Arc Basics - FA 2009 ISO 14175 Revised Standard
Arc Basics - FA 2009 ISO 14175 Revised Standard
ISO 14175:2008.
Description
Gases and gas mixtures for fusion welding and allied processes.
How does this revised standard affect you?
This White Paper will guide you through the main changes.
Introduction.
The scope of the standard has also been widened to cover laser welding
and cutting assist gases as well as arc braze welding.
ISO 14175:2008. 3
The first major change is to specify the gas or gas mixture in terms of its
classification and now additionally its designation.
Classification
The classification of a gas or gas mixture is defined as the ISO standard Group N has replaced group F and has been significantly expanded to
number followed by the symbols for the main group and subgroups to cover a much wider range of gas combinations.
which it belongs. These groups and subgroups are based on the typical
chemical behaviour of the gas and are given below: Group Z has replaced gas mixtures that were previously covered by the
addition of letter S to a main and subgroup classification. This ensures
I: Inert gases and inert gas mixtures that the user can easily identify any gas combinations that contain either
M1, M2, M3: Oxidising gas mixtures containing either or both non-standard gases, such as xenon, or gas mixtures containing common
oxygen and carbon dioxide gases but outside the normal compositional ranges covered in Table 1.
C: Highly oxidising gas and highly oxidising mixtures
R: Reducing gas mixtures All these main groups, except for Z, are further divided into subgroups to
N: Low reactive gas or reducing gas mixtures, containing facilitate a more precise differentiation according to the reaction
nitrogen behaviour of the gas mixture. To alleviate concerns that some of the
O: Oxygen previous subgroups covered too wide a range of gas compositions, several
Z: Covers gas mixtures containing components not listed have been further subdivided to more accurately represent products with
or mixtures outside the composition ranges listed in similar welding behaviour.
Table 1
One change that applies across all groups is that the lower limit for any
component has been raised from > 0% to 0.5%. This has been done to
ensure there is no conflict between these ranges and the tolerances
placed on each component.
ISO 14175:2008. 4
Table 1: Classification of process gases for fusion welding and allied processes
Table 2 gives a general comparison as to how these new subgroups relate to the previous versions in both EN 439 and ISO 14175:1997.
ISO 14175:2008. 5
Please note this comparison only applies to the main and subgroups and the gas component ranges may vary and therefore groups with identical names
are not necessarily equivalent.
ISO 14175:2008. 6
Designation
In the AWS standard, the gas or gas mixture is identified by symbols for If a gas mixture only contains components which are listed in Table 3
the individual components and their volume as a percentage. The but are not within the concentration ranges specified, it falls into
same system is used in ISO 14175:2008 although not all the symbols Group Z. The symbol for the basic gas is then followed by the single
are the same. components and their contents in decreasing order of percent, for
example:
The main symbols used are:
Ar: Argon Gas mixture with 30% helium, 0.05% oxygen in argon (all components
C: Carbon dioxide are included in ISO 14175, but the oxygen content is outside the
H: Hydrogen ranges listed in Table 3):
N: Nitrogen Classification: ISO 14175 Z
O: Oxygen Designation: ISO 14175 Z ArHeO 30/0.05
He: Helium
If a gas mixture contains components which are not listed in Table 1,
Below are some examples of how the classification and designation the mixture also falls into Group Z. The letter Z is followed by the
system works: symbols for the gas components in decreasing order of percent and the
unlisted component is preceded by a plussign,
Gas mixture with 7% carbon dioxide, 4% oxygen in argon:
Classification: ISO 14175 M25 MISON 18, an argon + 18% carbon dioxide mixture for example:
Designation: ISO 14175 M25 ArCO 7/4 containing 0.03% nitric oxide (chemical symbol NO):
Classification: ISO 14175 Z
Gas mixture with 30% helium in argon: Designation: ISO 14175 Z ArC+NO 18 + 0.03
Classification: ISO 14175 I3
Designation: ISO 14175 I3 ArHe 30
Product tolerances.
For the user of any shielding gas, it is important to know that a new
cylinder of a mixture should perform the same as the last and that it is
dependent on the accuracy in which the cylinder is filled.
ISO 14175 lays down exactly what the tolerances for each component
in a mixture should be. For components of greater than 5 %, the
tolerance is 10%. Therefore, for a shielding gas containing 20% CO2,
this gives an allowable range of 18 to 22% CO2.
The change between the new standard and the old version is that, for
components below 1%, the tolerance should be agreed between the
supplier and the customer.
Table 3: Difference in purity levels between 1994 and 2008 version of standard
Marking.
Every cylinder must be marked with the following information: In most countries, this information is supplied on a label attached
to the shoulder of the cylinder.
Name of the manufacturer or supplier
Trade name
Classification and designation of the cylinder contents
Health and safety information in accordance with local, national
or regional standards and regulations as required