Welding is a procedure used for joining permanently two materials by applying intense heat. Welding should be performed in well aerated areas because the fumes produced during the process may suffocate and choke. Even though welding stainless steel may not be as complex and hard as welding Aluminum, it has some unique characteristics that other common steels do not possess. Stainless steel contains 12% chromium. It is is fairly brittle and provides minimum corrosion. For the process of welding to be fully successful, steps and procedures have to be followed for all metals and stainless steel is not an exception.
Stainless steel welding process is undertaken in a systematic manner. The welder must first be dressed up in full protective equipment with as little amount of skin as possible in exposure. Full length shirts and aprons are necessary with full eye, hands and ear protection. To get the strongest joints a T, edge, lap, corner or butt joining method is used. To select the best method, metal thickness, joint accessibility and the desired strength of the joint is put under consideration.
Before starting the welding process, ensure that the metals involved are firmly held to avoid any avoidable accidents. Different processes of welding steel are available for the different results in strength of the produced joints. Flux cored arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, gas metal arc welding and shielded metal arc welding are the available processes available for stainless steel welding. All these processes except the shielded metal arc welding use an inert shielding gas and filler metal that does not easily crack and is compatible with the base metal is used. When the metals to be welded are similar, the base metal should be the same in characteristics with the welded metals. Stainless steel exists commonly in two grades; 304L welded using the 308L filler and the 316L grade welded using the 316L filler.
Cleaning the stainless steel prior to welding with a stainless steel wire brush is vital because it eliminates oxides present and burrs. This boosts the strength and durability of the joint after welding and simplifayes welding proces it self. Ferrous,thick and highly carbonated stainless steels are preheated before applying the welding torch. This makes the welding process on them very much easy and quick with excellent desired results. Stainless steel is easy to weld but very challenging to keep it flat. This calls for systematic uniform movement of the welding torch throughout the process if the desired results are to be achieved.
During the welding process, movement of the welding torch over the joint area is maintained uniformly to ensure that there are no weak points in any part of the joint.
For an excellent end result, the welded areas are heated after the welding process. This prevents rapid cooling which may cause stress on the joint area resulting in cracks which weaken the joint. In case of slag accumulation on the weld bead, grinding or chipping with a hammer and chisel is used.
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