Friday, July 8, 2011

Aluminum welding and its uses

Aluminum welding



is known as the most intractable alloy. These are done according to the grade and type of aluminum used. There are three types of aluminum where welding is done easily. There are commercial grade aluminum, non heat treatable alloy and heat treatable alloy. All these three contains some chemical which leads to easy welding. The first two types consist of pure aluminum and magnesium respectively. Where else heat treatable alloy contains copper, zinc, magnesium or silicon which makes the work of welding difficult. Due to copper you may find crack on the metal while welding.
These generally include Mig welding and Tig welding method during welding. For better result the latest technique used by aluminum welding is the combination of mig welding with arc welding. These welding feed the rod faster than other types of welding. This welds the metal quicker without stopping for brushing or grind. There are few factors which will affect aluminum while welding are the coating of aluminum oxide, conductivity and expansion of thermal and characteristics of melting.

 

MIG Welding 



Last week, seven students converged at the Madagascar Institute for that facility’s first class of the new year: “Intro to MIG Welding,” taught by the “connoisseur of terror” himself, Hackett (from TV’s Stuck with Hackett). A true group of student-makers, the class ranged in experience from absolute novices who’d never used power tools before to master carpenters who simply wanted to learn to work with metal.
Hackett (right) introduces the Madagascar Institute, and we each discussed our own skill sets, familiarities with metalworking (if any), and our comfort level with working in a shop. Hackett stressed the importance of safety and being honest with what you do and especially with what you don’t know — and he encouraged students to ask questions when they’re unsure or afraid (after all “fear is never boring”).

Hackett then gave a quick lecture on the different types of welding: “stick welding,” TIG and MIG, among others — comparing and contrasting the various applications of each. He also explained how burning, welding, and explosions are all forms of oxidation, with welding being a very precise and restrained form (hopefully!). We also went over all the basic equipment, like gloves, goggles, and the icon of welding: the helmet (and especially the benefits and drawbacks of auto-darkening filter (ADF) helmets, which use a solar panel (or other electronic component) to recognize UV light and “switch” to dark mode, allowing the viewer near-total vision the rest of the time they’re working).

Each student then proceed to metal-chop two 5″ pieces of hallowed square bar, which we ground down the edges of and would later weld back into “one piece” of metal:
A great primer class with extremely addictive properties, I’ve found myself numerous times since the class wanting to improve the world around me… with welding! While there is a bunch of science to this art, MIG welding is considered the “hot glue of welding” techniques, so its rewards are very immediate, and as mentioned before, can be picked up in a jiffy by makers of all skill levels.

MIG Welding Technology 



It’s easy to learn how to MIG weld – with a little practice, even a first-time user can achieve a good-looking weld
MIG welding is a much faster process than Stick welding
The operating cost of MIG welding is lower than Stick welding because of the time savings, and because there’s virtually no waste of filler metals (50 lbs. of MIG welding wire yields approximately 49 lbs. of deposition, as compared to Stick welding where as much as 25% of each electrode is discarded as stubs.)
In general, thinner materials can be welded more easily with MIG versus Stick welding
MIG welding is a clean process and does not require chipping slag off the weld as in Stick welding.

 

MIG Welding Benefits 

MIG stands for “metal inert gas” and was originally developed to weld aluminum and other non-ferrous parts. MIG welding technology was first developed during World War Two to increase the productivity of manufacturing lines making weapons and equipment for the war effort. Soon after the start of the war a number companies improved MIG welding to weld parts faster and more accurately. These advances in the MIG welding process played an important role in the successful war effort by the United States and the Allies.

In 1948 Battelle Memorial Institute further improved MIG welding technology with the development of GMAW welding that used a lesser diameter electrode and added of an ever-present power source. Later advances in welding technology in the 1950’s and 1960’s- including the introduction of carbon dioxide as a welding atmosphere made the welding of steel much more cost effiecient, and replaced riviting as the primary metal joining technology in manuafcturing.