Welding Non Ferrous

ANANDA SYLVANO
ZAID SULAIMAN
Copper
• Copper high electrical and thermal conductivity
• excellent corrosion resistance
• Copper alloys possess lower electrical and thermal conductivity than copper,
and their corrosion resistance varies depending on their chemical compositions.
Copper Alloys

Phosphor Aluminum
Brass (Cu-Zn) Bronze (Cu- Bronze (Cu-
Sn) Al)

Silicon Bronze Cupronickel

(Cu-Si) (Cu-Ni)
Filler metal for Copper and Copper alloy
Why copper difficult to use arc welding?
high thermal conductivity  Insufficient fusion

High thermal expansion  distortion and cracking

Low melting point  slag inclusions (SMAW)

degrade the mechanical properties

Pb Sn Bi P  cracking and embrittlement

Copper
GTAW, GMAW and SMAW

Filler : copper and Copper Alloys

Gas Shielding : Ar and He

GTAW for thin metals up to 6 mm

GMAW for thick metals over 6 mm

 Brass (Cu-Zn)
• Low zinc (<20% Zn) : good weldability
• Recommended welding processes are GTAW and GMAW due to better performance over
SMAW
• Phosphorous bronze filler metals = good color match with some brasses.
• Silicon bronze filler metals = lower thermal conductivity
• Aluminum bronze filler metals = good joint strength for high-zinc brasses.
• In GTAW and GMAW, argon shielding is normally used.
• Proper preheating temperature = welding process, plate thickness, and the zinc content of
the base metal (the preheat temperature can be lowered for the high-zinc brasses),
 Phospor Bronze (Cu-Sn)
• Phosphor bronzes have rather wide freezing ranges
• Hot peening to reduce welding stresses and cracking. 
• GMAW for joining large fabrications and thick sections with ERCuSn-A filler metal and
argon shielding,
• GTAW for joining sheet metals with ERCuSn-A and argon or helium shielding, and
• SMAW with ECuSn-A or ECuSn-C covered electrode. Filler metals should be deposited
as stringer beads to obtain the best mechanical properties.
• Preheating to 150-250°C
• interpass temperature improve metal fluidity for better usability (max 250oC)
 Aluminum Bronze (Cu-Al)
• aluminum bronzes containing 7 percent or lower aluminum are hot-short.
• copper-aluminum alloys containing more than 8 percent aluminum are better weldable
• aluminum oxides (Al2O3) tend to cover the joint surfaces and molten weld metal, thereby causing
insufficient fusion and slag inclusions.
• GMAW with DCEP that provides oxide-cleaning action is best suited for welding aluminum bronzes, in
which argon shielding is used in most applications.
• In GTAW, AC current with argon shielding is usually used due to possible oxide-cleaning action.
• In SMAW, use of a short arc length and stringer beads are recommended, and each bead must be
thoroughly cleaned of slag before the next bead is applied to prevent slag inclusions.
• SMAW should only be used where GMAW or GTAW is inconvenient.
• Filler metals : ERCuAl-A1, ERCuAl-A2, ERCuAl-A3, ECuAl-A2, and ECuAl-B for GMAW, GTAW and
SMAW, respectively.
• Preheat and interpass temperature = 100-250°C.
Silicon Bronze (Cu-Si)
• Low thermal conductivity = good weldability
• Deoxidation by Si
• GTAW, GMAW and SMAW can be used
• Filler : ERCuSi-A and ECuSi . ERCuAl-A2 and ECuAl-A2
• Preheat is unnecessary
• apply hot peening for each weld pass to refine the crystal structure, thereby improving mechanical
properties.
• The weldment must be rapidly cooled,
• interpass temperatures should be 70°C or lower,
 Cupronickel (Cu-Ni)
• Low thermal conductivity = good weldability
• heat input should be minimized because “hot-short”
• Welding copper-nickel alloys tend to cause blowholes
• To prevent blowholes, the Ti-bearing filler metals of ERCuNi
for GTAW and GMAW and ECuNi for SMAW
• filler metals = JIS YCuNi-1 (nominally 90%Cu, 10%Ni) for
GTAW and GMAW and JIS DCuNi-1 (nominally 90%Cu,
10%Ni) for SMAW are available
• Preheat is unnecessary.
• Interpass temperature should be as low as 100°C or lower