GAMMA 182, a truly unique solution right from the start.

The Welding Alloys R&D team are always open to new ideas and challenges. Thanks to this mind-set and a culture of continuous development, the full potential of our truly unique wire, GAMMA 182, was realised.

GAMMA 182 was originally developed to only be used with a shielding gas. However, based on customer needs, our R&D team was asked to produce a version of the wire that was able to be welded without a shielding gas, which would offer more versatility and application possibilities for the wire. Without hesitation, the team got to work.

First the existing formulation of the wire had to be analysed to see what could be improved and to better understand the limit of the current slag system. After extensive review of the existing wire, it was  established that the slag system was so unique that, in fact, it was already possible for the wire to be welded without gas. Welding the wire without a shielding gas proved to have no negative impact on the weld appearance or the weld metal compactness. Additional lab tests were then carried out to characterise the weld-metal properties of this wire (with and without gas shielding). The R&D team had done such a good job when initially developing the wire, it was possible to offer this innovative solution to our customers in rapid time.

We informed our customers of our new wire and its unique benefits:

• Versatile solution: can be used with or without a shielding gas.
• Outstanding dilution tolerance.
• Basic slag system providing superior weld-metal toughness and hot cracking resistance.
• Slag system provides better protection of the weld surface against oxidation as well as uniform and superior wetting properties with slightly convex beads.

Basic information

GAMMA 182 presents a Ni-Fe-Cr ternary system and is classified as a “solid-solution strengthened” nickel based alloy.

This flux cored wire is one of Welding Alloys’ most famous nickel based alloys, since the wire can be used in a wide range of environments, industries and applications from cryogenic temperatures (-196°C) to extremely high temperatures (900°C).

GAMMA 182 offers certain properties in the ‘as welded’ state that no other products can, such as the ability to be diluted in a diverse range of base metals, having different elements, while maintaining strength and ductility.

Let’s take a closer look at the following applications:

 1// Dissimilar welding

Some welding joints require the use of non-matching welding consumables. Ni-based alloys are often used for dissimilar welds where carbon steels are joined to Ni-based alloys or stainless steels.

The reason is that it provides a gradation in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) across the weld joint that better distributes stresses and avoids fatigue stress problems (in the HAZ of carbon steels).

 2// Repair

When defects occur on hard to weld steels, and welding repairs have to be carried-out, the carbon migration must be taken into consideration when selecting the filler metal.

GAMMA 182 is the ideal choice for this type of repair because it will prevent undesirable carbon migration, still offer good mechanical properties of the weld metal deposit, and avoid cold cracking of the weld metal.

For this reason, GAMMA 182 is the ideal choice for major repairs such as kilns in cement plants. As seen in the below pictures.