How TG-X Filler Rods Can Eliminate Back Shielding: Kobelco Welding Today

PRODUCTS SPOTLIGHT KOBELCO WELDING TODAY
The TG-X series of flux-cored stainless steel filler Stainless steel sheath
rods can eliminate gas purging for back shielding
the root pass weld in one-side TIG pipe welding, cut-
ting the costs for back shielding gases and gas
purging downtime including the setting time for gas
purging jigs. Process pipelines of Type 304, Type
Flux
316, Type 347 and dissimilar metals are typical
applications for TG-X308L, TG-X316L, TG-X347 and Figure 1: A cross sectional view of TG-X flux-cored filler rod.
TG-X309L, respectively.
How TG-X filler rods can eliminate

back shielding
With a typical solid filler rod, back shielding is

required in welding stainless steel pipes, or the root
pass weld would not penetrate the backside of the
joint properly. This can be attributed to significant
oxidation of the root pass weld due to high chro-
mium content of the weld. Therefore, back shield-
ing with an inert gas is a must.
Figure 2: Glossy, regular bead appearance of the reverse
(left) and face (right) surfaces of the root pass weld made by
In contrast, unlike the typical solid wire, a TG-X GTAW with a TG-X308L filler rod on a Type 304 pipe joint
filler rod contains a specific flux inside a tubular without back shielding.
rod of stainless steel as shown in Figure 1. The
flux can be fused by the arc heat to become molten
slag. This molten slag can flow smoothly to the
reverse side of the root to cover uniformly the pen-
etration bead extruded inside the pipe. This molten
slag protects the molten weld metal and red heated Tack weld
bead from the adverse effects of nitrogen and oxy-

gen in the atmosphere. Tack weld
When the weld cools down the slag solidifies to Tack weld
become thin, fragile slag, which can be removed
easily by lightly hitting the face of the joint with a
chipping hammer. Then a quality bead will appear Tack weld
on the face and reverse sides of the root with a

smooth, uniform ripple without oxidation as shown
in Figure 2. TG-X filler rods provide regular pene-
tration through the entire part of the pipe in all Figure 3: Macrostructures of TG-X308L welds made on a
positions as shown in Figure 3. 304-type stainless steel pipe (12T×150mmØ) in 5G position.
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PRODUCTS SPOTLIGHT KOBELCO WELDING TODAY
How TG-X filler rods can cut costs for higher than that of solid filler rods. However, if
gas purging and back shielding you would calculate the total welding cost by mul-
tiplying the unit prices for each factor, you may
The use of a conventional solid filler rod needs notice that the TGX series can save a great deal in
back shielding with an inert gas: normally argon terms of total welding cost.
gas. Though the time and the amount of an inert
gas needed for purging the inside of the pipe vary Chemical and microscopic proper-
depending on the inside diameter and the length of ties of root pass welds
the pipe to be purged, they affect markedly the
total welding cost. Table 1 compares the uses of a Chemical compositions of the root pass welds are
usual solid filler rod and a TG-X filler rod on the shown in Table 2 for individual TG-X filler rods.
factors affecting the welding costs in root pass As shown in this table, every TG-X filler rod
welding on a pipe with an inside diameter of 305 exhibits low nitrogen in the bulk of root pass weld
mm. It is obvious that the use of a TG-X filler rod metal. Electron Probe Micro-Analysis (EPMA) of
can noticeably reduce labor (man-hour) by 23-74% the vicinity of the reverse surface area has verified
and the total argon gas consumption by 55-91% in that no microscopic condensation of nitrogen can
a comparison with typical solid filler rods. be observed. Still more, microstructure testing has
revealed that the distribution of ferrite precipita-
Table 1: A comparison between TG-X and solid filler rods on tion in the austenite matrix is uniform throughout
man-hour, argon gas consumption, filler rod consumption and the root pass weld. Low nitrogen content, together
power consumption in root pass welding of a pipe with the glossy bead appearance mentioned above,
Filler rod TG-X Solid is evidence of the effectiveness of the shielding
effect of the slag of TG-X filler rod.
Groove
preparation
Table 2: Typical properties of single-V groove one-sided root
Back shielding Without back
300 mm 6000 mm pass weld with TG-X filler rods
shielding for local for entire
length of pipe shielding shielding
Filler rod for TG-X308L TG-X316L TG-X309L TG-X347
Prepurging(1) Not required 5.2 min. 104 min. root pass(1) (2.2mmØ) (2.2mmØ) (2.2mmØ) (2.2mmØ)
Setting jigs Not required 10 min. Not req. Type of base metal 304, 316L, Mild steel / 321,
Welding(2) 35 min. 30 min. 30 min. and thickness 9 mm 9 mm 316, 20 mm
19 mm
Arc time rate 50% 50% 50%
Total man-hour 35 min. 45 min. 134 min. Welding position Flat Flat Flat Flat
Total filler rod Welding current DCEN DCEN DCEN DCEN

consumption 120 g 100 g 100 g
for root pass 105A 105A 105A 105A
Prepurging(1) Not required 122.2 liter 2444 liter C 0.040 0.018 0.047 0.028
Welding(2) 263 liter 225 liter 225 liter
Si 0.55 0.64 0.56 0.65
Back shield(3) Not required 240 liter 240 liter
Mn 1.11 1.48 1.36 1.78
Total argon gas 263 liter 587 liter 2909 liter
consumption
root pass weld metal (%)(2)
Chemical composition and
Ni 9.72 12.34 9.99 10.35

Total power
0.405 kwh 0.358 kwh 0.358 kwh Cr 18.89 18.93 19.47 18.67
ferrite content of
consumption
Mo - 2.17 0.35 -
(1) The prepurging condition is per AWS D10.11-7X (Guide for Root
Pass Welding and Gas Purging). Nb - - - 0.44
(2) Shielding gas flow rate for welding: 15 liter/min
Welding condition: 110 Amp./13 Volt. Ti - - - 0.07
(3) Shielding gas flow rate for back shielding: 8 liter/min.
N 0.044 0.041 0.038 0.044
On the other hand, with a TG-X filler rod, because FS, FN 4.6-5.7 7.1-7.6 6.9-8.5 4.4-6.2
of the flux-cored rod, the filler rod consumption SD, F% 7 7.5 7 6

increases a little and power consumption slightly DD, FN 5.5 8 8 5
increases because of a little lower deposition effi-
(1) Torch shielding gas: Ar (without back shielding).
ciency (approx. 90%) than with a solid filler rod. (2) FS: Ferrite scope; SD: Schaeffler diagram; DD: DeLong diagram.
In addition, the unit price of TG-X filler rods is
15

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PRODUCTS SPOTLIGHT KOBELCO WELDING TODAY

How TG-X filler rods can eliminate

With a typical solid filler rod, back shielding is

bead from the adverse effects of nitrogen and oxy-

on the face and reverse sides of the root with a

Total filler rod Welding current DCEN DCEN DCEN DCEN

Ni 9.72 12.34 9.99 10.35

of the flux-cored rod, the filler rod consumption SD, F% 7 7.5 7 6

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