ESAB offers a complete line of welding and cutting products and solutions. Explore our equipment offering with ease based on product line and industry.
ESAB is a world leader in welding and cutting equipment and consumables. Explore our complete line of welding & cutting products for virtually every application.
ESAB University Courses are incremental, structured learning modules designed to help you take your skills to the next level. New courses are being added regularly, so please check back often. Click the link to see current courses offered.
Articles cover industry topics more in-depth and are created in partnership with ESAB engineers and master welders. Click the links to see the latest.
Tips from ESAB Experts to help take your welding, cutting and fabrication skills to the next level.
ESAB Courses are structured learning designed to help welders achieve certain learning milestones and explore topics more in-depth. Check back often for updated resources.
ESAB University videos are curated with tips and best practices from top fabricators around the world. Learn new techniques or improve your current skills with ESAB University videos.
Enhance your knowledge of welding, cutting, and fabrication with free and accessible webinars on a variety of topics, including welding best practices, tips for using ESAB products, new product launches, and more, presented by trusted ESAB experts.
ESAB is a world leader in welding and cutting equipment and consumables. We offer a complete line of fabrication solutions for virtually every application.
ESAB Newsroom - Stay up to date with the latest news from ESAB. View press releases, product announcements, corporate news, and more here.
ESAB EHS (Environment, Health & Safety) initiatives are monitored with the highest degree of importance and commitment to safety is ingrained in our culture.
The history of ESAB is the History of Welding. Go here to view an interactive look at ESAB's history in shaping the future of innovation in welding, cutting, and fabrication.
View available job openings and more on the ESAB Careers page.
ESAB is recognised for its adherence to the best industry practices and commitment to its employees and customers. Explore our list of prestigious awards that we have been honoured with!
Purchasing from an ESAB Authorised Distributor guarantees you first-class customer service and support for all ESAB products.
ESAB offers a wealth of product support resources, including a range of technical and service publications, from Safety Data Sheets and downloadable product manuals to product certifications.
Visit ESAB's global manual search engine to access the items below and more.
Global User Manuals
Instruction Manuals
Spare Parts List
Product Storage Instructions
View Main Contact Page
View ESAB Location Information
+91 44 4228 1100
No playlist found! Your playlist can be created here.
Aluminum has been growing in the welding industry as an alternative to steel. As a result, there’s a need for those involved in these projects to understand this material, including the types of alloys, how they obtain their strength in the HAZ, and the potential for changes in strength when welding.
There are seven series of wrought aluminum alloys. Each is different when it comes to its applications and characteristics.
Series Primary Alloying Element
1xxx Aluminum - 99.00% or Greater
2xxx Copper
3xxx Manganese
4xxx Silicon
5xxx Magnesium
6xxx Magnesium and Silicon
7xxx Zinc
Although this series is the almost pure aluminum, it will respond to strain hardening, especially if it contains appreciable amounts of impurities, such as iron and silicon. However, even in the strain-hardened condition, it has very low strength when compared to other series. These alloys are also non-heat-treatable.Most common applications: Aluminum foil, electrical busbars, metalizing wire, and some chemical tanks and piping systems.
The aluminum-copper alloys typically contain 2-6% of copper, with small additions of other elements. The copper provides substantial increases in strength and facilitates precipitation hardening. These alloys include some of the highest-strength heat treatable aluminum alloys.Most common applications: Aerospace, military vehicles, and rocket fins.
Manganese increases strength through solution strengthening. It improves strain hardening and does not significantly reduce ductility or corrosion resistance. These are moderate strength, non-heat-treatable materials that retain strength at elevated temperatures. However, they are rarely used for major structural applications.Most common applications: Cooking utensils, radiators, air conditioning condensers, evaporators, heat exchangers, beverage containers, residential siding, and handling and storage equipment.
Silicon reduces melting temperature and improves fluidity. Silicon alone in aluminum produces a non-heat-treatable alloy; however, with magnesium, it produces a precipitation-hardening heat treatable alloy. Consequently, there are both heat treatable and non-heat-treatable alloys within this series.Most common applications: Filler wires for fusion welding and brazing of aluminum.
Magnesium increases mechanical properties through solid solution strengthening. Additionally, it improves their strain hardening ability. These alloys are the highest strength non-heat-treatable aluminum alloys and are optimal and extensively used for structural applications.Most common applications: Truck and train bodies, buildings, armored vehicles, ship and boat building, chemical tankers, pressure vessels, and cryogenic tanks.
The addition of magnesium and silicon produces the compound magnesium-silicide (Mg2Si). This provides the 6xxx series with its heat treat-ability. These alloys also extrude both easily and economically. For this reason, they are most often found in an extensive selection of extruded shapes. These alloys also form an important complementary system with the 5xxx series alloy. The 5xxx series alloy used in the form of plate and the 6xxx series used in an extruded form are often joined to the plate.Most common applications: Handrails, driveshafts, automotive frame sections, bicycle frames, tubular lawn furniture, scaffolding, stiffeners, and braces used on trucks, boats, and many other structural fabrications.
The addition of zinc (in conjunction with other elements, primarily magnesium and/or copper) produces heat treatable aluminum alloys of the highest strength. The zinc substantially increases strength and permits precipitation hardening. However, some of these alloys can be susceptible to stress corrosion cracking and are not usually fusion welded. Other alloys within this series are often fusion welded with excellent results.Most common applications: Aerospace, armored vehicles, baseball bats, and bicycle frames.
The main reason for adding the major alloying elements is to improve physical and/or mechanical characteristics. Typically, adding alloying elements promotes work hardening and/or precipitation hardening characteristics.
Work hardening – used extensively to produce the strain-hardened tempers in the non-heat-treatable aluminum alloys – increases the strength of materials when heat treatment cannot. This process involves a change of shape brought about by the input of mechanical energy. As deformation proceeds, the material becomes stronger but harder and less ductile.
For example, the strain hardened temper of H18, full-hard material is obtainable with a cold work equal to about a 75% reduction in area. The H16, H14 and H12 tempers obtained with lesser amounts of cold working represent three-quarter-hard, half-hard, and quarter-hard conditions, respectively.
Solution heat-treating is achieved by heating a material to a suitable temperature, holding it at that temperature for a long enough time to allow constituents to enter into a solid solution, then cooling rapidly to hold the constituents in the solution. Usually, this is followed by precipitation hardening, or what is also known as “artificial aging.” This is achieved by re-heating the alloy to a lower temperature and holding it at this temperature for a prescribed period. The result is a metallurgical structure that provides superior mechanical properties.
To make a welded joint in an aluminum structure using the arc welding process, melting of the base material must occur. While melting, heat transfers through conduction into the base material adjacent to the weld.
Typically, the completed weldment is divided into:
Because the HAZ in aluminum welds will experience cycles of heating and cooling, arc welding on materials that have been strengthened – by work hardening or precipitation hardening – will change its properties. They may be extremely different from the original base alloy and the unaffected area of the base material (see figures 1 and 2).
Aluminum alloys – strengthened by strain hardening – can be restored to a full soft, ductile condition by annealing. Annealing eliminates the strain hardening and the microstructure that is developed because of cooled working. The heating of the HAZ in aluminum welds is sufficient to anneal the base material within the HAZ area. The minimum tensile strength requirements for as-welded, non-heat-treatable alloys are therefore based on the annealed strength of the base alloy. Typical tensile strengths for no-heat treatable alloys are shown in table 1.
Typical Tensile Strength Properties of Groove WeldsNon-Heat Treatable Alloys
With heat-treatable alloys, the HAZ in aluminum welds will not be fully annealed. Typically, the HAZ is not maintained at an adequate temperature for a sufficient period to anneal fully. The effect on the HAZ of a heat treatable alloy that is welded in the solution, heat-treated, and artificially aged is typically one that is partially annealed and over-aged. This is created by the heat input during the welding operation. The general rule is the higher the heat input, the lower the as-welded strength. Typical tensile strengths of some of the heat treatable alloys are shown in Table 2.
Typical Tensile Strength Properties of Groove WeldsHeat Treatable Alloys