The formation of silicon islands on welds made with the GMAW (mig) and MCAW (metalcore) processes is very common. For the most part, these silicon islands are not a problem. However, if the weld is to be painted, you better remove these islands. Otherwise, they will eventually pop off and leave an unpainted spot in […]
Corten, or COR-TEN, is the trademark name for weathering steels manufactured by U.S. Steel Corporation. Weathering steels are a family of low carbon steel alloys that were specifically developed to provide higher strength and more importantly eliminate the need to paint to protect against the elements (rain, snow, humidity, sun, salt, etc.). A242 and A588 […]
Not all weld discontinuities are weld defects, but all weld defects are discontinuities. Understanding the difference will let you know if you need to scrap a part, repair it or simply add more weld. There are many codes depending on what type of product you are welding on. The codes are used as guidelines by […]
Waveform control is the ability of a welding power source to affect heat input, droplet shape and size, penetration, bead shape and toe wetting by the use of microprocessor controls which manage the welding output. Advances in waveform control technology over the past two decades have provided the ability to weld tough materials successfully. One […]
The new edition of AWS D1.1 Structural Welding Code (Steel) has been released. If you are looking to get the hard copy you may need to wait a few weeks, but the electronic version is ready for purchase from the American Welding Society (AWS) through their website. There is a significant cost to obtain the […]
It is very common to weld stainless steel to mild steel. But, when it comes to qualifying a welding procedure it can be somewhat confusing. Do you follow AWS D1.1 (Steel) or do you following AWS D1.6 (Stainless Steel)? Or is there another code or standard you should use? The answer to this question is […]
When bidding jobs several fabricators end up calculating their costs associated with welding and then double that number to be safe. In some cases, that isn’t even enough. It is important to have a clear understating of how to translate the amount of welding to be done to actual manufacturing costs. One of the biggest […]
Many ‘experts’ in the welding industry talk about high heat input as something that should always be avoided. Unfortunately, this is not good advice. High heat input can be detrimental in many cases, but other times we want to have higher heat input. Heat input is directly related to amperage and voltage and inversely related […]
If you own or run a business in which welding is an integral part of the manufacturing process you know one of your recurrent expenses is your shielding gas. Very few manufacturing facilities, big or small, have excellent control of gas usage. Most end up using twice as much than necessary, and in some cases […]
Calculating weld metal requirements seems complicated but for the majority of applications it should not be. Short of having a computer program that calculates this for you, the easiest way is to use the tables found in The Procedure Handbook of Arc Welding. Table 12-1 provides data to calculate weight of weld metal required per […]
