NEW FILARC WELDING CORED WIRES

A new range of all positional rutile cored wires for welding applications with specific low-temperature operating demands has been introduced by ESAB.  The PZ6138 family consists of all positional rutile, low-hydrogen flux-cored wires for applications involving the welding of thick steel components and impact toughness requirements down to -60^oC. The family is based on the PZ6138 which has been widely applied in offshore fabrication for decades. They are alloyed with 0.9% Ni.  PZ6138 and PZ6138 SR are designed for use in Ar/CO₂ mixed gas, whereas PZ6138S SR is used in pure CO₂. Types with the suffix SR provide good low temperature toughness after stress relieving. All types are successfully CTOD tested – the SR types at temperatures as low as –40°C.

The wires are extremely ‘welder-friendly’, with a soft, spatter free arc that always operates in the spray arc mode.  It is easy to obtain flat welds with a good penetration and smooth wetting into the plate edges.  The brittle slag is easily removed leaving behind a smooth rutile weld appearance.  Typical positional welding defects such as lack of fusion and slag inclusions are avoided, due to the spray arc operation.  The wires have a good tolerance to poor joint preparation and high quality one-sided root runs are made economically on ceramic backing.

The wire formulation provides a fast freezing slag that supports the weld pool well in positional welding, enabling deposition rates which cannot be equalled by stick electrodes or solid wires.  Deposition rates in vertical up welding can reach up to 4kg/h (100% duty cycle), making it the most productive consumable available for manual welding in this position.  Welding parameters are optimised for each welding position to provide maximum productivity, but one single setting can be selected for all-positions (230A), making it ideal for fit-up work.