Effects of morphology and granularity distribution of ferrite powder on fume formation rate of flux cored wire

Abstract

In this study the fume formation rate (FFR) of the flux cored wire for mild steel produced by three different plants was investigated. The fume chemical composition analysis was obtained by inductively coupled mass spectroscopy (ICP) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphology and granularity of ferrite powder produced by different production processes were obtained by scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis, and their effects on the FFR of the wire and explanation are also included. In the present paper, results demonstrate that the welding fume contains mainly the oxides of ferrite and manganese (∼50%) with remained evaporations of slag. The ferrite powders produced by different production processes have different morphologies. The morphology of ferrite powders has limited effect on the FFR which fluctuates orderly on a small scale with various granularity distributions of ferrite powders. The FFR is lowered when the granularity of ferrite powders retains between 80 and 120 meshes (&minus210+ 130 μm).