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PWL#087 & 087B - Welding Information Retrieval, Water Cooling Spot Welding Electrodes, Alum. SMAW? November 01, 2010 |
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| We hope you will find this Letter interesting and useful. Let us know what you think of it. Welding Information Retrieval, Water Cooling Spot Welding Electrodes, Stick Electrodes for Welding Aluminum?, Developing a Welding and Cutting Safety Program, Repairing a Magnesium Saw Housing, Abradable Coatings, Welding Advisers Website Index Page and more...
and Mid November Bulletin
DON'T USE REPLY to send us your messages! Use Contact Us instead. Please be advised that the Mid Month Bulletin is now integral with the regular PWL publication. You will find it further down, past the end of this PracticaL Welding Letter. Important AnnouncementFor assembling at no cost your own Encyclopedia Online, A New Opportunity!By promoting these books above you can gain up to 75% of the sale price. Interested? Please explore the ClickBank process at:
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1 - Introduction 2 - Article - How to pick up Welding Information 3 - How to do it well: Proper Water Cooling of Spot Welding Electrodes 4 - Filler Metals: Stick Electrodes for Welding Aluminum? 5 - Online Press: recent Welding related Articles 6 - Terms and Definitions Reminder 7 - Article - Guidelines for Developing a Welding and Cutting Safety Program 8 - Site Updating: Abradable Coatings, Index Page 9 - Short Items 10 - Explorations: beyond the Welder 11 - Contributions: How to repair a Magnesium Saw Housing 12 - Testimonials 13 - Correspondence: a few Comments 14 - Bulletin Board (Sponsored Links)
1 - Introduction This 87th issue of Practical Welding Letter opens with a note containing a few suggestions on how to best explore the whole of the Welding Advisers Website for retrieving needed information on specific subjects. It appears from many Queries received, that some readers were unable to find by browsing the site what they were interested in, probably being unaware of how to use the available aids. Although a complete general Subject Index is still unavailable because of the cost involved in outsourcing its preparation, nevertheless there are numerous ways to look for needed subjects as explained in the following note. And the last resource, writing a query using the Contact Us form, is always accessible to all. After that note comes a short reminder of the importance of correct placing of cooling water tubes inside resistance spot welding electrodes. It was written following an excellent exposition in the Welding Journal. Those who implement spot welding may gain useful insight from it. Queries are an endless source of themes of interest. Are there aluminum stick welding (SMAW) electrodes available? The complete answer may satisfy interested readers. A Safety Program to address the various hazards of Welding and Cutting processes must be prepared and implemented by those responsible for managing operations in any facility, from the biggest Company to the smallest shop. It is useful to know that practical Guidelines for developing such a policy are available, having been prepared with much thought and following practical experience gathered when dealing with actual situations. The Updating news bring notion of two new pages, added recently to the Website. One addresses the clearance control sealing of air and gas path in turbo machinery by means of Abradable Coatings realized with special materials using one of the known and proven methods of Thermal Spray. The other one is the Index Page listing the Titles of each one of the content pages appearing to date in our website. It represents one more tool useful when looking for practical answers on the most varied subjects treated. Comments on its usefulness will be eagerly received. One of our readers was so kind to send a short note on how he solved a nagging problem, using hints he got from this website: we thank him much for his contribution, and ask all to contribute by sharing with this audience practical solutions they have experience of, to help other fellow readers. The other departments can be found at their usual place. Readers are reminded that the Mid November Bulletin is now appended at the end of this regular issue. If you are just curious to explore past issues of this publication, you can find them by clicking on the Index of Past Issues of PWL. Enjoy! 2 - Article - How to pick up Welding Information This Website (www.welding-advisers.com) and the connected publications, put together along the years quite a remarkable amount of Welding Information, available online to all interested to deal with different aspects of this technical knowledge and know-how. It happens quite often however that a reader in need of some specific information finds it difficult to reach the answer on his/her own from this source, and issues a query with our Contact Us form. Nothing wrong with that, on the contrary I would like to encourage direct correspondence, except that this occurrence demonstrates that, notwithstanding the considerable efforts put in presenting the information, the effective perusal of this collection is not self evident. Something should be done to ease the research of people needing available knowledge. As a first aid in this endeavor, I put together an Index with the Titles of all the pages published up to now so that, by browsing through it, at the Index Page, readers might find at a glance what they were looking for. I will be glad to hear if this page is found useful. For short descriptions of the content of each of the pages, readers are referred to the Site Map, where, besides the title also short explanation are included. A complete Index with specific terms listed in alphabetical order could possibly be most useful, however Outsourcing the work to have such an index compiled could be quite expensive, and it is doubtful if readers would be ready to pay for it. It is obvious that this Website cannot and is not intended to replace textbooks or monographs on specific subjects. To all those interested in learning seriously Welding and Metallurgy, the recommendation to consider the purchase of outstanding volumes cannot be emphasized too much. For a short list of suggested readings, my page on Welding Books can be consulted. For those ready to build to themselves their own Encyclopedia, I suggest to get the two Volumes I prepared on Metals Knowledge. The links reported there point live to invaluable information available online at no cost from respected Sources. By downloading and saving the information on the various subjects in separate folders organized in logical order, one gets the next best thing to an official Encyclopedia full of valuable knowledge for a negligible cost. I would appreciate the comments of those who downloaded my volumes and built their own Encyclopedia. Until such time, if ever, when a proper subject Index will be available, there is a ready made solution available in every page of the Website. By typing the term one needs in the Google Search Box, one gets pages and pages of results pointing to the Website places where such term appeared. Some digging out may be still necessary to decide if the answer is relevant to the query, but this is certainly a practical searching aid I use myself quite often. Two more general pages can help for finding what one needs. One is the Welding Topics page, including the most important Article Titles from Past Issues of Practical Welding Letter, our monthly newsletter. The Complete List of all published PWLs, without article titles, is available at: Back Issues, wherefrom any or all of them can be downloaded. The other is the list of the Middle Month Bulletins that point to online resources on selected subjects. It is found at Welding Resources. I would like to remind that when looking for a specific term in any page chock-full of written words, one can generally use the "search" or "find" facility, from the View or Edit menu. I hope this note might help in indicating ways for finding needed information, and I would gratefully appreciate readers suggestions on how to make the information more reachable and useful. Please use the Contact Us form. 3 - How to do it well: Proper Water Cooling of Spot Welding Electrodes Practical notes are often most useful in that they address common problems. I usually pay attention to the Q&A appearing in the Welding Journal because there is frequently something to learn. In the November 2010 issue at page 16 there is an explanation on the importance of the correct mounting of water tubes in resistance welding electrodes. The adjustable tube extensions should be so mounted, by sliding them on their support as necessary, that they reach the bottom of the electrode internal cavity. The tube end should be cut at 45 degrees to make sure that water flows unhindered without forming steam pockets. Cooling water should be circulated as near as possible to the tip to be effective in reducing the copper temperature, to keep its strength as needed during the forging cycle when large pressures are applied. Keeping electrodes cool prevents copper softening and tip mushrooming, maximizing electrodes life and improving spot weld quality. Either sliding or spring loaded tubes are used. When becoming distorted or otherwise damaged they must be substituted with new ones and regularly maintained. The note recommends to use straight electrodes whenever possible. If not, offset tip holders with straight tips should be preferred. To further enhance the importance of the subject, the author of the note, Tim Snow, refers readers to a research paper titled "Influence of Water Temperature and Flow on Electrode Life" available at Interested readers are urged to seek the original article from the source mentioned above.
4 - Filler Metals: Stick Electrodes for Welding Aluminum? The Search Term "Can I weld aluminum with stick welder?" was reported by Google as a recently asked query. The complete answer can be found at page 77 of the AWS Welding Handbook, Ninth Edition, Volume 2, Part 1. See: Welding Books. We learn that the AWS A5.3 - Specification for Aluminum and Aluminum-Alloy Electrodes for Shielded Metal Arc Welding includes three classifications of covered electrodes for welding aluminum. They are identified as E1100, E3003 and E4043 following the common aluminum designations. We are informed that the electrode coverings include alkali low melting halides to dissolve the tenacious aluminum oxide that interferes with welding. However these substances are very corrosive to aluminum and must be completely removed after welding. To avoid porosity in the weld, moisture must be completely extracted by proper storing and baking before use. Although these electrodes can be used for non critical applications with Direct Current Electrode Positive, the Standard AWS D1.3 - Structural Welding Code - Aluminum makes no provision for the use of the SMAW process. From the above it can be concluded that the answer to the above query is in fact positive, but it is not recommended unless there is no other choice available, and then only for non critical applications. 5 - Online Press: recent Welding related Articles Laser Welding Ins and Outs You Don't Know Robotic CNC Designed for Radioactive Vessel Repair Flux-Cored Welding: The Basics for Mild Steel State of the Welding Industry Report(36 pages) The laser alternative....to nuclear decommissioning 6 - Terms and Definitions Reminder Design Objectives of weldment design are: the performance of the intended functions, evidence of required stability, reliability and safety, capability to be fabricated, inspected, transported and put in service at e minimum total cost. Manufacturing Costs include direct materials (those that become part of the finished product), direct labor (including preparation, fit up, welding, testing, inspecting and repairing if necessary), expendable equipment (including tooling and accessories) and factory overhead however taken into account. Performance Qualification consists in demonstrating the capability of the personnel carrying out welding operation, by testing suitable test pieces, manufactured by the candidate individuals following written procedures, according to established requirements. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is required to reduce the risks of exposure of welding personnel to occupational hazards inherent in the use of equipment to perform welding operations Robot definition (by the Robotic Industries Association): an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator, programmable in three axes or more, which may be ether fixed in place or mobile, for use in industrial automation applications. Seal coat is a material used to infiltrate and close the pores of thermal spray deposits. Stress-strain curve originating in a tensile test provides information on the ultimate tensile strength, the yield point, the offset yield strength and the modulus of elasticity Transverse weld test specimen has its major axis perpendicular to the weld axis. 7 - Article - Guidelines for Developing a Welding and Cutting Safety Program In our page on Safety the recommendation is presented of preparing written Safety instructions and enforcing them as a compulsory code. However it appears that continuous attention should be devoted to the subject, because minor oversights may cause irreparable accidents. An article with the title shown above was published recently in the Magazine for Environment, Health and Safety Leaders at: It is most instructive reading, and it should be studied and applied at all levels, from Managers though Supervisors and down to the single workers. In fact the guidelines stem from OSHA's (Occupational, Safety and Health Administration) experience in evaluating workplaces through its consultation projects and Voluntary Protection Programs. The guidelines outline a management system to identify and control hazards on a proactive basis using four major program elements:
Although self evident, management should regard worker safety and health as a fundamental value not only because less cases of absence due to illness or accidents result in less compensation claims and less production disturbances, but especially because a safe workplace improves job satisfaction and encourages employees to retain their post. Furthermore continuing education, regular training and constant supervision should be assured at all levels, to avoid complacency and slackening of attention to details. Worker involvement is most important to raise active participation and commitment by having employees take part in safety committees in charge of surveying operating units to identify hazards and for making them more responsible for their own well being and for that of their fellow workers. References are given there to help in preparing the Safety Program discussed in the above mentioned article. Here it is important to point out that the mere report of various accidents reported in the press, relative to normal welding and cutting activities, may have an educational value in reminding the evident risks. It should be a mistake to consider the above as applicable only to large organizations. Even the smallest shop should be alert to the dangers and act responsibly. Therefore, when someone asks me how to start welding for hobby, I always recommend taking a welding course, especially for the value of safety education. Don't overlook the dangers, never. 8 - Site Updating: Abradable Coatings, Index Page The Pages of this Month refer to unrelated subjects. The first reports on special applications of one of the usual and known Thermal Spray processes, for a unique purpose, that of controlling and minimizing clearances between moving and static parts in turbomachinery. The need stems from the drive to improve efficiency and reduce waste. The same concept however is applicable to most rotating parts when clearance control is critical to performance. This new page can be seen by clicking on Abradable Coatings. The second page is simply an Index of the Titles of the numerous website pages, prepared as an aid to readers seeking answers about subjects interesting them. The usefulness of such a page occurred to me while preparing the note published in section 2 above. I hope that it will be useful, comments and feedback are welcome. This new page can be seen by clicking on Index Page. As usual, readers can remain updated by signing to the RSS page, appearing below the NavBar in every page, by looking at the Site Map or by browsing the Welding Blog. To send feedback or for asking questions don't use Replay, please use the Contact Us Form. 9 - Short Items 9.1 - Acid Rain is atmospheric precipitation with a pH below 5.6 to 5.7. Burning of fossil fuels for heat and power is the major factor in the generation of oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, which are converted into nitric and sulfuric acids washed down in the rain. 9.2 - Brine Quenching is done in the brine (salt water-chlorides, carbonates, and cyanides) quenching medium. The salt addition improves the efficiency of water at the vapor phase or hot stage of the quenching process. 9.3 - Centrifugal Casting is a casting technique in which mold cavities are spaced symmetrically about an axial common downgate. The entire assembly is rotated about that axis during pouring and solidification. A note on this subject was published (7) in Issue 70 of Practical Welding Letter for June 2009. Click on PWL#070 to see it. 9.4 - Mild Steel is carbon steel with a maximum of about 0.25% C and containing 0.4 to 0.7% Mn, 0.1 to 0.5% Si, and some residuals of sulfur, phosphorus, and/or other elements. 9.5 - Radiation Damage is a general term for the alteration of properties of a material, arising from exposure to ionizing radiation such as x-rays, gamma rays, neutrons, heavy-particle radiation, or fission fragments in nuclear fuel material. 9.6 - Reverse Engineering is the preparation of complete engineering and manufacturing documents, including bill of materials, drawings, process specifications and quality requirements, for producing a given existing part lacking engineering documentation partially or completely. An Article of mine on this subject was published in The Fabricator.
10 - Explorations: beyond the Welder Making Science Fun! The Large Hadron Collider 20,000 Species Under the Sea [Slide Show] Massive Neutron Star Hints Malaria 11 - Contributions: How to repair a Magnesium Saw Housing, by Zach Johnson I am a Bricklayer/Foreman and Certified Welder. My company as well as every other masonry company and many others have had the same problem. We use gas powered chop saws which have a magnesium piston housing. Our quickie saws seem to have a major flaw in the design, the piston housing and the mounts for the feet and the bar that holds the blade are all one piece. If you break the saw in any of these places then you have to replace the whole housing, mounts and bar, it's about an hour and a half process and it's a very expensive part. Thanks to the Welding Advisers site I was able to find the right welding process and some tips and tricks that helped me learn to weld magnesium. All I had to do was pull off all the plastic covers that were in the way, take the handle off the saw and wire wheel clean the broken parts, then just weld them back together. Clean, clean, clean! Back side, front side, everything needs to be clean at least a 1/2 in. either side of the fracture. So I Tig welded the magnesium housings and used a 2% thoriated tungsten electrode with pure argon in AC, and AZ91 filler rod. After welding a few of them, I learned that you absolutely can NOT get your base metals too clean. I used a stainless wire wheel to prepare the parts and a stainless wire brush in between welds. I can now repair our gas powered chop saws which have a magnesium piston housing. Thanks again, Zach Johnson ----------- I am pleased that my Website is proving useful to readers, I am grateful when a reader takes the time to inform me that he got some benefit, and I am glad that a short note was written to convey first hand experience about practical problems and their solution. I am sure that many other readers could send short reports on their experiences to help this audience with their own observations. I urge anyone who ever found useful information in this Website or in this Publication to send Contributions to show their support. These note is being published also in the Welding Talk page. On the above subject, the page on Magnesium Welding can be consulted. Invitation for Contributions: any of the following would be a good subject.
Take part in this initiative! E. L.
12 - Testimonials From: Ali Bagheri Dear Mr. Elia Levi,
On Sun Oct 17 06:52:48 2010, the following results were submitted from the "Form 5" on welding-advisers.com: Name: Pervez Khambata Subject: Re: dissimilar welding Thank you, Elia
13 - Correspondence: a few Comments 13.1 - To these days I receive requests for quotation (RFQ) for offers of materials and/or consumables from inquirers who ignore that this website cannot provide any. Other manufacturers offer this website their production of personal protective equipment or consumables, assuring good quality and attractive prices. Sorry, we are not trading in materials or equipment. 13.2 - Readers ask how to get qualification documents for specific hardware: that should be provided by manufacturers. Societies like AWS may issue requirements, not documentation for identifiable production lots. 13.3 - Readers write on the failure to pass certain tests and ask for advice although their case is not fully described and the failure is not well defined. But once advised that any failure needs metallurgical investigation to determine the cause, possibly fearing for the cost involved, they cut off all contact and give up. Strange, don't you think? 14 - Bulletin Board 14.1 - TROPHYLITE Game from Lincoln Electric The following message was received from Becky Casto of Lincoln Electric: Lincoln Electric will be featuring the new TROPHYLITE game at FABTECH this year. Let me know if you have any questions. My number is 216.472.2391 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 216.472.2391 end_of_the_skype_highlighting Thanks, Becky http://lincolnelectric.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=272
14.2 - Theory Online Courses of NdE Methods Disclaimer: - The following information if offered as a service to our readers. The Commercial Company presenting the Courses has obvious interest in selling the products. Welding Advisers does not recommend nor advices, is totally extraneous and will get no gains if readers accept the offers. Readers should study and decide on their own if the Online Courses meet their interests. Readers wishing to attend Online Courses on Theory of Nondestructive Testing can explore the opportunity offered by One should remark that Theory training is only a part, albeit important, of Full Certification requirements. It is essential to fulfill the classroom, or written portion of the worldwide requirements. Experience, eye examinations and other practical training, as defined in the Standard used or the employer's Written Practice, must be met as a prerequisite to certification. To get Full Certification, there is still a practical component required in addition to the course that WorldSpec.org offers. This can either be taken at various NDE facilities in the student's area, or by attending practical workshops or courses, offered throughout the World. 14.3 - See an AWS Foundation update: 14.4 - Dissimilar Materials Joining for Advanced Energy Applications 14.5 - Previous Issues of Practical Welding Letter are available at the Index of Past Issues of PWL, while the Titles of important Articles published there appear in the page on Welding Topics. 14.6 - Don't miss the SBI! 2.0 Home Page (buildit)
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Bulletin 55 - PWL#087B Keywords: Resources on Heat Treatment of Aluminum Alloys, General Characteristics, Aluminum Heat Treatment Processes, Applications and Equipment, Temper Designations PWL#087B - Resources on Heat Treatment of Aluminum Alloys, General Characteristics, Aluminum Heat Treatment Processes, Applications and Equipment, Temper Designations, Solution Heat Treatment, Age Hardening, Standard Practice, Electrical Conductivity Test, Aerospace Treatment and much more...
Important AnnouncementFor assembling at no cost your own Encyclopedia Online, See a note on Your Opportunity at the beginning of this page, just above the Table of Contents. Links to the Mid Month Bulletin Pages are listed in the regularly updated page on Welding Resources (Opens a new Window). We urge our readers to Bookmark this page or to subscribe to our Welding Site Blog by clicking on the orange buttons under the NavBar in each Website page (www.welding-advisers.com)
Introduction This Mid November Bulletin #55 is now integral with and appended to the regular PWL#087 publication. The subject of this 55th Bulletin is a collection of Online Resources on Heat Treatment of Aluminum Alloys, likely to add breadth and depth to the subjects presented in our other pages on Welding and Brazing Aluminum. The concepts introduced here should be assimilated in order to gain understanding on the influence of welding on the mechanical properties of aluminum alloys, and on what can be done to partially restore them if welding reduced them to those of annealed condition. Links to the Mid Month Bulletin Pages are listed in the regularly updated page on Welding Resources (Opens a new Window). We urge our readers to Bookmark this page or to subscribe to our Welding Site Blog by clicking on the orange buttons under the NavBar in each Website page.(www.welding-advisers.com) The addresses reported hereafter were live and correct at the time of their publication. There is no guarantee that they will always be so, because they are administered by the sources themselves and are under their control. Note: References to articles or other documents are given here in If they are URL's (Uniform Resource Locator), which is the analogue of an address, they begin with "http://..." or "www.". These are not live and must be copied and pasted entirely into the browser (after having selected them with the mouse or otherwise). If they are long they may be displayed in two or more lines. In that case one has to care that the URL be copied completely in a single line without any space, and Enter. If the information is important to you as we hope, you may save the selected pages in a suitable folder on your Computer for easy reference. You are welcome to forward this page to those of your friends who may profit of this information. Resources
General Characteristics of Aluminum and its Alloys Aluminum Heat Treatment Processes, Applications and Equipment New Aluminum Alloy Heat Treatment Improves Properties, Reduces Process Costs Basic Aluminum Temper Designations Heat Treatment and Tempers of Aluminium Extrusion Heat Treatment of Aluminium and Aluminium Alloys Thermal Treatments (Heat-Treating) Heat Treating Aluminium Cast Nonferrous: Heat treating of aluminum and aluminum alloys Cast Nonferrous: Heat Treatable Aluminum Alloys Selection and Weldability of Non-Heat-Treatable Aluminum Alloys Solution Heat Treatment (17 pages - click the arrow) Heat Treatment of Aluminum Alloys Developments in Aluminum Heat Treating Process Specification for the Heat Treatment of Aluminum Alloys (8 pages) Heat Treatment of Aluminum Alloys (6 pages) ASTM B917 / B917M - 09 ASTM B918 / B918M - 09 Heat Treatment of Wrought Aluminum Alloy Parts MIL-STD-1537 Revision C Metals - Aluminum Solution Heat Treatment and Age Hardening Heat Treatment of Aluminum (Video) Heat Treatment of Aluminum Part 2 (Video) Are the 4xxx series alloys heat-treatable or non-heat-treatable alloys? The HAZ In Aluminum Welds Influence of heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of 6005 and 6082 aluminium alloys (4 pages) Welding aluminum - Learning about the alloys Aluminium and its alloys used in aircraft Effect of Electrical Pulsing on Various Heat Treatments of 5XXX Series Aluminum Alloys (10 pages) A novel approach to the design and optimization of aluminium cast component heat treatment (4 pages) Understanding Cold Finished Aluminum Alloys (2 pages) Aerospace heat treatment Aluminum and Its Alloys (15-Lesson Series) [for Sale]
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