contact tip is responsible for guiding the wire and transferring the current from the conductor tube. My brother is hoping to apply for a second job to support his three kids. I guess I should tell him to look for a welding school on Monday that can help him understand base metals and filler metals when welding so he can get a job in power plants or refineries.

Reply
Mia Evans link
5/17/2022 11:59:41 pm

Thanks for helping me understand that using copper or copper chrome zirconium would be useful for aluminum welding specialists depending on how soft they are. I guess it would be best to have professionals check the material first before working on it to apply the right services needed. It would be useful when fixing or replacing parts from a car, especially when you would use them for your everyday travel.

Reply
Jesse Ford link
5/26/2022 01:35:52 pm

It's interesting to know that contact tips are necessary for a quality weld. I would like to get a steel gate installed on my property. I should hire a company that is able to utilize tools such as contact tips.

Reply
John Carston link
6/8/2022 07:16:33 pm

I'm glad that you talked that a hot torch could be hazardous if not let cool and changed. Yesterday, my best friend informed me that he and his business associate were hoping to find a welding service that provides a wide range of welding repair services for his stainless steel sheets products and machinery. Thank you for this instructive article, I'll tell him that consulting a trusted welding fabrication can help provide more information about their services.

Reply
Victoria Addington link
7/7/2022 05:07:13 am

Thank you for explaining that using an undersized tip can cause the wire to jam in the tip as it expands friction. My friend told me that they need orbital welding products to finish their project. I should advise him to look for a supplier that is known for their high-quality products.

Reply
Braden Bills link
7/8/2022 09:43:06 am

I want to get some things welded, but I'm not sure how to do it. I don't really know much about the welding process, so it makes sense that I might want to get a professional to help me out with this. That seems like a good way to ensure that I handle things properly.

Reply

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