The best of both welds

"The speed was power, the speed was joy, and the speed was pure beauty,” American novelist and pilot Richard Bach writes in his book Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, describing young gull Jonathan’s bliss as he soars the high skies. The avian protagonist avidly strives for perfection as he learns how to fly. With poise and prowess, he ultimately succeeds.

For humans aspiring to follow in Livingstone’s footsteps, however, aluminium is a key element. Strong and stable, yet flexible and super light-weight, the “winged metal” has proven to be the ideal resource to construct welded structures like aircrafts and spaceships, allowing us to fly around the globe and even leave Planet Earth. Introducing step-change innovations like ARCLINE^® PP, Linde revolutionises the aluminium welding process across industries. 

A weld debut: Tackling the tough issues

Despite its obvious advantages, aluminium has long remained a tough material to work with. For decades, welding specialists have faced a forced choice between two different welding techniques: high-speed metal inert gas (MIG) and high-quality tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding. “Introducing ARCLINE^® PP, Linde now combines the best of both worlds – speed and quality – in aluminium welding”, says Saskia Huber, Global Marketing Manager Application Technology at Linde. Overall, ARCLINE^® PP chiefly reduces welding clients’ operating costs and labour hours, while significantly helping to increase productivity and efficiency as well as quality and workforce safety. 

Aluminium universe: From vehicles to vessels  

In fact, the metal and its alloys play a pivotal role in various industries beyond aerospace – whether in the production of vehicle bodies, automotive components, seafaring vessels, trucks and busses, as well as in infrastructure such as bridges, buildings, industrial machinery and overhead power lines. With 27%, transport alone accounts for the largest share of consumption, a Bloomberg analysis reveals. The overall market is bound to keep rising at an annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.48% until the end of the year 2023. Key trends like urbanisation and economic expansion are chiefly boosting global demand.

So how does ARCLINE^® PP work specifically – and which challenges does it help to overcome?

Traditionally, the MIG welding process is quick and easily mastered, but can impair products’ robustness and require re-work. Meanwhile, TIG welding reliably creates high-quality workpieces, but demands time and skill. As welders used to perform both techniques manually, doing the job demanded experience and a steady hand, while it also meant to accept each technique’s shortcomings. ARCLINE^® PP, however, “is an integrated and convenient, two-in-one synthesis that finally resolves welding professionals’ dilemma,” Huber says. Enabling clients to weld at speeds of up to 200 cm per minute, “the result is prime-quality welding with minimal weld preparation, close-to-zero post-weld processing and a lower-than-ever rejection rate, paired with a significant drop in fume emissions.”

Like many sectors, the welding industry is facing skill shortage, with large cohorts of the 50-60 year-old specialists retiring. Thanks to automated solutions like ARCLINE^® PP, Linde’s clients can increase their fabrication output despite a potentially shrinking workforce.

The weld is yours: ARCLINE^® PP’s inner workings explained 

According to Huber, the ground-breaking performance of the ARCLINE^® PP aluminium welding system relies on three key characteristics. First off, the torch features a positively energised tungsten electrode that provides constant cleaning of the welding area, drastically reducing the risk of porosity and oxide inclusions. Thus, it chiefly minimises the need for weld preparation and post-weld cleaning.

Second, the application uses two separate gas streams. The outer shroud of shielding gas, usually argon, protects the weld from atmospheric impurities and soot deposits, improving its quality. “At the same time, it enables a smooth bead formation and deep weld penetration,” Huber adds. The inner stream of focus gas, often VARIGON^® S or MISON^® Ar, concentrates and stabilises the arc, increasing its power density and ensuring safe single-pass welding of workpieces up to 10 millimeters of thickness. And third, ARCLINE^® PP features a high-performance liquid cooling system that supports the electrode, greatly extending its lifecycle. The key benefit? Clients can weld with peak currents of up to 450 Ampere.

Redefining customer centricity

With ARCLINE^® PP, Linde not only offers its clients best-in-class technology and hardware to excel in present and future aluminium welding markets. It delivers an added service. To leverage ARCLINE^® PP’s potentials in speed and accuracy, Linde assists customers in selecting the recommended focus and shielding gases for the application’s dual gas stream. “At the end of the day, our goal is to constantly improve and optimise our customers’ work processes across all metalworking industries,” Huber says. “This way, our clients can do what they do best: build the technology and infrastructure of tomorrow with the leading welding applications of today.”