MIG welding can be a confusing process when you do not understand the relationship happening between the parameters you set on the welding machine, your base material, your wire type, and your gas type. Synergic MIG welding is here to alleviate the difficulties and time it takes to find that perfect weld.

There are two different types of pulsed GMAW processes: synergic and non-synergic, and each have their advantages.

Synergic Welding

Synergic MIG (GMAW) welding is a variant of pulsed MIG welding, and the most common method- simply because it’s the easiest way for welders to set good welding parameters.

When MIG welding, the parameters you set in addition to the voltage and wire feed speed are dependent on many factors. These factors can include things such as the type of material you are welding on, the size of wire you are using, and the gas you are using for shielding. Each of these factors affect the weld in different ways, and an experienced MIG welder know these effects, and manipulates their machine’s welding parameters to handle them. Synergic welding looks at the combination of these factors and “based on the mathematical values of these an optimum combination of welding parameters is found.[1]” This helps take the legwork of figuring out what the best parameters for the weld off the end-user’s plate and allows the machine to handle that for them.

 

This can be incredible useful for both new and experienced MIG welders. A novice welder who is setting up their machine for the first time may only know a few things about their set-up like what type of shielding gas they have, the size of wire, and the thickness of material they are welding on. A synergic MIG welding machine can look at these three things and set the parameters the machine needs for optimum welding, making the set-up progress a fraction of the time of a conventional MIG welding machine. For seasoned MIG welders the ability to move from welding a 16-gauge weld joint to a 1/8” weld joint and only adjust one setting on their machine and be ready to weld again will save a huge amount of time.  

 

[1] Kaushik, Abhishek. “Optimization of process parameters in synergic MIG welding of mild steel.” Int J Eng Res Technol (IJERT) 6, no. 11 (2017). 

 

-Shelby Bequette-Blasa, Engineering Service Technician at Forney Industries

More modern synergic welding machines feature a variety of consumable and wire diameter combinations, including a set of measures for flux and metal-cored consumables.

Since the power level automatically adjusts to the wire speed as it changes, it allows the operator to pre-select wire material and diameter once for any welding operation, then adjust the one control that governs wire feed rate. Most consider this the main advantage of synergic welding machines.

The three essential characteristics of synergic operation are:

1. Pulse parameters are selected automatically.

2. Pulse frequency or duration is directly related to wire feed rate.

3. Electronic control of parameters ensures uniform penetration and weld bead profile.

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Non-Synergic Welding

Now that we’ve gone over synergic welding, non-synergic MIG welding is a lot easier to understand! Since synergic welders automatically select pulse parameters and wire feed speed, the reverse is true for non-synergic welding systems; Non-synergic welders require pulse parameters to be individually set for each given wire feed speed.

For more information on synergic and non-synergic welding, you can contact our Expert-Techs at 1-800-521-6038 ext. 2