Strip cladding, including two kinds of processes such as submerged arc welding(SAW) and electro slag welding(ESW), was often
used to improve the corrosion and attrition resistance of some equipments. The productivity of this process has been increased usually by the use of higher welding currents and wider strips. But the associated problems are arc-blow, increasing the penetration and poor bead characteristics. The researches abroad and home on magnetic
steering in strip cladding indicated that magnetic steering can reduce the penetration and improves the bead shape. The different effects of added
magnetic field on the welding quality in SAW and ESW were analyzed in this paper. When adopting submerged arc strip cladding, oscillating magnetic field used to steering the arc can reduce the dilution and corrosion rate. Meanwhile it permits to use higher current for a given dilution level, thus increasing productivity without affecting the bead shape. While electro slag strip welding, the auxiliary magnetic field can change the force acting on a weld pool and the flowing direction of the molten metal and molten slag so as to retard the undercut and defective shape of bead.