×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Welding Aluminum
2

Welding Aluminum

Welding Aluminum

(OP)
Dear All,

We are making a conveyor belt structure of aluminum. Its the first aluminum job in our workshop and repeatedly its welding got cracked or piece got over heated. I studied on it and came out with following points:

1. use a heat sink to avoid over heating
2. remove the oxide layer from aluminum with help of SS brush or amri paper.
3. preheat the piece before welding
4. use 4043 wire (right now we using 4047)

Are these points ok? If not can you guide me please? We have not implemented these points yet.


RE: Welding Aluminum

You do not say what the grades of aluminum are that you are welding. 5000 series will weld quite well ( 5356 or 4043 rod). Some of the 6000 series alloys will give you a little difficulty, see how you do with 4043 rod.
B.E.

RE: Welding Aluminum

(OP)
Sir we are using 6061 and wire 4047. Guide please

RE: Welding Aluminum

Switch to the 4043 or 5356 for welding 6061. You are having solidification issues with using 4047. There should be no preheating required. Since this is your first experience with welding aluminum, look here;

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/support/weldi...

RE: Welding Aluminum

(OP)
thankyou metengr sir. Can you please guide on using GTAW for aluminum?

RE: Welding Aluminum

GTAW is a good choice for this. I do not understand how overheating happened though. Can you post pictures?
You might want to consider ron-on and run-off tabs depending on your welding geometry.

Cleanliness is very important. As you said, thorough cleaning with SS wire brush and welding immediately after (not the next day).

RE: Welding Aluminum

(OP)
Pictures not available right now. Can you further elaborate on run on or run off tabs?

RE: Welding Aluminum

cracking might happen because of % of certain elements (Si, Cu, Mg) are within a given range. the rods or wire you're using should be of such a chemical composition that these ranges are exceeded, and you get into the weldable range. When starting and stopping a weld, one typically doesn't add metal but just but keeps the weld pool molten (by lack of better description). Hence there you might fall back into the dangerous ranges. Using run-on/off tabs, you start outside your actual weld and hence the possible zones that are prone to cracking can be easily removed afterwards.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources