SCS: Superior Welding Plate Steel for Sheet Metal Fabricators

May 17, 2010 - PRLog -- Donald Knopf, senior welding engineer at Smithers Welding, a well-known supplier of welding consumables, prides himself on his ability to match the proper welding practices to a customer's usage and solve problematic welding challenges. Nevertheless he didn't have a handy solution when some customers recently inquired what filler wire he endorses be used with SCS steel plate. The reason? Knopf had never heard of SCS, which stands for Smooth, Clean Surface sheet steel. Visit http://www.scsprocess.com for a full background.

Donald Knopf and fellow welding expert Paul Albert researched SCS and discovered that SCS had gained a reputation as an outstanding base strip steel for welding (see http://www.scsprocess.com/steelfabrication/scs-sheet-steel-welding.html for details). The applications they heard about were interesting, but they wished to get some first hand knowledge with SCS sheet steel and find out on their own , so they contacted The Material Works to get SCS steel samples.

"When the SCS sheets arrived, we were impressed by how even and clean it is, given it's hot rolled black as the base," they remembered. "We thought it would weld as well as premium hot rolled, however we normally see the very best results with cold rolled steel (CRS) . We were interested how well it would stack up against CRS in side-by-side comparisons."

The team used 0.250" coupons of SCS steel, CRS and hot band , welding each steel type only to itself. They commenced to make fillet welds at a controlled speed. They were looking to get a superior 1/4" bead with minimum spatter.

"We used two different filler wires we believed would be matched to these materials. We learned where the SCS fabrication steel welding instructions suggest a 95% Argon/5% Oxygen mix. ."

Each of the steel samples provided weld beads that were overall uniform with minor spatter.

They concluded, "The SCS sheet steel performed more consistent using the 95AR/5O2 shielding gas , just as the guidelines suggested. It had a quite smooth and stable arc, and very good beads . Overall, the SCS sheet steel was capable of producing welding rates comparable to what can be obtained with clean Cold roll."

Comparing the different steels for weldability, these experts give a small advantage to clean CRS.

SCS welding steel was next, obtaining a very consistent bead appearance and rate . SCS steel also performed effectively with the 90Ar/10CO2 mixture and the Hobart experts likened welding SCS steel to welding good quality shot-blasted hot band (not part of the test) . The two agreed that SCS sheet steel welds better than hot band .

As for the additional SCS welding benefits, like decreased pre-welding preparation and cleanup and reduced welding fumes because SCS has no oil to burn away? "We weren't analyzing those variables . . . we were looking at purely weld bead quality, travel rates and just what filler wire and gas mixtures perform best. "

To learn more about SCS steel's uses as a fabrication steel, consult http://www.scsprocess.com/steelfabrication/scs-sheet-stee...

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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.