WELDING


Flexible enclosure welding M


any of the metallic materials in common use now are prone to


contamination when in contact with atmospheric gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen.


This is particularly the case when this contact occurs at the high temperatures prevailing in fusion welding. Control of contamination


can be effected in the majority of cases by shielding the local


welding area with a protective inert gas such as argon, as in GTAW ( TIG welding ) or by introducing a protective slag as in MMAW ( stick electrode welding ). With many metallic materials however, including some titanium


5Flexible Welding Enclosure® custom built for use during


manufacture of racing vehicles.


and nickel alloys, more stringent precautions are necessary and to ensure satisfactory weld quality the entire joining process needs to be undertaken inside a vessel from which all potential contaminating products have been removed.


A glove box also provides the


means of providing protection against contamination by using an inert gas such as argon to replace air by ‘flushing’ or ‘purging’. Purging has become the preferred term in this context. However these are still relatively expensive to manufacture. For many years the cost of


metal enclosures precluded all but the major companies taking on work involving fabrication of nickel and titanium alloys. To the rescue came


Fig 1. Full vacuum chamber that can be evacuated and then backfilled with argon 14 IMT March 2015


Huntingdon Fusion Techniques, HFT® a decade or so ago with the introduction of flexible enclosures that exploited the opportunities offered by


www.internationalmetaltube.com


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