Mig Welding Copper To Stainless Steel

Carbon steel stainless steel aluminum magnesium copper nickel silicon bronze and other alloys.

Mig welding copper to stainless steel.

Stainless steel melts at around 1400 c while copper melts at 1085 c that s a difference of 315 c this makes forming a puddle of the two metals extremely difficult. Spray arc transfer filler metals for gas metal arc welding stainless steel are specified in aws a5 9 93. And to weld with stainless steel mig wire you ll need to use shielding gas. Spray arc short circuiting or pulsed arc transfer.

There are two issues with welding copper and stainless steel. There s just pure stainless steel in it. If the oxides do not burn away. Forums welding techniques tig welding tig brazing stainless steel.

Mig welding is useful because you can use it to weld many different types of metals. He recommends a 75 25 argon helium mix. It tends to stack and not flow out to the edges of the weld. Stainless steel mig welding wire.

The ability to join a wide range of metals and thicknesses. Sounds obvious i know. Plus some stuff to make it easy to weld with. The reason for more heat required on stainless steel is you have to remove the chromium oxides on the surface that give stainless it s corrosion resistance.

Here is the key to successful copper welding he said. Not surprising considering that our mig s use 75 25 carbon dioxide for steel and aluminum welds best with straight argon. Choose from various diameters of wire for different welders and welding projects. When mig welding on stainless you usually have three choices of transfer depending on your equipment.

First up the two metals have substantially different melting points. Steel is also highly anti corrosive hence the title stainless. But it s an important point. Mode of metal transfer.

The oxides burn away and the copper will wet to the metal. Solid stainless steel welding wire is well solid. Alternative gases that you can use are 98 argon and 2 co2 or 98 argon and 2 oxygen mix. It will weld with straight argon but not as well.

Then there s the metallurgical issues of. Here are some advantages to mig welding. Grainger carries a large stock of mig welding wire and flux core welding wire to meet your welding needs including aluminum carbon steel copper coated mild steel stainless steel and more. Even though most of the welding machine manufacturers have included a table of materials and voltage settings in the machine it is highly important for you to pick the right kind of gas and electrode wire to be used for mig welding stainless steel.

Properties of steel and copper during welding. Stainless steel is a popular metal in welding for many reasons it s very strong it s ductile and it s easy to weld especially in comparison to many other kinds of metal. Click here to view full size acrobat pdf file.