What is an electrode? Scientifically, this is a heavy wire or rod when melted it supplies metal fusion welding. Electricity from either an Alternating Current(AC) or Direct Current(DC) power source passes through the electrode to the metal surface under welding. This leads to the formation of an electric arch which is at a temperature of 5,000 ® Celcius.
The electric arc produced is responsible for the fusion of the electrode and the base metal through melting. In arc welding, precision and accuracy are essential to reach great welding results.
Globally, there exist thousands of electrodes. In most instances, the most used are the mild steel electrodes having been approved by the American Welding Society (AWS) as efficient and effective in the welding process. These include, 6010,6011,6012,6013,7014,7024 and 7018 electrodes/ welding rods.
The table below gives an illustration of the sizes, positions, tensile strength, and penetration level of each of the above-mentioned electrodes.