Mild steel welds are quite difficult to work on. Purging is a man’s job, or so they say. It undergoes several tiring procedures such as:
Waiting for the mild steel tube to cool off
Shielding its tip using argon and keeping the temperature of the tip very high
Once you notice the tip is getting crapped, you will need to snip it
Now when you need to purge steel, as you may have read from above, it will require you to be patient and tough at the same time. Purging is done so that the mild steel tube, welds, and other products of stainless steel are kept free from granulation and sugaring. This is just one of the many ways to keep the quality of steel high.
You need to purge mild steel welds from the inside, which can be done using aluminum wrap tape on the ends of the tubes, keeping the argon gas trapped in it. To check if purging is already sufficient, what you need is to use an oxygen analyzer, which will of course determine the oxidation content.
Here are the guidelines for purging:
1. First, you need to make sure that there are no traces of water in the mild steel tube. Even the smallest drop of H2O will cause damage to the process. Since water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, it will cause oxidation.
2. Second, you need to poke a tiny hole on the upper part of the tube so that argon can go inside it. Since argon is denser than air, it will push the air out of the tube.
3. Make use of a diffuser which you will need to place at both ends of the hose containing the argon. This is used to make sure that you maximize on the flow of gas. If you do not want to purchase the diffuser, you can simply make one at home using stainless steel wool, a sheet metal, and stainless steel sheet.
Once you have determined that purging is already complete, the next step is tacking. All you need to do is to remove the tape so that it can cool down. As soon as this is done, your next step is to put the tape back.
The following are additional tips that you can use when you are welding:
1. Use a thin rod. We recommend a 1/8 inch wire instead of a 3/32 inch one.
2. You can re weld for areas that are impenetrable.
3. Avoid overheating with the use of sufficient amperage.
4. Use stainless steel wire brushes.
There you have it everything you need to know about purging. Yes, it is indeed a tough job but it’s doable nonetheless. If this is your first time to do it, you might want to ask help from someone who has a lot of experience just to avoid getting into accidents and mistakes. However, if you are confident about all this and you are itching to get started, then by all means, go ahead and give it a try.
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