Welding cast iron.
How is cast iron welded? Cast iron can be welded in two ways:
-
Welding with coated electrodes (also shielded metal arc welding – SMAW, or manual metal arc welding – MMA, method 111) – arc welding method using a consumable metal electrode covered with a flux coating -(cold welding).
-
TIG (ang. tungsten inert gas) or GTAW (gas tungsten arc welding) – welding method with a non-consumable tungsten electrode in a shield of inert gases such as argon, helium or their mixtures - (hot welding).
We are the only company in the city of Częstochowa city and one of the few in the Silesian Voivodeship that offers welding this specific material.
Welding this material is an extremely complicated process due to the high content of iron with added carbon. It is because of the carbon content that it will crack after welding without prior proper preparation and proper cooling.
As a professional company, we know how to prepare cast iron for welding and how to properly care for it after the entire welding process. It should be noted that the costs generated are not related to the welding itself, but the welding preparation process and the cast iron cooling process, these two factors generate 90% of the cast iron repair costs.
What does welding process look like?
-
Mechanical preparation of the weld site of cast iron (grinding, milling, cleaning).
-
Heating the entire element to a temperature of 550 - 650 degrees C.
-
Welding using method 141 (welding with a special tungsten electrode in an inert gas shield - adding a special flux).
-
Cast iron cooling process.
Special attention should be paid to the process of cooling the cast iron after welding, during the process the temperature of the cast iron is constantly monitored, if the cast iron is cooled too quickly it will start to crack. When we see that the cast iron is cooling too quickly it is reheated to avoid cracks.
What we weld?
-
Engine blocks,
-
Machine parts,
-
Exhaust manifolds,
-
All types of iron castings used in industry.