The World Of Flux Coated Welding Rods
The World of Flux Coated Rods
Hello again from The Welders Lens. Thank you for joining me. Today in the Stick Rod Series we will look at different Flux Coated Rods ( electrodes
Welding is a process that normally fuses like metals together. I say normally. There is the occasion where dissimilar (or unlike) metals are welded together. One such instance would be when welding stainless to carbon steel (iron). Each welding rod or electrode is made up of the filler metal and the flux coating. The filler metal is the metal that will be fused into the material you are welding on. The flux is the outer coating around the metal rod. Without the flux coating, this type of welding is virtually impossible.
The flux is what allows the metal to burn continuously and consistently. The flux is what shields the burning filler metal and parent metal from impurities in the atmosphere when welding. It also keeps the rod from sticking to the surface you are welding on. Hello again from The Welders Lens. Thank you for joining me. Today in the Stick Rod Series we will look at different Flux Coated Rods (electrodes)
Welding is a process that normally fuses like metals together. I say normally. There is the occasion where dissimilar (or unlike) metals are welded together. One such instance would be when welding stainless to carbon steel (iron). Each welding rod or electrode is made up of the filler metal and the flux coating. The filler metal is the metal that will be fused into the material you are welding on. The flux is the outer coating around the metal rod. Without the flux coating, this type of welding is virtually impossible.
The flux is what allows the metal to burn continuously and consistently. The flux is what shields the burning filler metal and parent metal from impurities in the atmosphere when welding. It also keeps the rod from sticking to the surface you are welding on. In general it is important to understand that with almost all welding procedures oxygen enriched atmosphere will contaminate your weld.
At times while welding there will be little air bubbles (also called porosity) that appear in the weld. This is not good. You don’t want this and neither do inspectors or your weld. Porosity makes a weld inferior and leads to weld failure at times if the pressures against the weld are great. The flux coating purges the atmosphere while the weld is in process.
Welding rods are stamped most of the time. On occasion I have seen rods with no indicators on them. Boy that really leaves you guessing. The stamp gives a number of things in it that help the welder. It will give you tensile strength. Tensile strength is the amount of weight the rod will hold up usually measured in pounds.
7018 is what is known as a low-hydrogen electrode. The first two numbers are 70 or seventy.
This indicates that this particular rod can hold up to 70,000 pounds per square inch of force. These rods are rated true. I have taken many welding test through the years. If you were to take a pipeline code weld test (P1101), your test specimen; in this case a 6″ piece of pipe, would be cut up into 8 one inch strips from different parts of your pipe coupon or test piece the length of the pipe coupon.
These pieces are then stretched and pulled to test there breakability and imperfections from your weld, if there are any.
If you had used the 6010 Sp+ rod which is standard for that test, then you will see that when the pressure dials begin to approach the 60,000 to 61,000 pound reading on the gauge the metal pulls apart and severs at some point in the test piece. The next sets of numbers stand for position and composition.
7018 is a 70,000lb. all position rod composed of a class 8 composition. The number 1 means that this rod can be welded in all positions. Flat, vertical (uphill/downhill), horizontal, and overhead. This rod can be used on a 6g test which is the all around position test. This test is considered to cover all the welding positions while in progress at one time.
It is the hardest test besides a fixed jig. Both hands must be used to weld efficiently. 7024 is also a low-hydrogen rod but notice the back end numbers change. This is not an all position rod and the flux composition is a little different as well. It will still hold up to 70,OOOlb. per square inch.
These are just some basics for now. We will cover more on rod type in the another article. Until next time stay behind The Welders Lens.
From the Author
Michael D. Treadway
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