Deposit Coefficient / Deposited Cross-Section
Calculates deposited weld cross-section area (D) from a deposit coefficient (g) and nominal heat input (Q), where D = g × Q. Q can be entered directly or calculated from voltage, current, and travel speed. Process selection provides typical g guidance only — it never drives the calculation.
Engineering calculator — results require technical review before production use.
Source & assumptions
IWE Module 2 – Materials and Their Behavior during Welding, Chapter 5, Section 8 (The Effect of Dilution)
Assumptions
- g = D / Q, rearranged as D = g × Q, where g is the deposit coefficient [mm²/(kJ/mm)], D is deposited cross-section area [mm²], and Q is nominal heat input [kJ/mm].
- When Q is not entered explicitly, it is calculated as Q = (U × I) / (v × 1000), with v (travel speed) in mm/s.
- An explicit Q and welding parameters (voltage/current/travel speed) are mutually exclusive inputs — supplying both throws rather than silently preferring one (see Limitations for why).
- Process selection provides typical g guidance for display only — it never drives the D calculation; the deposit coefficient actually used is always the entered value.
- Typical g values per the source: SMAW steel 12–22, MIG steel approx. 25, CO2 steel approx. 30, SAW steel approx. 18, MIG aluminium approx. 35 mm²/(kJ/mm).
Limitations
- This is an estimated deposited cross-section calculation, not a measured or guaranteed value.
- Typical g values are process guidance from the source, not guaranteed values for any specific consumable, parameter set, or joint.
- It does not replace actual weld measurement, WPS qualification, production test, or engineering review.
- Aluminium is included only for the MIG aluminium deposit coefficient guidance given by the source — the steel heat-input formula assumptions elsewhere in this app (e.g. Heat Input / Arc Energy's aluminium limitation) are not implied to extend to aluminium here beyond this one guidance value.
- Does not calculate dilution percentage — although drawn from the source's chapter on the effect of dilution, dilution itself is out of scope for this calculator.
- Does not implement Schaeffler/DeLong diagrams, bead geometry, weld volume, or cost estimation.
- The 'unusually high' input sanity-check warnings (voltage, current, travel speed, deposit coefficient, nominal heat input) and the process-guidance divergence warning are implementation-level heuristics, not sourced from IWE Module 2 and not compositional or procedural limits.