Technical Report

DW-100
(AWS A5.20 E71T-1)

The Traditional and Advanced Flux-Cored Wire,

"DW-100," for Mild Steel and 490N/mm2 High

(2) Much less spattering and almost no need to postweld clean up - Fig. 2

Tensile Steel

(3) Convenient self-peeling slag removal and glossy

bead appearance - Fig. 3

DW-100 is an epoch-making flux-cored wire. It was

developed for welding mild steel and 490N/mm2 high
tensile steel, and launched into the world of arc welding
nearly twenty years ago. The brand name, DW, was
coined from the words, Dual Wire, because the wire
consists of steel sheath and cored flux.

Quantity of Spatter (g/min)

(Over 20 mesh size)

Inception of DW-100
6.0
5.0
4.0

SW
1.6mm

3.0
2.0
1.0

FCW 1.6mm
250A2529V

Outstanding Features of DW-100

300A2731V

350A3034V

400A3337V

Welding Amp. and Volt

The most remarkable features of DW-100 when used

with CO2 gas shielding are:
(1) Adjusting once a certain proper welding current

Fig. 2 - A comparison between DW-100 flux cored wire

(FCW) and conventional solid wire (SW) on the
amount of spatter in CO2 gas arc welding.

within a wide range of amperage and voltage for

each size of wire shown in Fig. 1, there is no need
to re-adjust the current position by position in allposition welding.

Fig. 3 - Convenient self-peeling slag removal and glossy

bead appearance with DW-100 in horizontal fillet
welding.
1.6mm
1.4mm

Arc Voltage (V)

40

1.2mm

(4) Regular bead profiles and smooth fusion with base

metal - Fig. 4

30

20

10

100

200

300

400

500

Welding Current (Amp.)

Fig. 1 - Proper ranges of welding current and voltage for
each size of DW-100

Fig. 4 - A regular bead's profile and smooth fusion with the

base metal in horizontal fillet welding with DW-100

Technical Report
(5) High deposition rates can save labor costs by
reducing welding time - Fig. 5

A Variety of Applications
Nowadays DW-100 is used in various applications in

140

Deposition Rate (g/min.)

120

W
FC

100

1.
2m
m

W
FC

SW

m
6m
1.

60

worldwide markets because of the services supported by

the slogan, "QTQ" (Quality Products, Technical

CE
6mm
40

Support, and Quick Delivery) launched by Kobe Steel

and the Kobelco-group companies.

CE
5mm
20

CE
4mm
150

200

an inexperienced welder can use DW-100 with

satisfactory results. This usability includes stable wire
feeding and tracking onto welding lines. DW-100
continually earns a high reputation from users in

SW

80

m
2m
.
1

m
6m
.
1

such industries as shipbuilding, architectural structures,

machinery, and bridges. Due to excellent usability, even

250

300

350

400

450

Welding Current (Amp.)

Fig. 5 - A comparison on deposition rates between DW-100
(FCW), conventional solid wire (SW) and covered
electrode (CE) - wire extension: 25 mm, shielding
gas: CO2

A Leader of Flux-Cored Wire

Since DW-100 was launched into the market,
production of flux-core wires remarkably increased as
shown in Fig. 6. This is because of ever increasing
consumption of flux-cored wires in various industries
throughout the world. Nowadays annual production of
flux-cored wires in Japan has reached over 90,000
metric tons. Among flux-cored wires, DW-100 is one of

Fig. 7 - DW-100 shines in various applications in such

industries as shipbuilding, architectural structures,
bridges and machinery.

the leaders.
60
Covered Electrode

Flux-cored wire

Solid wire

SAW wire and flux

New Things in the Traditional

Production (x1000 ton)

50

During these two decades, DW-100 has seen its

40

features refined, and applications expanded. In order to

maintain the outstanding features of DW-100, the

30

quality control in production is the very matter Kobe

Steel stresses. DW-100 is a traditional flux-cored wire,

20

but, at the same time, highly advanced in that the quality

of DW-100 has been maintained through advanced

10

research and production engineering.

0
86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95 96.16 2

Year
Fig. 6 - Annual Production of Welding Consumables