Aluminum tubes welding
Aluminum tubes welding
(OP)
Hi,
I have been asked to design a 40 ft aluminum tube with a max deflection of 0.5". after calculating the DL, and LL I end up with OD 8.5" with wall thickness 0.5". the problem is I've got to weld two tubes to get the 40 ft length. does aws D1.2 talks about AL tubes welding, and does anyone have a website to get D1.2. Does anyone recommand a better code or reference for welding procedure???
Also I'm using type C backing ring??!!!
Thank you
I have been asked to design a 40 ft aluminum tube with a max deflection of 0.5". after calculating the DL, and LL I end up with OD 8.5" with wall thickness 0.5". the problem is I've got to weld two tubes to get the 40 ft length. does aws D1.2 talks about AL tubes welding, and does anyone have a website to get D1.2. Does anyone recommand a better code or reference for welding procedure???
Also I'm using type C backing ring??!!!
Thank you





RE: Aluminum tubes welding
No. You also better understand what type of aluminum you are going to weld.
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
Talk to your tube supplier before getting too deep in butt welding.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
I've talked to a welding engineer. he told me I could do it by tack weld the tubes at 4 points opposite to each other then weld all around " using a MIG" I guess I'll try that first on shorter tubes and see how it will go !!
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
Did anyone mention that welding leaves aluminum very soft?
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
When you weld the temper is lost, the aluminum is left in a much softer and WEAKER annealed condition.
Did your calculations consider that?
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
So you are going to buy a whole bunch of short tubes, ruin many of them trying to work out the welding process, finally put a "good enough" welded part into service, wait for it to fail and ultimately get the 40 foot long one-piece.
Yeah, that sounds a lot cheaper.
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
Read carefully what MikeHalloran and MintJulep are saying. For aluminium 6061-T6, σy=40,000psi.
For aluminium 6061-0, which is what you get in places, after welding, σy=8,000psi.
Warping due to welding is another problem.
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
drawoh: that's true but I'm having only 0.833 lb/in load on it. second if you check the welding strength and the fatigue it won't fail. also I've run an FEM analysis on it and it passed. my total stress at y was much less thatn the 8000 psi. but Thank you
kingnero: I won't blame anyone, our competitors have made it before and it didn't fail !!
still I'm going to test it on a very short one, and again on a little longer one and see the welding effect and if it has a linear relation and on the deflection. even if I bought 3 tubes 24 ft it much cheaper than cutting 40 ft!!
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
RE: Aluminum tubes welding
kingnero : no one get blamed, have you been blaming your welder for your incorrect designs lol