m-carbon steels (0.30 to 0.

50%C) can be

welded by the various fusion processes. In some

cases, especially in steel with more than 0.40%

carbon, preheating and subsequent heat treatment

may be necessary.

High-carbon steels (0.50 to 0.90%C) are more

difficult to weld and, especially in arc welding,

may have to be preheated to at least 500 8F and

subsequently heated between 1200 and 1450 8F. For

gas welding, a carburizing flame is often used. Care

must be taken not to destroy the heat treatment to

which high-carbon steels may have been subjected.

Tool steels (0.80 to 1.50%C) are difficult to weld.

Preheating, postannealing, heat treatment, special

welding rods, and great care are necessary for

successful welding.

Welding of structural steels is governed by the

American Welding Society “Structural Welding

Code,” AWS D1.1, the American Institute of Steel

Construction “Specification for the Design, Fabri-

cation and Erection of Structural Steel for Build-

ings,” or a local building code. AWS D1.1 specifies

tests to be used in qualifying welders and types of

welds. The AISC Specification and many building

codes require, in general, that only qualified welds

be used and that they be made only by qualified

welders.

The heat required for fusion welding can be

produced by burning together such gases as

oxygen and acetylene in a welding torch but is

more usually supplied by an electric arc. The arc

may be struck either between the work and a

consumable electrode, which also serves as the

filler material, or between the work and a

nonconsumable electrode, with external filler metal

added.

A protective environment is usually provided to

ensure weld soundness. This inert atmosphere may

be formed by the decomposition of coatings on the

welding electrodes or provided by separate means.

Several welding processes are in common use

today. Shielded metal-arc welding may employ

coated electrodes or have bare electrodes passing

through a separately maintained flux pool (sub-

merged arc welding). Consumable metal-arc inert-

gas welding is done under the protection of an inert

shielding gas coming from a nozzle. Tungsten-arc

inert-gas welding also employs inert shielding gas

but uses a virtually nonconsumed tungsten elec-

trode. On joints where filler metals are required

with a tungsten arc, a filler rod is fed into the weld

zone and melted with the base metal, as in the

oxyacetylene process. These processes can be used

manually or in semiautomatic or automatic equip-

ment where the electrode may be fed continuously.

Stud welding is used to fuse metal studs or

similar parts to other steel parts by the heat of an

electric arc. A welding gun is usually used to

establish and control the arc, and to apply pressure

to the parts to be joined. At the end to be welded,

the stud is equipped with a ceramic ferrule, which

contains flux and which also partly shields the

weld when molten.

Preheating before welding reduces the risk of

brittle failure. Initially, its main effect is to lower

the temperature gradient b

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