Irms = effective current
en bout... at electrode tip
Effort de bout de pince...
is talking about the gripping force of the earthing clip --- it needs to make really good contact so as to allow all the current to pass!
I would say 'gripping force', though you might just want to check out some welding equipment sites via Google to check if there isn't a specialist term, as I am NOT a welding expert!

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Note added at 15 mins (2005-04-13 09:04:18 GMT)
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I is the standard abbreviation for current, coming originally from the French \'intensité\' [cf Ampère!]

In electrical contexts, it very rarely translates as \'intensity\' -- a \'faux ami\' if ever there was one!

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Note added at 1 hr 4 mins (2005-04-13 09:53:23 GMT)
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I just tried a quick Google, and came up with loads of hits, well worth investigating! Here\'s one you might find useful:

http://www.tjsnow.com/supplies/miyachi/MM-356.htm

There seems to be a lot of talk about \'electrode force\', though in the sites I investigated, this is not clearly linked with anything like \'pince\'; but they DO talk also about \'squeeze time\', which may well be much more directly relevant. I think you probably need to do the reserach yourself in order to understand, so that you can better interpret in your overall context.

I think Lilian may well have it half right, it does look as if this is either the force with which a spot welder closes (clamps), or maybe the force with which the electrode is gripped (but these might be continuous-fed MIG-type welders too...) --- but in either case, I strongly suspect \'tongs\' is not the appropriate term here.

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Note added at 1 hr 5 mins (2005-04-13 09:53:51 GMT)
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I do beg your pardon, I meant to type Liliana :-(

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Note added at 1 hr 10 mins (2005-04-13 09:59:21 GMT)
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Just to clarify: on the basis of Liliana\'s helpful additional input, I now think that my original suggestion about the EARTH CLAMP force is probably wrong for this context.

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Note added at 3 hrs 17 mins (2005-04-13 12:05:54 GMT)
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Thanks, Liliana, for that extra information.

I fear we are all labouring here under a lack of context; all the tools you mention are of course entirely appropriate possibilities in a manual welding context; however, I suspect here we may be talking about some kind of machine (only Asker may be able to enlighten us!)

For one thing, just look how high that welding current is; and more importantly, if you are gripping your welding rod with anything as imprecise as tongs or pliers, I doubt there would be much point specifying a precise force.

I suspect (and of course it IS only that!) this is much more likely to be (for example...) the kind of spot-welding machine that clamps the 2 workpieces together then zaps them; in this kind of context, I can easily imagine that it would be important to specify this clamping force... Do you see the way I\'m thinking? Of course, I may be compeletly and utterly barking up the wrong tree... :-()