Flux Cored Arc Welding And Flux Cored Arc Welding Wire

Tubular electrode welding, FCAW, FCA or flux cored arc welding is a welding process introduced in the year 1950 and is evolved from Metal inert Gas welding (MIG) process. The solid wire used for welding is replaced by a flux cored electrode also known as flux cored arc welding wire.

As a type of arc welding process in FCAW the heat for welding is provided by an arc between the workplace and a continuously fed tubular electrode. Shield for the welding process is obtained by shielding gas supplied externally and the flux or by the tubular electrode wire containing the flux within. The tubular electrode wire and the flux used for shielding gas are known as flux cored arc welding wires which are used during the welding process. The tubular welding process could be either automatic or semi-automatic welding process, however the flux cored arc welding wires used during the process remains the same. Flux cored arc welding process requires a continual supply of consumable tubular electrode which contains flux, along with a constant current welding power supply.

There are two main types of flux cored arc welding wires. Below is a brief on both of them.

1)Gas Shielded FCAW For gas shielded flux cored welding wires there is a requirement of shielding gas externally. The waste resulted from the welding process is easy to remove. These wires are flux coated which solidifies more quickly as compared to molten weld metals. Hence, it creates a shelf that holds the molten pool when the welding is performed overhead or vertically up. This method of welding proves to be more effective and is popular in joining thick and out of position metals. But this method is not preferred in certain climatic conditions where the wind could hamper the shielding glass.

2)Self Shielded FCAW Self shielded FCAW does not require shielding gas externally because the welding is protected by the gas which is generated when flux from the wire is burned. Because of this it proves to be more portable, as it does not requires external gas tank. This makes the welding process similar to that of SMAW, shielded metal arc welding.

However, both types of flux cored arc welding wires and process causes a dust over the weld. This dust should be cleaned after the welding process is completed.

There are several advantages of flux cored arc welding. Some of them are as under:

A.Requires less operating skills as compared to other welding process.
B.Pre-cleaning metals are less required.
C.FCAW delivers the highest deposition rate amongst all the other manual welding process.
D.Welding can be performed outside if the shielding gases are not used.