Low manganese fume welding process

An arc welding process for replicating a manganese-containing weld deposit produced when a single conventional welding electrode is used to produce said weld deposit as well as weld fumes, the single conventional welding electrode containing enough manganese so that the weld deposit produced contains a predetermined amount of manganese while the weld fumes generated contain an undesirably high amount of manganese, the arc welding process comprising

• carrying out the process by means of a hot wire welding approach in which (a) some of the ingredients forming the weld deposit are supplied by a primary welding electrode which is subjected to the intense heat generated by an electric arc while other of the ingredients forming the weld deposit are supplied by at least one hot wire welding electrode different from the primary welding electrode and (b) the at least one hot wire electrode is melted without being subjected to the intense heat generated by the electric arc,
• the process further comprising reducing the amount of manganese in the weld fumes without reducing the amount of manganese in the weld deposit by supplying greater than 50% of the manganese in the weld deposit by means of the at least one hot wire welding electrode,
• wherein the primary electrode still contains up to 1 wt. % manganese so that refining all manganese out of the metal forming the primary electrode is avoided, and further
• wherein the at least one hot wire electrode is resistance heated so that the arc welding process can be carried out at a rate which is faster than would otherwise be the case if the at least one hot wire welding electrode were not resistance heated.