Welding Mild Steel - Discussion (134475e7-8deb-4078-beeb-3a4bfabde750)

H. G. KNOX,* Norfolk, Va. (written discussion?).-There is one subject that Mr. Hobart seems to have inadvertently omitted from his very valuable paper, and that is corrosion. The shipbuilder, perhaps more than anyone else, has constantly to guard against it, our chief reliance being paint and galvanizing, where practicable. The corrodibility of a welded. joint is salt water must be determined before deciding whether this type of construction is to supersede riveting. At the present time, this question cannot be answered, although considerable work has been started in an attempt to arrive at a conclusion. The British Admiralty and several British shipbuilders have studied it extensively. Their experiments and conclusions have been very carefully followed and reported in this country by Naval Constructor Goodall of the British Navy. To date, these show that no undue fear need be felt from corrosion. At the Norfolk Navy Yard a series of plates welded with various electrodes were submerged in dilute sulfuric acid, such as is used in cleaning prior to galvanizing. While this test may not be conclusive in any quantitative way, it does show a marked difference in the corrodibility of welds made with different electrodes tinder different conditions. To thaw any conclusions from this accelerated this accelerated test would be, however, ill advised. In riveted joints, the exposed heads and points of the rivets always show the greatest tendency to corrode. This is clue to two reasons: first, as they are raised above the surrounding surface the paint is more susceptible to abrasion; and, second, electrolytic action is set up between rivet and plate. These same reasons lead us to expect a tendency of the welded joint to corrode. Various methods have been suggested for decreasing the probable inherent corrodibility of the weld, in addition to the customary coat of paint. These generally embody the introduction of alloys, principally copper; into the electrode material. Plating the electrode with copper is not effective in that the deposited copper segregates in the weld and actually increases the electrolytic action. As far as is known, no extensive test on the so-called copper-bearing alloy steels, which might be made up into electrodes, has been carried out, but when obtainable, electrodes of this alloy will be subjected to service tests.