Let’s flux about it…
 
You’ve decided to make a repair; you have your soldering gun or brazing torch ready to go, but it hits you! “I don’t have any flux!”
Not to worry, we will help you choose what flux is right for you, but first you will know the difference between the applications.
 
 “What’s the difference between soldering and brazing?”
The American Welding Society (AWS) defines brazing as a process which involves a filler metal that turns to liquid above 842 degrees Fahrenheit (450 degrees Celsius). Brazing applications are a mechanically strong joint. You would typically see this application being used in the automotive industry, for jet engines and in HVAC. You may not know, but your cookware and utensils are also put together using this application. Did you ever wonder how your cookware was so durable? Probably not, but it’s still good to know!

Soldering also involves a filler metal but turns to liquid below 842 degrees Fahrenheit (450 degrees Celsius). This makes the joint electrically strong and can withstand any electric currents running through. If you are soldering any type of electronics, you will need to keep in mind that the temperature needs to stay below 842 degrees Fahrenheit so that your electronics don’t burn up. Yikes! 
Since soldering has a lower processing temperature, the joint is not as strong, compared to the brazing application. This is sometimes the most desirable application, because it has a lower liquidus state compared to brazing.

Of course, always follow your procedure or spec sheet for the proper application for every job!
 
Now we know the difference between the applications, but we need something else to complete the job. “We need flux!”

“What is flux?”
Flux is a chemical cleaning agent, flowing agent, or purifying agent. Flux is used in extracting and joining metals and is crucial to promote melting of the filler metal.
​
“Do I even need flux?”
Yes. It is imperative to use flux for the following reasons:

1. Removes oxides from metals to be joined (you will still need to clean your metals prior to application).
2. Prevents oxidation after completion.
3. Improves “wetting out” characteristics and heat transfer, which allows the filler metal to flow and not ball up.

“What type of flux do I need?”
There are many options available, but they all have their advantages and disadvantages.  You will have to take many variables into consideration, before you grab the nearest flux on the shelf. Not all flux is created equal!
Here are the things you need to know, in order to find the right flux for the job:

• Application
• Process
• Type of metals to be joined
• Filler metal
• Thickness
• Diameter of filler metal
• Desired appearance/cleanliness
• Any additional information that is relevant for the job

​You will have choices when it comes to the type of flux you will need. Here are some types that are out there:

• Flux coated filler metals
• Rosin core solders
• Powder
• Liquid
• Paste
• Gel
• Flux that is “injected” into the flame from the fuel supply

 
 Solder Fluxes:
No Clean Flux- Residue, if any, is minimal and will “vanish” from the heat produced. If residue needs to be removed, it will require solvent cleaning. It’s very hard to remove and could become an issue because it can interfere with electronics. The residue left behind from the flux is conductive.                  Typical primary ingredient: Isopropanol

Rosin Flux- The reaction between the flux and the metallic oxides on the joint metals make the flux flow easily and provides the cleaning required to “wet” the joint. Rosin flux becomes inert when cooled and solid. If electronics heat up enough to make the residue liquid, the acid can start deteriorating connections. Residue can be removed with alcohol. Typical primary ingredient: Rosin (tree sap)

Water Soluble Flux/Organic- Highly acidic and corrosive. Residue should always be removed when complete. Clean with water, steam, or water-based cleaning product. Typical primary ingredient: Isopropanol
 
Brazing Fluxes: 
General Purpose Powder Flux- Active range 1400-2200 degrees Fahrenheit. Use with low fuming Bronze, Nickel Silver, Copper base alloys, Steel and Cast Iron. This is the same flux that is coated on flux Bronze. Typical primary ingredient: Boric acid, Borax

White Flux- Low temperature (1050-1600 degrees Fahrenheit) silver brazing. This flux is used with most ferrous and non-ferrous metals and not recommended on Aluminum, Magnesium, or Titanium. Typical primary ingredient: Boric acid, potassium fluorohydroborate

Black Flux- High temperature (1050-1800 degrees Fahrenheit) silver brazing. Used on heavy parts where overheating or prolonged heating may occur. This flux is recommended when brazing stainless steels. Residue can be more difficult to remove.
​Typical primary ingredients: Boric acid, potassium fluorohydroborate.

Aluminum Flux- A powdered flux designed for use with aluminum alloys (915-1115 degrees Fahrenheit). You can apply this by sprinkling on dry, mixed with water or alcohol to form a paste. Typical ingredients: potassium chloride, sodium chloride.

Flux Injected in Flame- This flux is introduced into the fuel gas and passed through flame. This increases strength, reduced filler metal consumption, minimal post braze cleaning, quicker braze times, increased penetration, and can cut costs by 40%.
Typical primary ingredient: Trimethyl borate.

Hybrid Fluxes- Some manufacturers have hybrid fluxes available for difficult applications. Brown fluxes have been tested to work like black flux, but easier to remove residue.
 
Although there is no “silver bullet” when choosing the appropriate flux, you may find that multiple types of flux are needed but testing and evaluating may be required for best results. Please contact an Earlbeck Gases & Technologies Representative to help determine the best flux for your job!

When it comes to TIG welding, the most commonly asked question is “What tungsten do I use?” As we know, welding equipment is constantly evolving. At one point in history, the most commonly used power source was known as a rectifier machine. Today, equipment is more commonly inverter based, which gives the welder more control of the arc.

There are a few things you must determine before selecting a tungsten electrode such as:

• Type of material being welded
• Type of weld
• Welding output (AC or DC)
• Material thickness
• Amperage range
• Type of welding power source, transformer/rectifier or inverter

Metals such as carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium, chromoly, brass, and copper will be welded using Direct Current with the electrode negative.  Generally, aluminum alloys are welded using Alternating Current (AC).

Pure tungsten (green stripe), for years was the best choice for AC welding, but with the industry shift to invert based machines, with advanced squarewave technology, rare earth tungsten such as Ceriated (gray stripe) and Zirconiated (brown stripe) are an option.

The most commonly used electrodes today are 2% Thoriated (red stripe).  Thorium has great arc start characteristics and allows for higher current carrying capacity. Although, if thoriated tungsten is used in the AC mode, the tungsten tends to split and get nodules around the electrode instead of a nice round ball. In return, this gives you an unstable arc and inconsistent heat input. It can also cause tungsten spitting giving you impurities in your weld. 

Also, choosing the proper grind angle, constant current range or pulsed current range will affect the electrode current range. Example .040 has range from 2 to 60 amps, .093 has range from 12 to 250 amps and .125 has range from 20 to 350 amps.

Type of Tungsten
Pure

Ceriated


Thoriated 1.7 to 2.2%


Lanthanated 1.3 to 1.7%
​

​Zirconiated  .15 to .40%   

Color Code
Green

Gray


Red, Yellow


Gold, Black, Blue
​

​Brown

Remarks
Good arc stability for AC.  Least expensive.

Easy arc starts, and long life.  Replacement for thoriated.

​Higher current capacity, greater arc stability, difficult to maintain balled end on AC.  

Easy arc starts, high current carrying capacity, similar to thoriated.
​
Excellent for AC, good arc starting, limited contamination of weld.

Contact tips are highly misunderstood components in a welding gun setup. Choosing the correct contact tip for your welding application and understanding how to keep it performing at its best are just as critical as anything else needed to produce a quality weld.

Using a contact tip that is too big or too small can create problems such as microarcing, overheating, friction, and wire jamming—all of which can lead to wire burnback.

Contact tips are one of the most frequently misunderstood and most often replaced components of a welding gun setup. The contact tip is responsible for guiding the wire and transferring the current from the conductor tube—sometimes referred to as a swanneck or gooseneck—through the filler wire and ultimately to the workpiece. Its critical functions include current transfer and wire targeting.

Contact tip size determines what wire size you can use and the amount of filler material that will be distributed during welding. When a contact tip begins to wear, the through-hole elongates and loses electrical conductivity, which greatly affects the gun’s ability to transfer current to the welding wire. Additionally, the tool center point (TCP) begins to fluctuate as the wire dances around inside the now oversized tip. These conditions lead to poor arc starts, lower penetration, and decreased weld quality.
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Choosing the correct contact tip for your welding application and understanding how to keep it performing at its best are just as critical as choosing all the other components and parameters needed to produce a quality weld.

Common Contact Tip Types
Four types of contact types are most commonly used in welding applications, and each has its pros and cons:

#1: Standard Copper Contact Tip (E-Cu)
A standard copper contact tip has a relatively high current transfer rate at greater than 55 S/m* electrical conductivity, and it is used mostly in hand-held welding applications.
Although standard copper offers the highest conductivity of all of the standard alloys, it is more susceptible to mechanical wear than other materials. As a raw mineral, copper naturally is relatively soft, which means it makes current transfer easier, but it also means the material has a lower melting point. As the temperature rises in an E-Cu tip, it becomes softer than the wire that is being fed through it. As the copper softens, the wire wears and deforms the internal diameter of the tip. This prevents the wire from contacting the tip correctly, which decreases conductivity and leads to arc-start issues, burnback, and poor welds.
The E-Cu tip is usually the most affordable, so it’s generally an acceptable trade-off to frequently replace it when precise wire targeting is not critical.

#2: Copper-Chrome-Zirconium Contact Tip (CuCrZr)
A copper-chrome-zirconium tip generally is used in automated and robotic welding applications where precise TCP is needed and high duty cycles occur. Although there is some decline in electrical conductivity compared with the standard copper tip (50 S/m), it is sufficient for most steel applications.
However, since CuCrZr alloy softens at a much higher temperature, it tends to have a longer life span than standard copper tips. Generally speaking, the tip maintains its shape up to approximately 932 degrees F versus 500 degrees for E-Cu. Therefore, the higher-density material leads to a lower wear rate and increases the tip’s performance and productivity.
For hot wire feeding processes in laser optics,  copper chrome zirconium are must-use because of their ability to hold up to hot wire feeding processes.

#3: Silver-Plated Contact Tip
Over the years technological advancements in contact tips have revealed that silver plating the interior and exterior of a contact tip further enhances its overall performance.
When a contact tip begins to wear, the through-hole elongates and loses electrical conductivity, which greatly affects the gun’s ability to transfer current to the welding wire.
Silver is more conductive than copper (62.1 S/m), which reduces micro-arcing, extends contact tip life, improves arc starts, and provides consistent weld quality. Silver is approximately 17 percent denser than copper and it has a higher melting point. Silver’s shiny surface helps to reflect heat. As a result, spatter doesn’t adhere to the tip as easily and it doesn’t wear down quite as quickly. In fact, the life span of a silver-plated contact tip can be nine times longer than that of a standard precision-drawn copper tip.
With significant improvements in material, a silver-plated contact tip can cost up to 50 percent more than the standard non-plated CuCrZr tip. Welders who choose to use a silver-plated contact tip usually do so for one reason—less welding downtime. The more the welding robot welds, the greater the throughput. Based on the overall longevity, current transfer, and quality of material, the silver-plated tips are an excellent choice for automatic and robotic welding applications.

#4: Heavy Duty Silver-Plated CuCrZr Contact Tip
Using a process called dispersion-hardening, which basically keeps the properties of metal from dispersing at elevated temperature, the Heavy Duty Silver-Plated Contact Tips can last even longer than the Silver-Plated contact tips noted above.
This make of contact tip carries a hardness value of 180, and won't experience wear until the contact tip temperature reaches upwards of 800 degrees Celsius. Because of it's conductivity, it will also experience a lot less spatter adhesion than copper or non-plated copper chrome zirconium.
Heavy Duty Silver-Plated are always made using CuCrZr contact tips as the base because it combines the better hardening of the copper chrome zirconium with the superior conductivity of the silver. This produces an overall better electrical conductivity profile while still being harder. They are more expensive than the standard ones, but have a low cost of ownership in right application - typically heavy amperage robotic processes.

#5: Stainless Steel Contact Tip X8CrNi18-9 
These types of contact tips only really have an application in laser optic processes. Stainless is good to use for Cold Wire Feeding processes. Steel equal poor electrical conductivity, but it does have good wear resistance. Stainless steel is also harder than copper, so there's usually less wear experience in the contact tip bore.
Stainless steel contact tips are recommended when using copper wire in laser optic processes. If you use Aluminum, it would be better to look to copper or copper chrome zirconium, because this contact tip profile is often too hard for a soft aluminum wire profile.

More than 50% of all man-made products require welding. Many different industries employ welders so there are a variety of jobs available. Skilled welders will have a unique opportunity to have a career that can be shaped around their interests because of the high demand for skilled workers. Welding is used in:

• military applications
• aircraft and aerospace applications
• building construction
• automotive industry
• shipbuilding industry
• boiler industry
• job shops

The welding industry will face a shortage of about 400,000 welders by 2024, according to the American Welding Society. The average age of a welder is 55 and the coming wave of retirements will leave the US with a great deficit in skilled welders in the work force.  According to 2012 data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the national jobless rate for 16- to 24-year-olds is 14.4 percent, which leaves young welders at a great advantage in comparison to their counterparts. Manufacturing has grown faster than the rest of the U.S. economy since the recession.  In a recent article from Bloomberg business, Gardner Carrick, was quoted saying, "For 20 years we stopped feeding young people into the trades, and now we’re scrambling to catch up" Because of this great welder shortage, welding will certainly a viable career choice for years to come with many job opportunities for those entering the field. Read the full article from Businessweek here.

If you are interested in a career in welding, you may be curious to know, how much money can a welder make? One of the greatest career advantages is that welding does not require a college degree. This enables welding students to complete their training much quicker than a traditional higher education, as well as cut down on tuition costs. You can be ready to enter the job market and earn money much quicker than your counter-parts that pursue a 4 year college degree.

In an article published by the Wall Street Journal, The $140,000-A-Year Welding Job, James Hagerty wrote "The risks of a mismatch between costly university degrees and job opportunities have become clearer in recent years. Anthony Carnevale, director of the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University, said nearly a third of people aged 22 through 26 with a Bachelor of Arts degree either don’t have a job or are working at one that doesn’t require a university degree. The numbers are similar for young people with vocational degrees, but those lower-cost degrees don’t typically lead to heavy debts." Most employers are looking to hire a certified welder which can be obtained after under a year of schooling.

On average, an entry level welder can expect to make about $14-16/hr, while an experienced pipe welder makes around $30/hr. This number can vary greatly depending on the industry and location. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal by Josh Mandel, skilled welders have the potential to make up to $150,000 due to a large shortage of qualified workers. Many skilled trade programs have been eliminated in schools which has made it increasingly difficult for employers to find welders. According to the 2011 Skills Gap Survey by the Manufacturing Institute, about 600,000 manufacturing jobs are unfilled nationally because employers can't find qualified workers. "Welders Make 150,000?" See full Wall Street Journal article here.