The processes of welding with solid wires (GMAW) and flux cored wire (FCAW), that compete in terms of quality, productivity and operability, demand the user to have clear information about their main features and applications to determine the most appropriate welding conditions. Thus, the goal is to compare the capability of each process in the horizontal position welding of ABNT 1020 carbon steel, varying the type of shielding gas for the same level of welding current and voltage to maintain a constant deposition rate per length. For this study the wire E71T-1 and ER 70S-6 were used, both under 100% CO2 and Ar +25% CO2 shielding gas and in two current and four voltage levels. The stability of short-circuit metal transfer mode was evaluated along with the production capacity (deposition rate and deposition efficiency) and the presence of deposit discontinuity. In general, both processes had a similar production capacity, showing some dependence on the welding voltage value. It was noted that, for the same current range and with increasing voltages, there was a change in metal transfer characteristics for both processes. Regarding deposit discontinuities (runoffs), the solid wire showed better results with lower voltage values. The values of runoffs for the cored wire were similar, however with a better condition for higher values of voltage (region of predominance of metal transfer carried by the flux without short-circuiting). The shielding gas 100% CO2 allowed higher deposition efficiency for both wires with a predominance of short-circuit metal transfer mode.
GMAW; FCAW; short-circuit metal transfer; shielding gas; horizontal position
