Welding Stainless Steel

Welding Stainless Steel Stainless steel can be welded using different procedures like shielded metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding and gas metal arc welding.

There are two main types of electrode coatings in shielded metal arc welding. These are the lime type designated by the suffix15 and the titanium type indicated by the suffix 16. The lime coated electrode with the suffix 15 can be used with direct current electrode positive. The titanium type electrodes are used with alternating current and direct current electrode positive. Both lime and titanium electrode coating are lowhydrogen type and used in all positions. Titanium coated electrode is considered smoother and suffix 15 electrodes are more crack resistant.

Gas tungsten arc welding are mostly used for thinner sections of stainless steel. Argon gas is mostly used in gas shielding. But sometimes argon-helium mixtures are used in automatic applications.

Gas metal arc welding is mostly used in thicker sections of stainless steel.

Spray transfer mode is used for flat position welding and this requires the use of argon for shielding with 2% or 5% oxygen or special mixtures. Short circuiting transfer can also be used on thinner materials.

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