Span gas bottle online supplier UK: There are two shielding gases commonly used for arc welding aluminum, and these are argon and helium. These gases are used as pure argon, pure helium and various mixtures of both argon and helium. Excellent welds are often produced using pure argon as a shielding gas. Pure argon is the most popular shielding gas and is often used for both gas metal arc and gas tungsten arc welding of aluminum. Mixtures of argon and helium are probably the next common, and pure helium is generally only used for some specialized GTAW applications.
Why is argon the specialist gas of choice when welding? In the manufacturing industry, when welding you know the importance of shielding gases. But do you know some gases are more preferable than others? More importantly, do you know why? The entire purpose of shielding gases is to prevent the welding area from atmospheric elements. Such exposure could leave you with a sub-optimal weld. If elements do come into contact with the welding area, it can reduce the overall quality which could jeopardise the whole operation.
The shielding gas does more than protect the finished weld from the effects of oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere. It affects the weld’s bead shape and size and its porosity and fusion, as well as the welding speed and amount of spatter. Choose your gas wisely and you’ll achieve strong, tough and corrosion-resistant welds; select poorly and you affect performance: delivering welds that are never quite good enough. See extra details at Calibration Gas Suppliers UK.
A perfect welding result, without impairment of corrosion resistance and mechanical properties, can only be obtained when using a backing gas with very low oxygen content. For best results, a maximum of 20 ppm O2 at the root side can be tolerated. This can be achieved with a purging setup and can be controlled with a modern oxygen meter. Pure argon is by far the most common gas for root protection of stainless steels. Formier gas (N2 + 5 – 12% H2) is an excellent alternative for conventional austenitic steels. The gas contains an active component, H2, which brings down the oxygen level in the weld area. There are no rental charges on the cylinders. A large range of Calibration Gas regulator(s) are available from stock. Carry cases to compliment the cylinders are also available. The cylinders are non-refillable.
Ozone is only generated during arcing and decays quickly on arc extinction. Therefore, exposure to ozone is very dependent on the duty cycle employed. Although research in the laboratory has shown that ozone concentrations at points around a welding arc can exceed 0.2ppm, it is uncommon to find that average exposure to ozone, in a real work situation, exceeds the ozone exposure limit. An exception to this statement is exposure to ozone during MIG welding with an aluminium/silicon consumable. Source: weldingsuppliesdirect.co.uk.