Consumables
Calculating the consumption of consumables in welding operations is an essential step to estimate the cost of the project. The category of consumables includes electrodes, filler wires, shielding gases, flux, etc.
We can calculate consumable consumption with the following formula:
Where w =weight of consumable(grams)
A=Cross sectional area (Cm)2
ρ= Density (gr/cm3)
L= Length (cm)
E= Deposition efficiency
Cross-sectional area
Where A =Cross sectional area, r=root gap,t=thickness of the base metal,f =root face, and θ= Included angle
Density 𝜌
The table of densities of the most common materials is as follows
Densities of Common materials
| Material | Density (g/cm)3 |
| Carbon steel | 7.8 |
| Magnesium | 1.7 |
| Granite | 2.6-2.7 |
| Diamond | 3.5 |
| Steel | 7.8 |
| Iron | 7.8 |
| Brass | 8.6 |
| Copper | 8.3-9.0 |
| Lead | 11.3 |
| Mercury | 13.6 |
| Uranium | 18.7 |
| Gold | 19.3 |
| Platinum | 21.4 |
| Iridium | 22.4 |
density can be changed by changing either the pressure or the temperature. Increasing the pressure always increases the density of a material. Increasing the temperature generally decreases the density, but there are notable exceptions to this generalization
Changes of density
Deposition efficiency “E”
| Welding process | Typical Deposition Efficiency range(%)Approx |
| Shielded metal arc welding SMAW | 50-55 |
| Gas tungsten arc welding GTAW | 92-96 |
| Submerged arc welding SAW | 96-98 |
| Self-shielded Flux-cored arc welding FCAW-S | 72-78 |
| Gas shielded arc welding FCAW-G | 80-88 |
| Gas metal arc welding GMAW | 96-98 |
