Why You Shouldn’t Weld Carbon Steel and Stainless Steel Wire Together?

Reasons You Want to Avoid Welding Stainless Steel to Carbon Steel

1.Difficulty: Combining dissimilar metals together, such as welding stainless steel to carbon steel, adds extra challenges to the process. This translates into increased labor, rejection/error rates, and costs.

2.Hot Cracking of the Stainless Steel: Because it is more electrically-resistant than carbon steel, welding stainless steel with resistance welding heats up the metal much faster than with carbon steel. While waiting for the carbon steel to reach weld temperature, the stainless can overheat and become riddled with hot cracks. Using filler-based welding or preheating the plain steel can ameliorate this, but these methods aren’t perfect.

3.Thermal Expansion in High Temperature Service Conditions: Another problem with using dissimilar metals in a welded wire form is that thermal expansion from heat will affect each metal differently. This difference in expansion rates between the two metals can cause extra fatigue to the welded joint—reducing the wire form’s structural integrity and useful life.

4.Increased Bimetallic Corrosion: One of the reasons you generally want to use stainless steel is because of its strong corrosion resistance. An uncovered weld of plain and stainless steel that is exposed to extreme corrosive conditions, such as immersion in saltwater, could cause corrosion. This is because the intermingling of plain steel particles with the stainless alloy compromises the protective oxide layer of the stainless, allowing rust to form.

5.Reduced Weld Strength: Another problem with joining dissimilar metals is that it can lead to weaker welds—even with filler-based welding methods. The differences in weld temperatures and operational tolerances alone can easily compromise the strength of the welded joint.

To boil it down, welding dissimilar metals together is difficult to do right, and often produces inferior results to using metal alloys that are similar or the same.

By taking into account the long-term effects of using different metal alloys in a custom wire form, you can make sure that you get the right basket for the job.