What is Deposition Rate?
Deposition rate goes over the amount of wire that’s turned into weld metal.
Deposition Rate goes over the efficiency of the electrode you’re welding with (an important distinction since the melt-off rate can easily be confused with it). It is, essentially, the rate at which the weld metal is deposited by a welding wire or electrode. The deposition rate changes (increases) as the welding current increases.
*To be more specific the deposition rate determines how much metal is going to be deposited in a single hour of arc time.
One should expect their wire to have an efficiency rate between 80 and 90 percent.
Formulas for Calculating Deposition Rate
Formula One
*for solid wire
Deposition Rate = 13.1 (D²) (WFS)(EE)
The constant in this equation is 13.1 and is used to describe the density of steel. This constant applies to the density of steels and can even be used for stainless steel. It’s important to understand that this constant changes for different types of metals.
The D in the equation standing for diameter.
“WFS” stands for the wire transfer speed.
“EE” stands for electrode efficiency
It’s also important to understand that the efficiency of the electrode depends on the mode of metal transfer. The efficiencies you will typically find in the 4 basic modes of metal transfer are listed below:
Axial transfer: 98 percent
- The above link goes to a page that is really good with researching their information so you check it out.
Globular transfer: 88-90 percent
Short circuit transfer: 90 – 93 percent
Formula 2
Deposition rate (according to Esabna.com, they’re very thorough with their information) is calculated using the following formula:
Deposition Rate (lbs./hr.) =
wire feed speed (in./min.) x 60 min./hr.
Inches of wire per lb.
(m/kg)
Example: Deposition Rate = 12.1(0.052)squared(320)(.98) = 10.28 lbs. per hour
The above deposition rate formula can only be applied to Imperial System.
Formula 3
This calculator was created by Stephen A. Filippone and is open to being edited (even more so because it’s fairly new).
Formula 4
For the metric system, one can use the below formula:
- Calculate the area of the circle -> Radius squared * pi
- Multiply times the density of the metal being used
- Multiply times the wire feed speed
- Multiply times 60 (to get deposition rate per hour if wire feed speed was expressed per minute)
- Adjust any units to match (i.e if you used cm for the density or other units)
- Multiply by the efficiency of the electrode
