Arc welding method and arc welding apparatus

An electric arc welding method, in which molten metal is deposited along a welding line, comprising the steps of:

• (a) feeding a welding wire, which has been arranged in a substantially straight line, into a plastic deforming zone which is continuously rotated through a range of 360.degree.;
• (b) causing said wire supplied to said zone to be first plastically deformed from its substantially straight line shape, and then plastically reformed back into said substantially straight line shape, whereby the welding wire supplied to said zone is simultaneously spirally deformed and reformed and also subjected to a unidirectional continuous rotary circular motion through a 360.degree. range;
• (c) feeding the welding wire after it leaves the plastic deforming zone to an elongated nonconsumable welding nozzle positioned at the welding line;
• (d) causing the welding wire to leave the tip of the welding nozzle so that it is at an angle with respect to the central axis of said nozzle and also is rotating through a range of 360.degree.;
• (e) simultaneously causing the welding nozzle to move from one end of the welding line to the other end thereof, whereby the path traversed by the bent and rotating end of the welding wire as it leaves the welding nozzle along the welding line is that of a helix wholly contained in a single plane thus achievng full agitation of the weld metal by periodic remelting a portion of the welding line to produce a dense weld.