Welding is an elementary process of joining more than one material by the application of severe heating along with different frictions. Welding electrodes are one of the most commonly used tools in manufacturing, construction and automobile industries.
Usually constructed with highly conductible metal wires coated with specialized chemicals, welding rods support the high-temperature welding arcs and form the base material for welding joints or melting activities for metal fusion purposes.
Not all electrodes are the same. There are a lot of variations found in the market. The welding rod has an outer flux coating which protects the metal from damage, stabilizes the arc, and improves the weld. When joining two pieces of metal together, electrodes are used to create an electric arc. The two metals heat and melt, fusing together in a stronger bond.
The outer coating of an electrode plays a vital role as it helps in keeping the welding arc steady, as well as improves the chemical properties of the welded metal.More often than not, the quality of welding electrodes is determined by its coating. The reasons are as follows:
- The coating plays a key role in the maintenance of the arc.
- It also protects the molten metal from exposure to oxygen and nitrogen present in the air by producing a shield of gas in the welding pool.
- The coating also reduces the rate of cooling by providing a blanket on the weld.
- It also assists in seamless introduction of new alloying materials which are not present in the core wire.
Below are the most widelyused electrode coatings for welding purposes.
Mild Steel Electrodes
These flexibly applied electrodes primarily consist of two segments—the core material (wire, rod, metal, etc) and the coating on the same. Mild steel welding rods are usually coated with high quality but low carbon steel deposits. These electrodes have considerable tensile and yield strength, can sustain a long-standing arc, and are mostly applied in the welding processes of mild steels, galvanized and low alloy steels. Mild steel electrodes are typically used in manufacturing and automobile repairing industries.
Low Hydrogen Carbon Steel Electrodes
These high quality welding electrodes are coated with low hydrogen iron powders and are used primarily on carbon and low alloy steels. The general tensile strength that welding using these materials can be applied is under 70,000 psi. They are powerful enough for versatile applications and produce great welding through all directions. It results in advanced, long-lasting, and non-cracking weld deposits on steel materials. Relatively high-stress welding can also be done using these electrodes.
Stainless Steel Electrodes
Stainless steel welding rods are another commonly used electrodes, especially in very high-temperature applications such as in electrical production-power industries. They are also very popular in pharmaceutical, hospital equipment, acid, soap, and fertilizer industries.These welding electrodes are made up of different qualities of stainless steels and provide good creep resistance when compared to other categories. Applied on a wide range of metals, these electrodes are one of the best options for welding differing materials—stainless steel to mild and low alloy steels, joining metals with varying and unknown compositions, rough steels, etc.