How to Weld Copper

How to Weld Copper How to Weld Copper Copper and copper alloys are used in manufacturing of several metallic items. Their useful features like excellent electrical and thermal conductivities, resistance to corrosion, good strength and fatigue resistance, distinctive color and ease of fabrication have made copper a preferred choice for manufacturing wide variety of products.

In manufacturing processes, the metal is required to be welded. There are different processes for welding copper like shielded metal arc welding, gas-tungsten arc welding, gas-metal arc welding, plasma arc welding, and submerged arc welding. Following are some useful instructions on copper welding that you may benefit from:

Copper Welding Instructions

Use copper alloy filler that has maximum copper content. Employing filler that is similar to that of the base metal to be welded will help you produce stronger welds. In fact the welded product will be stronger than the base metal that you used. In order to evaluate the strengths of the welds you can use a longitudinal bend test.
Prior the welding process, make sure to remove the traces of all other elements that may be present in the metal. Often elements like sulfur, lead and phosphorus present in the alloy in form of grease, oil and paints may cause the weld to crack. Moreover, copper/tin/zinc alloys should not be used for welding copper/nickel alloys because they generally contain contaminants.
If you are going for TIG welding, use shielding gas on the side of the metal opposite the weld. This will avoid the weld from getting contaminated with oxidation and pits.
If you are using gas-metal welding process, then make sure to use a square butt preparation for welding a copper alloy that is not more than 3mm. For thicker copper alloy you can employ a beveled preparation.
Make use of wider joints than those used for carbon steel. The included angle should be more than 70 degrees. This is essential because owing to its higher conductivity to heat it will have adequate fusion and penetration of the weld.
Choose the proper shielding gas. While argon is best for copper sections up to 1.6 mm thick, for thicker sections a helium mixture is good for achieving the necessary penetration.
Prefer down-hand welding option, if possible. This will increase the deposition rate. In case the structure to be welded is too large, you can always manipulate the sub-assemblies for down-hand welding.