Choosing the proper self-shielded FCAW wire
- ESAB Welding and Cutting Products, Hanover, PA (United States)
When attempting to select the appropriate wire for each joining application, welders must choose from a menu of welding wires. Flux cored arc welding gas-shielded (FCAW-G) wires, such as an A5.20 E71T-1 type, may be conceived as the ``meat and potatoes,`` in other words, suitable for all mild steel fabrication. The same is not true, however, of the flux cored arc welding self-shielded (FCAW-S) wires. From inception, the complexity of the open arc continuous welding process has begrudgingly yielded designs uniquely suited only for a narrow range of metal joining operations. The uniqueness of each design is primarily a result of how the nitrogen naturally encountered within the arc is handled. In the selection of an FCAW-S wire, that same awareness of the bill of fare is indispensable. The user must know the applications best suited to each wire type because the application overlap of each type is very narrow. Consequently, selecting a type that ``may do`` could be costly or possibly disastrous. The list of FCAW-S ``multiple-pass wires with toughness`` completes the full menu. Selecting the proper type of wire from this list may never be as pleasurable as reviewing a dining menu; however, when shielded metal arc welding is not economical and gas-shielded flux cored welding is compromised by the wind, or when the application is simply done best with an FCAW-S wire, this menu should be helpful.
- OSTI ID:
- 253657
- Journal Information:
- Welding Journal, Vol. 75, Issue 6; Other Information: PBD: Jun 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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