TIG welding and EB welding for aluminum alloy 3003 were carried out to study the effects of activating flux on weld penetration of activating welding for aluminum alloys. SiO2 was used as the activating flux. It is found that, SiO2 can increase the weld penetration and decrease the weld width of FBTIG when the flux gap is small. For A-TIG welding and EB welding with focused mode, the weld penetrations and the weld widths increase simultaneously. SiO2 has little effect on the weld penetration and weld width of EB welding with defocused mode. It is believed that, change of surface tension temperature gradient is not the main mechanism of SiO2 improving weld penetration of activating welding for aluminum alloys.