Physical-mechanical properties and economic analysis of double electrode welding
processes have been studied. Thin plate is usually welded using low current whereas
welding equipment that available in the market has a high current capacity. It is not
optimum condition because welding equipment is working under its capacity. The largeconstruction manufacturing often requires a lot of welding equipments. It shows a high
investment and maintenance costs. It is important to design the double electrode welding
equipment with a single power supply. Austenitic stainless steels SUS304 and carbon steel
SS400 with thickness of 1.5 mm were used. Tensile tests, micro/macro structure
investigation and distortion measurement were carried out to characterize the weldment.
Economic analysis was carried out by calculating welding cost per unit of length. The
physical-mechanical evaluations and the economic analysis of single electrode welding
equipment were conducted for reference. The results show that the welded joints of the
double electrode have the same physical-mechanical properties with that of the single
electrode. The welding cost per unit of length is 831.88 rupiah for a double electrode
welding and 936.69 rupiah for a single electrode. It indicates that the double electrode
welding can save 11.18% of production costs
