Industries such as offshore oil and gas, (petro)chemicals, pharmaceutical processing and water treatment rely on super-duplex stainless steels to create strong and corrosion-resistant structures from flat plates and seamless tubes, for instance. However, these industries are governed by very strict environmental, product quality and safety guidelines. In the past, these severe quality requirements could only be met with the TIG welding process.
MAG welds of duplex steels often display excessive porosity. In addition, MAG welding of duplex steels generates a lot of smoke and soot, and is prone to inclusions. The resulting material properties are generally insufficient and the welds do not comply with the quality standards specified by authorized bodies such as TÜV, ABS, DNV, LR and ARAMCO.
Hence welders have traditionally opted for the TIG process. However, it is slow and therefore expensive. Now that has changed!
Doubling productivity in duplex-steel welding with CRONIGON® He30C
Linde’s new CRONIGON ® He30C mixture was developed specifically to fill the productivity gap in super-duplex stainless-steel welding. This duplex-optimised welding gas delivers high-quality welds at MAG speeds. It is the first and only TÜV-approved shielding gas for MAG welding of super-duplex steels and thus meets all industry quality standards while doubling the speed of TIG processes. CRONIGON He30C is a three-component mixture comprising 69.75% argon, 30% helium and 0.25% carbon dioxide.
By bringing MAG welding to super-duplex steels, CRONIGON He30C increases productivity, cuts production costs, reduces porosity and lowers the need for post-weld work (such as cleaning). In addition, it is suited to automated solutions and can of course also be used with standard duplex steels.
The TÜV certification (VdTÜV-Kennblatt for Welding Consumables No. 19525.01) confirms that CRONIGON He30C, in combination with the Thermanit 25/09 CuT welding wire from voestalpine Böhler Welding, is ideally equipped to guarantee a standards-compliant weld.
Highlights of CRONIGON He30C at a glance
- TÜV-approved weld quality
- Can be used for pulsed and spray arc operation
- Increased productivity with up to 20% reduction in welding costs per piece
- Welds of high strength and toughness
- Very good corrosion resistance
- Very good ferrite/austenite balance
- Very low porosity
- Less oxidation, soot and spatter
- Less post work and repair
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