302 stainless steel

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- dave
  
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posted
20 years ago

Wed, Aug 27, 2003 1:21 AM

hello folks. I recently started working at a brewery with a lot of

302 stainless steel. My job is general brewery stuff but since I have experience TIG welding steel bicycle frames the brew master would like me to weld some stuff for him. I'm looking for any info related to TIG welding 302 stainless steel. I've gathered so far ER308 or ER312 filler rod and argon coverage on both sides of the weld. a kick in the right direction or any more info would be greatly appreciated. also, what happens if I wouldn't purge the inside of a stainless tube when welding? I'm thinking of stuff like handrails where only the outside sees any duty.

thanks, dave

- H
- Harold Kroeker
  
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posted
20 years ago

Mon, Sep 15, 2003 6:20 PM

Why do you recommend 309L filler for 302 stainless over 308L filler which is what my reference books all recommend? I would guess that since 302 is a higher carbon version of 304 and 309L filler has more carbon than 308L that it might be a better match but this is just a guess. So far I have only used 309L for joining stainless steel to carbon steel which is supposed to be its forte.

Harold Kroeker Winnipeg

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- Ernie Leimkuhler
  
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posted
20 years ago

Tue, Sep 16, 2003 8:33 AM

309L is a default choice for odd SS alloys. It is very forgiving. With elevated carbon in 302SS, you might want to move to 321 or 347 filler so you don't get chromium carbide formation. 309L is just really forgiving, and is fairly common. I would NOT use 308L, since it could pick up enough carbon from the 302SS to have some chromium carbides form.