Welders Can Breathe Easier Using New Alloy

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By Pam Frost Gorder

Professors

A new welding alloy developed by two engineering professors promises to lessen welders’ risk of inhaling toxic fumes containing hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen.

The alloy is a welding consumable, or material that melts under the welder’s torch to fill the gap between parts that are being joined. It consists of a nickel-copper alloy with small additions of palladium or ruthenium for improved corrosion properties.

Although it is more expensive compared to commercial stainless steel consumables, it is worth the cost in situations where adequate ventilation is a problem.

Gerald Frankel and John Lippold, professors of materials science and engineering, invented the alloy specifically to aid military and commercial welding personnel who work in confined spaces where ventilation may be inadequate.

“I always think of someone welding a steel pipe, deep inside a ship at sea,” Frankel says. “Ventilation might not be possible, and a breathing apparatus for the welder would make working in a confined space even more difficult. In that case, using our alloy would lower the amount of ventilation needed and help reduce costs overall.”

In tests, welds made with the new consumable proved just as strong and corrosion-resistant as welds made with commercial stainless steel consumables, and, most importantly, the fumes generated are virtually free of toxic hexavalent chromium.

Lippold, a welding expert, was already studying the manganese content of steel welding fumes, another potential health risk that can cause neurological damage, when Frankel, a corrosion expert, approached him about chromium.

“We came up with an alloy that is compatible with stainless steel from a corrosion perspective and a welding process that results in high-quality welds,” Lippold says. “It is a replacement for stainless steel consumables that welders use now.”

Frankel and Lippold have begun further testing of their alloy with Euroweld Ltd., a Mooresville, N.C., manufacturer of specialty welding materials, and are working on ways to lower its cost. In conjunction with Boian Alexandrov, a research scientist in Lippold’s research group, they have started to introduce this consumable into military repair facilities.

The university will license the alloy and its applications for commercial development.

Pam Frost Gorder is an assistant director of research communications at Ohio State.

Category: Research