Four welding methods for argon arc welding of stainless steel pipes

Argon arc welding

Stainless steel pipe base welding: The welding of stainless steel pipes usually consists of base welding, filling welding, and cover welding. Stainless steel pipe base welding is the most critical part of stainless steel pipe welding. It is not only related to the quality of the project but also to the progress of the project. At present, stainless steel base welding is divided into two processes: back argon filling and non-argon filling. Back argon filling protection is divided into solid welding wire + TIG process and solid welding wire + TIG + water-soluble paper process; back non-argon filling protection is divided into flux-cored wire base welding and welding rod (flux-coated welding wire) base TIG welding.

Stainless steel base welding usually adopts the TIG process. According to the actual situation on-site, we can use the following four methods for base welding.

01. [Method of using a plugging plate to seal and protect ventilation on the back (i.e. solid welding wire + TIG)]

When prefabricating stainless steel pipes, the welds can usually be rotated for welding, and ventilation is very easy. At this time, plugging plates are usually used to seal and protect the ventilation on both sides of the welds in the pipe for base welding, and adhesive cloth is used to seal the outside. When welding, the process of early ventilation and delayed gas stop should be adopted, and the adhesive cloth on the outside should be torn off while welding. Since the plugging plate is composed of rubber and tinplate, it is not easy to be damaged, so this welding method can well ensure that the inside of the weld is filled with argon gas and its purity, thereby effectively ensuring that the metal inside the weld is not oxidized and ensuring the quality of the weld base welding.

02. [Method of using only soluble paper or a combination of soluble paper and plugging plate for sealing and ventilation protection (i.e. solid welding wire + TIG + water-soluble paper)]

When installing and welding the fixed port of stainless steel pipes, it is difficult to ventilate the inside, and one side is easier to block. In this case, water-soluble paper + plugging plate can be used for blocking. That is, the side that is easy to ventilate and easy to remove is blocked with a plugging plate, and the side that is not easy to ventilate and difficult to remove the plugging plate is blocked with water-soluble paper, and the outside is blocked with an adhesive cloth to paste the weld.

When welding the fixed port of stainless steel, in many cases, both sides of the weld cannot be ventilated. At this time, how to ensure argon filling protection on the inside of the weld becomes a problem. In actual on-site construction, we use water-soluble paper to block both sides of the weld, ventilate from the center of the weld, and block the outside with adhesive cloth, which successfully solves the above problems.

When using water-soluble paper to seal ventilation, since ventilation is carried out from the center of the weld, the ventilation pipe should be quickly unplugged in the final sealing link, and the remaining argon gas inside should be used for protection, and the bottom should be quickly applied and the mouth should be sealed.

When using this method, it should be noted that the water-soluble paper should be double-layered and must be pasted well, otherwise, it is easy to cause the water-soluble paper to be damaged or fall off, causing the inner weld to lose the protection of argon gas, resulting in oxidation, resulting in the weld being cut open and re-welded, which can not only fail to guarantee the welding quality but also seriously affect the construction period. Therefore, strict inspection should be carried out before welding, and the water-soluble paper should be pasted well.

In many construction sites, we have used this welding method for bottoming, and its quality can be effectively guaranteed. At the same time, there is a certain degree of construction difficulty, so careful and skilled welders should be selected for this work.

03. [No argon protection on the back, flux-cored wire + TIG process]

This method has been used in my country for several years. E308T1-1, E308LT1-1, E309T1-1, E309LT1-1, 347T1-1, E316T1-1, E316LT1-1, and other flux-cored wires have been produced and applied to on-site welding, achieving good economic benefits.

Since argon is not filled on the back, its advantages are obvious, mainly high efficiency, simplicity, low cost, and suitability for installation on construction sites. However, due to its structural characteristics, flux-cored wire has high requirements for welders during operation. It has fast wire feeding speed and high wire feeding accuracy requirements, and it is difficult to master. Welders should be specially trained and skilled before they can participate in welding.

04. [No argon protection on the back, using coated wire (self-shielded flux-cored wire) + TIG process]

In recent years, my country has also developed stainless steel base welding wire (i.e. coated welding wire, such as TGF308, TGF308L, TGF309, TGF316L, TGF347, etc.), and applied it in actual construction, achieving good results. The protection mechanism of the stainless steel base welding wire + TIG process is that the back weld is protected by the slag produced by the melting of the welding wire and the metallurgical reaction of its alloy elements, and the front weld is protected by argon, slag, and alloy elements.

When using this process, the following operating points should be noted: During the welding process, the welding handle, welding wire, and weldment should maintain a correct angle. The ideal welding handle nozzle tilt angle is 70°-80°, and the angle between the welding wire and the weldment surface is 15°-20°; Correctly control the molten pool temperature by changing the angle between the welding handle and the weldment, changing the welding speed, etc. to change the molten pool temperature, so as to ensure the beauty of the weld (consistent width and no defects such as concave or over-convex); During operation, the current should be slightly larger than when welding solid wire, and the welding handle should be slightly swung to make the iron The water and the melted coating are separated quickly, which is convenient for observing the molten pool and controlling whether the welding is thorough. When filling the welding wire, it is best to send it to 1/2 of the molten pool and press it slightly inward to ensure root penetration and prevent concave. During the welding process, the welding wire should be regularly fed in and taken out, and the welding wire should always be protected by argon gas to prevent the end of the welding wire from being oxidized and affecting the welding quality. Pay attention to the welding quality at the arc starting and arc ending. The spot welding point should be polished into a 45° gentle slope at the arc starting point. When closing the arc, attention should be paid to the generation of defects such as arc pits and shrinkage holes.

Using the coated welding wire for base welding, there is no need to pass argon gas inside the weld. The welder is easy and fast to operate, with the characteristics of high efficiency and low cost. At the same time, it can also well ensure the welding quality (in a petrochemical expansion and transformation project, we used this method to weld 28 joints and repair ports, and the welding one-time perspective pass rate was 100%), which is worth our promotion and use.

The above four stainless steel base welding methods each have their own advantages and disadvantages. In actual construction, we should reasonably choose the construction process based on the specific conditions of the site, taking into account both the construction cost and the welding quality and construction progress.