welding a stainless steel ball to c.r.s nickel plated surface

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I have an automatic line welding a stainless steel ball to c.r.s nickel plated surface via a resistance welding. The surface is permanently covered with electrolyte remains (it is inevitable). What will be the suitable electrode in this case? The welding process can not handle ricochets in the welding.

-- galit drier (galits@tadiran-batt.com), January 17, 2002

Answers

I cannot tell you the best electrodes, but the best conductor is pure copper, and materials are added to enhance the durability of the copper, but at a sacrifice to the conductivity. Zirconium added 1% is very popular as it gives an increase in temperature and mechanical durability at only a small loss in conductivity. The CMW page (Contacts Metals Welding) has a great chart showing the copper alloys and characteristics.

With the chance that the surface may cause different resistance, I strongly advise that you use a current regulated control. Most on the market today do this, such as Medar, WTC, Square D, Robotron, but the fastest, most accurate, I have seen is ATek, a small company in Tennessee. I have personally installed a lot of these in a Delco plant that needed them for very sensitive welding applications.

-- David Bacon (dbacon@updatetechnology.com), April 20, 2002.


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