The Benefits of TOP TIG Welding

TOP-TIG weld­ing is a new advanced inno­va­tion of the com­mon TIG weld­ing. This process uses new, patent-pend­ing tech­nol­o­gy, that deliv­ers the high­est pos­si­ble weld ener­gy with the low­est pos­si­ble weld heat, all while still being user-friendly. 

While TIG weld­ing is one of the most accu­rate robot­ic weld­ing process­es on the mar­ket today, there is always room for inno­va­tion. Tra­di­tion­al TIG weld­ing is slow­er than MIG and oth­er forms of weld­ing, which could cause com­pa­nies to choose a dif­fer­ent weld­ing appli­ca­tion. TOP TIG weld­ing boasts sev­er­al advan­tages over the tra­di­tion form of TIG weld­ing, includ­ing these sought after, faster speeds. Over­all, TOP TIG is able to pro­vide opti­mum code qual­i­ty welds and the solu­tion to resolve the major­i­ty of ally weld issues occur­ring with TIG and MIG. 

What is TOP TIG welding?

TOP TIG weld­ing func­tion is a hot wire process that can tack­le a job in every indus­try as it sim­ple to use, sim­ple to learn, and sim­ple to teach. This orig­i­nal process is unique to ABB and has a high­er trav­el speed, low­er heat input, reduced cycle time, and an over­all bet­ter qual­i­ty weld­ing advan­tage. The TOP TIG weld­ing work cell from ABB is an out­fit­ted cell com­plete with a robot, pow­er sup­ply, and positioner. 

The TOP TIG process merges Robo-TOP TIG torch tech­nol­o­gy and a ful­ly inte­grat­ed robot­ic inter­face. This cre­ates a solu­tion that pro­duces the high­est depo­si­tion rates for any TIG process cur­rent­ly avail­able. Deliv­er­ing high depo­si­tion rates with low heat input val­ues allows a con­sis­tent deliv­ery of met­al­lur­gi­cal results on all alloys.

The TIG weld recep­tiv­i­ty for high­er weld depo­si­tion rates is done by decreas­ing the speeds for the weld solid­i­fi­ca­tion process and increas­ing the flu­id weld area. This allows for a 100%-400% increase in TIG wire feed rates, increas­ing the over­all weld cur­rent. All of these attrib­ut­es (faster speeds and high­er than nor­mal weld ener­gy) increase the result­ing TIG weld qual­i­ty and over­all process productivity.

The process is also slag free and uses the low­est pos­si­ble heat input of any weld­ing process, pro­duc­ing a Heat Affect­ed Zone (HAZ), all of which help to reduce dis­tor­tion and weld stress. Addi­tion­al­ly, it has increased cor­ro­sion prop­er­ty reten­tion on all cor­ro­sion resis­tant alloys. It sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduces weld defects, sav­ing com­pa­nies a lot of time and mon­ey, and has flex­i­ble sys­tem con­fig­u­ra­tions based on spe­cif­ic weld­ing needs.

It not only pro­duces some of the high­est qual­i­ty prod­ucts with the best met­al­lur­gi­cal and mechan­i­cal prop­er­ties on all alloys, but also increas­es pro­duc­tion up to four times the nor­mal speed. There is also no inter pass clean­ing, cre­at­ing avail­abil­i­ty for an increased Arc on time and weld quality.

How Top TIG Weld­ing Works:

A TOP TIG weld­ing sys­tem uses a wire fed GTAW sys­tem just like a typ­i­cal TIG sys­tem, but is dis­tinc­tive for the vibra­to­ry effect it adds. This vibra­to­ry effect is fash­ioned by a lin­ear for­ward and back­ward mechan­i­cal motion cre­at­ed by the cus­tom wire feed­er sys­tem. The for­ward and back­ward motion of the filler wire cre­ates an oscil­la­tion that is then trans­ferred to the weld, agi­tat­ing the molten weld pool and ulti­mate­ly dis­rupt­ing the sur­face ten­sion. Addi­tion­al­ly, there is a hotwire cur­rent applied to the filler met­al, that is pow­ered by a sec­ondary pow­er source.

In addi­tion to this vibra­to­ry effect on the wire, a hotwire cur­rent (pow­ered by a sec­ondary pow­er source) is also applied to the filler met­al, pri­or to enter­ing the weld puddle. 

10 Ben­e­fits of the TOP TIG weld­ing process:

1. Increased flu­id­i­ty of the weld pool
2. Greater tol­er­ance to joint fit-up
3. Sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduced joint sensitivity
4. Greater abil­i­ty to accept more wire into the weld pool, result in a high­er deposition
5. 4 – 6 times increased trav­el times
6. Reduced cycle time and heat input
7. Clean­er welds with agi­tat­ed weld pool
8. Reduced weld stress with the reduced heat input
9. Eth­er­net Inter­face enabling full con­trol over weld­ing para­me­ters for opti­mum weld quality
10. TOP TIG decreas­es the hexa­va­lent chrome weld fume emis­sions, mak­ing them pret­ty much ​“unde­tectable.”

TOP TIG USA sur­veyed some of the top engi­neer­ing com­pa­nies in North Amer­i­ca to pro­vide feed­back on the val­ue of TiPTiG weld­ing. The results showed >250% increase in the aver­age wire feed length deposit­ed each minute.

Robo-TOP TIG Pack­age from ABB:

The Robo-TOP TIG Pack­age includes: a gener­ic Base TIG weld­ing pow­er source, designed so the process adapts to a vari­ety of weld­ing pow­er sources; High fre­quen­cy oscil­la­tion wire feed unit; Hot wire trans­former; Eth­er­net con­trol inter­face; Appli­ca­tion spe­cif­ic user inter­face – HMI; Robot­ic arm dress pack; Weld­ing torch and hot filler wire feed; and Soft­ware (Robot­ware Arc) for Robo-TOP TIG

Approved Alloys:

TOP TIG weld­ing can work on a wide range of alloys such as car­bon steel, stain­less steel, duplex and super duplex stain­less steels, inconel, tita­ni­um, alu­minum, cop­per, nick­el, and many others.

Con­tact Robots​.com to Learn More

A user-friend­ly robot­ic inter­face may be one of the unsung heroes of suc­cess­ful robot­ic weld­ing sys­tems. TOP TIG Weld­ing is a unique sys­tem that offers an incred­i­ble, top qual­i­ty prod­uct and the high­est depo­si­tion rates with the low­est pos­si­ble heat input values. 

As you have seen, the TOP TIG weld­ing robot­ic process address­es it by inte­grat­ing an inter­face into the cell that is easy to use and learn, some­thing that has not always been true dur­ing tra­di­tion TIG weld­ing appli­ca­tions. The TOP TIG weld­ing appli­ca­tion also brings a vari­ety of oth­er ben­e­fits to the rev­o­lu­tion­ary process, such as the afore­men­tioned high­er trav­el speeds, low­er heat inputs, and over­all, bet­ter qual­i­ty welds.

It is quick­ly becom­ing the most effec­tive robot­ic weld­ing func­tion pack­age available. 

If you are inter­est­ed in learn­ing more about a TOP TIG weld­ing sys­tem then you should call Robots​.com, a cer­ti­fied inte­gra­tor for ABB Robot­ics. Our staff will work with you to map out your inte­gra­tion needs and help you design, build and cus­tomize the per­fect robot­ic sys­tem to fit your appli­ca­tion, your facil­i­ty and your bud­get. Con­tact Robots​.com rep­re­sen­ta­tives online or at 877−762−6881, to learn more.