Any issues with 304 and 316 stainless being welded together?
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Any issues with 304 and 316 stainless being welded together?
Can I? Not a chance.
Can you? Since you have to ask, maybe not.
But a quick Google suggests it's pretty easy with the right filler in non-critical applications. One page says you can affect the Stainless-ness in the HAZ, but mentions 304L & 316L will (help) avoid that. I do know the (good) TIG guys turn out beautiful stainless welds for critical applications all the time, so since these alloys aren't flagged for special problems I wouldn't think it'd be hard for a pro with experience in the field.
I haven't tried it, I would probably ask my welding supplier. But I googled weld 304 to 316 stainless and glancing through the results it looks like you can.Quote:
Originally Posted by Malcolm Schweizer
JKJ
Welding them together with a decent looking weld will not be difficult. Doing a X-ray quality weld will require TIG and lots of practice. There will be a significant loss of corrosion resistance in the HAZ.
That was my concern- corrosion resistance loss. I have two parts that would fit perfectly for a piece I want to make for my boat, but one is 316 and one 304. I was already not happy about the 304 part. The weld adding to that, I may look for another option. Too bad- it was otherwise perfect.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis Ford
I know this old, but I work with welding here and there. I'm a mechanical engineer that doesn't have a weld engineer to lean on. Have to figure things out on my own from time to time. I find the AWS forum to be very useful. Those guys really know what they are talking about. It's very professional. Great starting point.
app.aws.org/forum/forum_show.pl
Sounds like 309L filler (fairly typical stuff) will keep the ferrite content low, which should help with the corrosion issue. Seems like industry has decided to use 308 filler though. Not totally clear on the why. However, the 304 has lower corrosion resistance than 316 anyway.
We just had a 410 part in the shop that we overlayed with 309L. We hope to get a corrosion resistance benefit, but with 410 you don't have much to lose corrosion resistance wise. Your situation is different. I'm guessing austenitic stainless steels (304 and 316) will weld really easily though. Don't even need pre heat. As the person above mentioned, you'd need to research the HAZ impact.
I'm not a weld engineer, do not take my advice!
: )
Cheers,
They're both 300 series and very easy to weld together using tig.
I agree with Andy, TIG stainless is not that big a deal. Getting it to look right takes practice and you also need to consider back purging in the pipe or on the back of the plate.
You also can Mig with 308 wire and a alum. Backplate to help with the haz and use tri mix gas this combo will clean up easy and still have good corrosion treatment hope this helps
You certainly may, they aren't super dissimilar. Use 316L filler material. Tig is preferred, but you may also use mig if that's all you have. Heat control is somewhat important as 316 will melt lower to 304. Also if tig welding pay attention to your stops and slowly fade out the current so you don't get crater holes. If using scratch/lift arc make sure you speed up when breaking the arc to "tail off".