Part of the welding process, the arc pulsing, as commercial welders know, includes usage of welding power supply which changes the weld current in a fast pace – from low one known as background current to high one known as peak current. The arc pulsating can create several spot welds that are overlapping. By using this technique, the commercial welder can reduce the overall heat input to the base material and can increase the weld speed.

As a rule, the arc pulsing offers many benefits to the welding procedure as it improves the weld repeatability and quality. Sometimes the weld and the materials joint not so well and cannot be welded properly with an arc that is not pulsed, but can be welded very easily with a pulsed arc technique. In such cases the commercial welders that use pulsed arc technique get a weld of great quality and of excellent output.

The arc pulsing includes four welding parameters, these being the background current, the peak current, the pulse frequency and the pulse width. Sometimes the commercial welders use different welding parameters but result in similar weld. In general, their aim is to use the weld pulsation benefits in order to improve the output and the quality of the weld.


The pulse welding frequency in the process of welding depends on the spot overlap. The experienced commercial welders start at 75 % of spot overlap. When they are working on thin materials, the parts welded at slow speed or the pulses per second equal to the weld speed in inches per minute. The pulse width depends on the sensitivity to heat of the material and the available current that comes from the power supply.

The materials that have high sensitivity towards the heat require lower pulse width. The good commercial welders usually start the pulse width at 35 %. The current ratios of peak to background offer means to the welding current which can transfer from one level to the other.

Commercial welders today use special arc pulsation software that is available which calculates the parameters of arc pulsation to the specific application.