How to Weld Aluminum – Metal Fabrication

Aluminium Welding: How to Weld Aluminium

Aluminum is a lightweight, thin metal which is used commonly in welding workshops. With this metal, welding has to be done at low temperatures. Otherwise, you will simply wind up blowing holes in your materials.

Aluminum is quite reactive, so forms an oxide layer when it’s exposed. This poses a challenge to welding as it leads to permeable welds, so you’ll need to scrub the oxide layer from utilizing a wire brush before welding. Nevertheless, you’ll have to work quickly as it will take simply a matter of moments to form once again.

 

Knowing the best ways to weld aluminum is tougher than welding steel, as it requires a great deal more care, factor to consider, and customized devices. Each different kind of welding needs different equipment and strategies, once you comprehend everything that’s involved, aluminum welds look clean, smooth, wise, and they’re resistant.

Why use aluminum?

Aluminum is among the most popular materials to use for welding, and there are numerous great reasons for that. Being thin, it’s exceptionally lightweight. However, it’s still very strong and resilient. Pure aluminum has a melting point of around 1220ºF (660ºC), and it’s highly conductive of both heat and electricity.

Furthermore, aluminum can be alloyed with many other metals, makings them even stronger and more durable.

Aluminum alloys

There are various types of aluminum alloy, so it can be tricky trying to remember the details of every one. There is a system of classification which provides each aluminum alloy a four-digit number, and it’s the first digit which counts. Here’s a quick breakdown of what each number means:

1: Aluminium alloys which start with the number 1 are extremely pure. They are made nearly entirely from aluminum, being available in with an aluminum material of over 99%.

2: Typically used in airplane fabrication, alloys starting with the number 2 are normally made from copper with an aluminum cladding. They are really strong, but they aren’t resistant to corrosion.

3: Aluminium alloys beginning with the number 3 consist of around 1.5% manganese. They aren’t heat treatable, but they’re extremely easy to deal with so make an excellent starting point for anyone brand-new to the aluminum and aluminum alloy welding scene.

4: It’s not uncommon to discover welding electrodes beginning with the number 4. This type of alloy consists of silicon, which can significantly lower the melting point of the metal.

5: Alloys beginning with the number 5 contain magnesium; they’re relatively easy to use, they’re strong, and they’re corrosion-resistant, but they’re not the strongest. Although welding aluminum typically utilizes fairly low-temperature levels, you must try to prevent temperature levels which are too low with these alloys.

6: These alloys are relatively strong and versatile because they are heat treatable. This is because they include a proportion of both silicon and magnesium.

7: Also utilized for aircraft, alloys beginning with the number 7 have a very high strength. They consist of zinc– and normally magnesium on top of that– which makes them heat treatable.

GMAW/ MIG Welding Basics

MIG welding aluminum is possible, provided that you set up your devices to direct present and reverse polarity settings. This welding is possible in any position, although more challenging positions need to be saved for more skilled welders.

Before you can begin MIG welding aluminum, you’ll have to acquire a tank of protecting gas. Plain argon gas is ideal, as this will lead to a truly smooth consistent arc. Nevertheless, an argon helium mix will also work efficiently.

The primary bonus to using argon/helium gas is that it will give deeper penetration, but be careful of this if your metal is really thin. If you do decide to choose a shielding gas made up of a combination of both, something which includes around 75% helium and 25% argon should give you the very best of both.

Aluminum filler wire tends to jam the system easily, so try utilizing either a push-pull wire feed system or a spool gun to prevent this trouble. If you are operating in tight spaces or doing a lot of out-of-position work, then the spool weapon ought to be your favored choice.

Ways To MIG Weld Aluminium

Strike a tidy welding electrode around an inch from the start of your weld, then quickly move it over to the point where you wish to begin welding.

Utilize a string bead method as you move along the weld, but take care not to alter the angle of the electrode as you proceed. You should be moving fairly rapidly anyway, however as you near completion of the weld, aim to increase the speed. This will taper off the size of the weld pool, and in turn, minimize the amount of splitting.

It is a smart idea to point the gun in an upwards direction when you’re welding in the horizontal position.

GTAW/ TIG Welding Basics

TIG welding aluminum is more effective to MIG welding, since it provides very clean, smooth, cool results.

You need to be selective when picking your TIG welding equipment. When utilized with aluminum, TIG welding must be finished with A/C (alternating current)– DC (direct existing) just isn’t suitable. Not all TIG welders are set up for A/C, so make sure you read the particular information of each device thoroughly before trying to bond.

Also see Best 120V MIG Metal Welders 2018 Guide Melbourne

Also, heat control is very important with aluminum welding as the metal is so thin. As a result, a welder who has a pulse function is ideal as this will avoid the temperature levels from increasing too high.

Once again, just as with MIG welding, you will need a protecting gas which ought to contain argon or a mix of argon and helium.

Distortion is a typical issue when welding aluminum– due to the high temperatures– so you might wish to think about tack welding before you start effectively. This will save you a lot of inconveniences and wasted time even more down the line.

The Best Ways To TIG Weld Aluminium

TIG welding will need you to use both hands, so make certain that you’re wearing a suitable set of welding safety gloves and a welding helmet to safeguard yourself while keeping your hands free. In one hand, you’ll be holding the electrode holder, while the filler rod will be held in your other hand.

With scratch start and lift begin methods, there is a risk that some of the tungsten from the electrode will be left on the metal, contaminating the weld. To avoid this, form an arc on a scratch block to heat up the electrode, before breaking the arc and starting again on your weld joint. Additionally, high-frequency starts do not need your electrode to touch the metal at all, so examine the specs of your maker to discover whether it has this ability or not. Regardless of which start method you use, you should constantly await a weld puddle to form before beginning to move along the length of the weld.

Move along the joint, slowly moving backward and forwards a little the entire way, making sure that your filler rod and electrode never touch.

As soon as you reach the end of your weld, if you break off the arc suddenly, you will wind up with cracked, faulty welds. You can prevent this problem by carefully reducing the current to completion, which is easy to do if you utilize a foot control.

How to Weld Cast Aluminium

Cast aluminum is much more challenging to bond than pure or alloyed aluminum, as it is already impure and porous. As soon as the metal heats up, the pollutants and air pockets will bubble to the surface area.

When it concerns your protecting gas, you will need to use argon gas, instead of anything mixed with helium or carbon dioxide.

TIG welding is the very best welding process for these jobs, as it gives you higher control over the welds, particularly in regards to heat and speed. Including aspects of silicon in the task, specifically in aluminum alloys, can seriously improve the final appearance of the welds, so think about utilizing these metals in your work.

Ways To Weld Aluminium to Steel

Aluminum is a reasonably soft, thin, lightweight metal, while steel is much tougher, much heavier and thicker, so signing up with the two can be extremely hard.

There are two easy techniques for welding aluminum to steel, although both require more time and work than common welding.

Also see Best Protective Welding Jacket 2018 Guide Melbourne

The first is to utilize a specifically made piece of metal called a bimetallic shift-insert, which essentially just suggests a little piece of metal which consists of two different metallic elements. One of these materials is aluminum; the other has been welded (not using arc welding) in place currently and can easily be joined to steel. The initial step in using these inserts is to bond the aluminum side of the insert to the metal part of your task; the second step is to weld the steel to the other side of the insert. Having numerous steps will take more time. However, it’s an effective way of producing strong, reliable welds in between aluminum and more powerful metals.

Alternatively, you might attempt dip coating the steel with aluminum, or finish it in silver solder. These methods are more costly as well as need another tough skill set, but they do make it much easier to bond pieces of steel to aluminum.

Other Things to keep in mind

Unlike steel, aluminum does not alter its appearance as it heats up. It stays silver: there is no red-hot glow. As a result, you need to pay attention to make sure that your products are not overheating. Otherwise it will break down and damage the entire job. There is no simple, apparent way to do this– practice and experience will inform you to know from the feel of the maker, the metal and the welding that everything is getting too hot.

Also, despite your welding position, you ought to intend to weld far from you rather than bringing the torch to you. In other words, you must be pushing the weld instead of pulling. On the face of it, this might not look like a big deal, however pushing will minimize the likelihood of having porous, faulty welds.

Conclusion

By now, you should have the ability to see that aluminum welding presents many more challenges than welding steel or other metals. However, all the extra practice and expense on specialized equipment will pay off, as the results will look professional. Aluminum is an excellent material to work with, so it’s a must-have ability for anyone who takes their welding seriously.

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