What type of electrodes are used

Welders must use a variety of materials to perform durable welds, but do you know the different types of welding electrodes? Your choice of electrodes depends on the kind of base metals, the thickness of the metals, and the current you use to weld. How many types of welding electrodes? Electrodes are categorized as consumable or non-consumable.

Unlike non-consumable electrodes, consumable electrodes melt into the base metals. Welders use electrodes to produce an electric arc that creates a weld pool and fuses the two base metals. The electrode is a thin metal wire that comes in various diameters, lengths, and coatings.

However, the exception is if you use an arc welder with carbon electrodes. Carbon electrodes are non-consumable and are made of carbon graphite. Non-consumable electrodes include carbon electrodes and tungsten electrodes. Tungsten rods for TIG welding are more common in industrial and residential applications than carbon rods. Carbon arc welding CAW is an older and less common form of welding. Unlike a standard arc welder set up, CAW uses two non-consumable carbon electrodes.

The carbon electrodes produce a large arc that is much harder to control than the arcs of other processes. The giant arc is suitable for heating metals and cutting holes or channels into metals but is not designed to do detailed welds on thin metals.

Tungsten electrodes are made from pure tungsten or a combination of either tungsten and thorium or tungsten and zirconium. Pure tungsten electrodes are suitable for smaller projects on thinner metals that do not require a high amperage. The following chart represents the four types of tungsten electrodes and how to recognize them by their color:. Robotic MIG welders are considered as being fully automatic, and the machines operated by human welders are known as semi-automatic welders.

Arc welders use consumable electrodes or sticks to produce sturdy welds without the use of shielding gas. Consumable electrodes for arc welding are classified as bare electrodes or coated electrodes. Bare electrodes do not have a flux coating to protect the weld pool and are typically used for welding manganese steel. Coated electrodes are the stick of choice for arc welders and are divided into three groups.

As the name suggests, light coated electrodes have a thin coating of flux. Although the flux does not produce a reliable shielding gas, it protects the weld pool from contaminates such as phosphorus, sulfur, and oxides.

The light coating also stabilizes the electric arc and produces a smaller amount of slag than medium or heavy coated rods. Light coated rods have a coating factor of 1. Most amateur and experienced welders frequently use medium coated electrodes like low-hydrogen rods.

Some of the most common uses for medium coated rods include offshore drilling applications, bridge construction, commercial building construction, and pipeline welding. With a coating factor of 1. Heavy coated electrodes contain the highest amount of flux and have a coating factor of 1.

The coating, when ignited in the weld pool, creates an effective shielding gas to protect the weld. The rods are made of three materials, which include cellulose, mineral, and a combination of cellulose and minerals.

This is the main system used for identifying welding rods not just in the U. As implied in the name, this alpha-numeric approach constitutes letters and numbers, and these are usually engraved on the side of each welding rod. For instance, the number 60 in E means that the rod produces a bead with a minimum strength of 60, psi.

Simply put; the resulting weld bead can withstand 60, pounds of force required to pull it apart. The third value represents the number of positions that the welding electrode can be used. Keep in mind that there are four primary welding positions: flat, horizontal, vertical and overhead. As an example, 1 means the rod can be used in all positions whereas 2 means it can only be used in flat or horizontal positions.

The last digit shows the coating type and kind of welding current alternating current, direct current or both , which can be used with the rod. The electrodes are quite popular. Taking this into account, E electrodes are mainly used in pipe welding and applications such as shipyards, water towers, steel castings, field construction and steel storage tanks.

Important to note though is that they can only run on welding equipment that use direct current DC. All You Need To Know. Furthermore, they have an extremely tight arc- an aspect that makes them difficult to handle, especially for amateur welders. A distinguishing characteristic of the electrode is that it can be used on either alternating or direct current.

This offers massive convenience as you can easily shift from one type of current to another to determine what works best. As mentioned earlier, this type of welding rod can withstand 60, psi of force without breaking. In welding applications, electricity is drawn through an electrode, creating an arc of electricity at the tip of the electrode. Welds are created when the electric arc at the tip of an electrode is drawn onto a work piece. Many types of electrodes melt and are transferred onto a work piece, creating a metal filler, while others do not melt and simply provide a location for an electric arc.

This type of electrode is often employed for general welding applications that do not call for any special features. They also are used on farm equipment, piping, wrought iron and road equipment. According to Metal Web News, electrodes create welds with a minimum tensile strength of around 60, pounds per square inch psi. Welders can hold this type of electrode in any position to create a proper weld. According to Welding Tips and Tricks, electrodes feature a high cellulose sodium outer coating.

They create a softer arc that is ideal for use on sheet metal. This type of electrode is often employed for general repair on thinner materials.

This is a very polyvalent solution as you can apply them with direct or alternative current, and they are often used for all automated TIG welding applications. This tungsten is very similar to the Thorium-Tungsten. It does not involve any radioactive risk. It is less efficient than the Thorium-Tungsten. Nowadays welders prefer to use cerium or lanthanum electrodes, or a mixture of both, which do not present any radioactive risk.

Moreover, they are just as effective as thorium tungsten. This Cerium-Lanthanium-Tungsten offers an excellent compromise! Tungsten classification:. Download our handbook and learn out more about how to choose the perfect electrode for orbital TIG welding! Pure Tungsten green : This kind of electrode with limited current density, is mostly used with alternative current for welding aluminium alloys - as the small ball that is formed at the extremity of the electrode is very clean and permits to the arc to stay stable.

Zirconium-Tungsten white 0. Cerium-Tungsten grey 1.