New Surface Treatment Makes Welding Steel Cleaner

April 2, 2010 - PRLog -- As sheet steel fabricators gain knowledge welding SCS processed flat rolled steel - http://www.scsprocess.com/steelfabrication/scs-sheet-steel-welding.html  - we learn good news regarding better weld quality, cost savings on welding filler wire . Nonetheless, we occasionally learn of a new end user developing issues with too much weld spatter while welding SCS-treated steel. Analyses show that modest adjustments in shielding gas and filler wire feed eradicate excessive spatter and deliver larger cost savings on welding consumables.

Weld Integrity Tests.
Six years ago equivalent samples of welded SCS processed steel and P&O sheets were tested to failure in shear at St. Louis Testing Laboratories. It required an average 580 pounds greater shear load to induce failure in welded SCS processed steel samples than the Oiled strip steel samples .

The SCS sheet steel advantage -  http://www.scsprocess.com - proceeds from better weld integrity. A certain portion of weld arc's energy would go to heating the oil on Pickled and oiled sheets. This brings out even more contaminants to a Oiled strip steel surface that is already relatively dirty compared to SCS. The net effect is to decrease the integrity of Hot rolled sheet steel welds compared to SCS processed steel welds.

Most sheet steel fabricators who turned to SCS strip steel  -  http://www.scsprocess.com/steelfabrication/scs-sheet-stee... -  documented cleaner, more substantial welds with little or no spatter. However, a handful reported unacceptable concentrations of spatter.

To discover the underlying cause, TMW recruited the assistance of the Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center that offers specialized services to manufacturers. IMEC's project manager partnered with a third party welding expert to perform controlled welding tests of SCS treated steel. First, they duplicated the welding procedures of fabricators who claimed excessive spatter and observed similarly unwanted results.

Then they, analyzed changes in shielding gas composition and filler wire feed rate. Switching from 90%Argon-10%CO2 to 95%Argon-5%Oxygen enhanced arc stability and substantially lowered spatter. Bringing down wire feed speed worked well with the different shielding gas recipe. In fact, using ER70S-6 filler wire at a slower feed speed with the Argon-Oxygen mixture offered notably better penetration and improved bead physical appearance when welding at the same speed.

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SCS Steel Suppliers provide the surface treatment, SCS for Smooth Clean Surface. SCS removes rust/mill scale leaving a high quality steel surface finish, smooth as stainless or cold roll. SCS steel is ideal for sheet metal fabrication and resists rusting.