Welding of Copper Alloys

JABIN MATHEW BENJAMIN

13MY04
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Copper And Copper Alloys

• Excellent electrical and thermal conductivities

• Outstanding resistance to corrosion
• Ease of fabrication
• Good strength and fatigue resistance

Dept. of Metallurgical Enng 10/16/2014

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Copper Alloys

• COPPERS, WHICH CONTAIN A MINIMUM OF 99.3% CU

• HIGH-COPPER ALLOYS, WHICH CONTAIN UP TO 5% ALLOYING ELEMENTS
• COPPER-ZINC ALLOYS (BRASSES), WHICH CONTAIN UP TO 40% ZN
• COPPER-TIN ALLOYS (PHOSPHOR BRONZES), WHICH CONTAIN UP TO 10% SN
AND 0.2% P
• COPPER-ALUMINUM ALLOYS (ALUMINUM BRONZES), WHICH CONTAIN UP TO 10%
AL
• COPPER-SILICON ALLOYS (SILICON BRONZES), WHICH CONTAIN UP TO 3% SI
• COPPER-NICKEL ALLOYS, WHICH CONTAIN UP TO 30% NI
• COPPER-ZINC-NICKEL ALLOYS (NICKEL SILVERS), WHICH CONTAIN UP TO 27% ZN
AND 18% NI

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Alloying Elements and weldability

• Zinc
• reduces the weldability of all brasses
• Tin
• increases the hot-crack susceptibility
• Beryllium, aluminum, and nickel
• Oxide entrapment, which may reduce the strength of the weldment.
• Formation of these oxides prevented by shielding gas or by fluxing
• Silicon
• beneficial because of its deoxidizing and fluxing actions.
• Low thermal conductivity makes silicon bronzes the most weldable of the
Dept. of Metallurgical copper
Enng alloys for any arc process. 10/16/2014
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• Phosphorus
• does not adversely affect or hinder welding
• Chromium
• inert protective atmosphere to prevent formation of chromium oxides.
• Cadmium
• no serious effect on the weldability of copper
• Oxygen
• cause porosity and reduce the strength of welds
• Deoxidizing elements--usually phosphorus, silicon, aluminum, iron, or
manganese.

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Factors Affecting Weldability

 Effect of Thermal Conductivity.

 Cu has high thermal conductivities
 the type of current and shielding gas must be selected to provide maximum heat input to the joint
 preheating may be decided based on thickness
 Counteracts the rapid head dissipation

 Cold worked Cu alloys tend to become weaker and softer at HAZ

hot cracking may occur in heavily cold worked

 Welding Position
 highly fluid nature
 flat position is used whenever possible
 Vertical, overhead and the horizontal position- seldom used
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 Precipitation-Hardenable Alloys
 Beryllium, chromium, boron, nickel, silicon, and zirconium.
 Care must be taken to avoid oxidation and incomplete fusion.
 Reduction in mechanical properties due to overageing
 Should be welded in the annealed condition, followed by precipitation hardening treatment

 Hot Cracking
 copper-tin and copper-nickel, are susceptible to hot cracking
 wide liquidus-to-solidus temperature range
 Severe shrinkage stresses produce interdendritic separation during metal solidification

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 Porosity
 zinc, cadmium, and phosphorus have low boiling points.
 Vaporization of these elements during welding may result in porosity.
 Higher travel speed and filler metals with less volatile element content

 Surface Condition
 Oxides formed are difficult to remove
 Cleaning and shielding helps to avoid oxide formation

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Welding of Cu

 Difficulties: High oxygen content and impurities

 Electrode: Ecu and filler: ERCu
 Preheating : thickness, conductivity

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Preheating

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Effect of shielding gas

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 GTAW
 Upto 3.2mm thickness but more for flat position
 Shielding: upto 1.6mm Ar and over 1.6mm He, deeper penetration
 Pulsed current can be used
 GMAW
 Shielding: Ar or mixture of Ar and He
 Filler: ERCu
 Spray transfer and pulsed current
 SMAW
 ECuSi, ECuSn-A
 DCEP
 Flat position

Dept. of Metallurgical Enng 10/16/2014

 Welding of Copper-Zinc Alloys (Brass) 13

• C20500, C49080, C83300

• Evolution of zinc fumes is a problem
• Low-zinc brasses are shown to have good weldability using GTAW
• High-zinc brasses, tin brasses, special brasses, and nickel silvers have only fair weldability
• Preheating is not normally required
• Leaded brasses are unweldable

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• Shielding: He-for alloys having higher thermal conductivities.

• Filler should not contain zinc
• Low zinc- ERCuSn-A
 GMAW
• Unleaded brasses can be welded using GMAW.- low-zinc alloys (red brasses) and the high zinc
alloys
• Filler should not contain copper-zinc- Silicon bronze (ERCuSi-A)- good fluidity
• DCEP
• Preheat: 95 to 315 °C- low zinc alloys
• High zinc alloys- more porosities
• Filler ERCuAl-A2 strength or ERCuSn-A colour match

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• SMAW
• Covered electrodes- ECuSi, ECuSn-A, ECuSn-C, ECuAl-A2, ECuAl-B
• Low zinc- ECu-Sn-A and ECuSn-C
• Preheating of the base metal from 200 to 260 °C
• High zinc copper alloys can be welded with aluminum bronze (ECuAl-A2)
electrodes
• Preheat and interpass temperatures are 260 to 370 °C

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Welding of Copper-Tin alloys
(Phosphor Bronzes)
• C50100-C52400
• GTAW
• Up to approximately 13 mm
• DCEN or a stabilized alternating current
• Shot peening each layer of multi-pass welds reduces cracking and stresses
• Shielding- Argon- restricts the size of the HAZ.
• Thicker sections, helium shielding gas
• Filler metal- ERCuSn-A
• Preheating: not required for thin sections, Thick sections require preheating to
175 or 200 °C
• Interpass temperature should not exceed 200 °C

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• GMAW
• Thicknesses of 9.5 to 13 mm.
• 90° single-V grooves are used
• Filler Metal- ERCuSn-A
• Preheating of the phosphor bronzes helps in obtaining complete fusion, less porosity, but columnar
grains and hot cracking

• SMAW
• Covered electrodes: ECuSn-A and ECu-Sn-C
• Preheating is required in the range of 150 to 200 °C
• Maximum ductility, the welded assembly should be postweld heat treated to 480 °C (900 °F) and
cooled rapidly.
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Welding of Copper-Nickel Alloys
(C70000-C79900)

• GTAW
• Preferred for copper-nickel alloys with section thicknesses up to 1.6 mm
• Electrode- EWTH-2
• Ar shielding gas- provides better arc control and stability,
• DCEN, Alternating current can be employed for automatic welding
• Preheating is not necessary and backing strips or rings can be used
• Filler Metals: Deoxidized- ERCuNi- minimize porosity and the possibility of oxygen embrittlement
• Autogenous welds can sometimes be made on sheet thicknesses up to 1.6 mm

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• GMAW
• Preferred welding process for non-leaded copper-nickel alloys thicker than approximately1.6 mm
(0.06 in.).
• Preferred welding position: Flat position
• Preferred shielding gas: Ar
• Argon-helium mixes give better penetration on thick sections.
• Direct current electrode positive is recommended.
• Spray or short-circuiting transfer
• Filler Metals. ERCuNi- 0.15 to 1.00% Ti, which serves as a deoxidizer
• No preheating or postheating
• Interpass temperatures should be maintained below 65 °C

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• SMAW
• Both wrought and cast forms
• Copper-nickel electrode- ECuNi
• DCEP
• Special care is needed to ensure complete slag removal
• Vertical and overhead positions

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Other processes for welding of Cu

 Laser beam welding

 Difficulties: high reflection of laser beam and high thermal conductivity
 Absorption increases with temperature
 Shorter wavelength has better welding
 Electron beam welding
 Thin and thick sections
 Resistance spot welding
 Lower conductivity alloys readily spot welded
 Not practical for unalloyed Cu

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 Flash welding
 Leaded Cu (upto 1% Pb) can be flash welded
 Rapid upsetting at minimum pressure
 Low melting point and narrow plastic range

 Premature termination of current: lack of fusion

 Delayed termination: over heating
 Solid state welding
 Annealed Cu can be welded at room temperature: good malleability
 Diffusion welded or explosive welding

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Reference

 Welding of copper and copper alloys, AWS welding handbook, Volume 3,

Ed. 8, 1997

 ASM metal handbook, volume 6, 1993

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THANK YOU

Dept. of Metallurgical Enng 10/16/2014