Welding aluminum and aluminum alloys does not need to be complicated. However, to successfully weld this metal there are a few things you need to know. First, you need to know how the properties of aluminum affect its weldability. There are four key characteristics of aluminum that make it quite different from carbon steel […]
If you work with metals, whether you are a business owner, a design engineer, an inspector or a welder, you have heard the terms yield strength and tensile strength. In welding, we seem to focus more on tensile strength than on yield strength. When we match a filler metal to a base metal we do […]
Have you ever noticed that there are design rules that prohibit sizing a fillet weld below a certain size for a given thickness of material? If you look at AWS D1.1/D1.1M:2020 Structural Welding Code (Steel) you can find this on Table 7.7. If you happen to own a copy of AISC 360-16 Specification for Structural […]
Welding aluminum should not be complicated. That is, if you are welding 6061-T6 (very common) with ER5356 or ER4043 filler metal. Although this alloy is still susceptible to cracking, other aluminum alloys are much more prone to cracking. Below are 6 factors that affect cracking susceptibility when welding aluminum alloys. Thermal stresses: Aluminum has […]
Competition amongst manufacturers of welding machines is a wonderful thing. Companies like Miller, Fronius, OTC, Lincoln Electric, and many others are continuously improving their equipment, making it more user-friendly and at a lower cost. We as users benefit from this. However, this has brought about a big problem. And that is the belief that we […]
Many times, especially in steel erection, we need to mix welded and bolted (or riveted) connections. It is very important for the design engineer to know the implications on mixing welds and bolts as it pertains to connection strength, fatigue life, manufacturing costs and the skill level required to make these connections. However, sometimes the […]
We are excited to officially release our latest offering: 322 Prequalified Welding Procedure Specifications for Steel Fabricators As we mentioned during our preview last week, these welding procedures have been developed and prequalified in conformance with AWS D1.1/D1.1M:2020 Structural Welding Code – Steel. These prequalified welding procedures were put together for: Business owners and managers […]
This question can be answered very quickly. Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) and Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) can have 98-99% deposition efficiency. However, the question is a bit more complicated since when we talk about efficiency we don’t just care about deposition efficiency (how much of the electrode becomes weld metal). What we care about […]
If you look at any of the structural welding codes you’ll notice that contact-tip-to-work-distance (CTTWD) is a variable which must be listed in welding procedure specifications (WPSs). However, it is not an essential variable, meaning that changes to CTTWD of any amount do not require requalification. This can seem puzzling to some, especially those […]
A welding procedure specification (WPS) consists of a series of welding variables and corresponding allowable ranges. The selection of these ranges is very important. The idea is that if the welder is within all acceptable ranges he or she will deposit a sound weld, provided of course that the welder has the required skill. The […]
