First Aluminum Filler Metals Hit the Market

Hobart® Brothers Company (Troy, OH) offers their new MaxalMig 4943 wire and MaxalTig 4943 cut-lengths, the first aluminum filler metals to be developed, registered by the Aluminum Association, Inc. (Arlington, VA) and classified by AWS (Miami, FL) for wrought commercial applications in over 40 years.

These new products are a response to industry demands for a higher-strength aluminum welding solution that also offers the advantages of using a 4043 aluminum filler metal, including excellent corrosion resistance, ease of welding and low hot cracking sensitivity. The products provide the ability to reduce weld size while still improving weld strength, and are also suitable for elevated temperature applications.

MaxalMig 4943 and MaxalTig 4943 filler metals feature an AWS A5.10 classification, in addition to a filler metal material group allocation of F23 from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME; New York, NY). Due to the products’ ASME F-number allocation, users may be able to weld with these filler metals using the same welding procedure as 4043 products.

Tests have shown up to a 40 percent increase in yield strength and up to a 20 percent increase in ultimate tensile strength with the MaxalMig 4943 and MaxalTig 4943 filler metals compared to 4043 aluminum products, as well as an increase of approximately 20 percent in shear strength.

The filler metals can be used, with advantage, as a direct replacement for 4643 filler metal in post-weld heat treatment applications. Unlike 4043 products, these 4943 filler metals do not depend upon dilution from the base metal during welding to increase the strength of the weld deposit. They can also be used for welding 1xxx, 3xxx, 5xxx with less than 2.5%Mg, and 6xxx series base metals.

MaxalMig 4943 wire offers precisely controlled wire diameter, cast and helix, high column strength and a surface condition that optimizes feedability. The spooled products are available in diameters ranging from .030 to 1/16 inches. The MaxalTig 4943 cut-lengths also offer excellent weldability and are available in 1/16 in, 3/32 in, 1/8 in, 5/32 in and 3/16 in diameters.

Both products are ideal for welding automotive and motorcycle frames, wheels, furniture, ladders and frames, ship decks, pleasure boats, bicycles, and aerospace applications, as well as for A356.0 casting repairs. MaxalMig 4943 and MaxalTig 4943 filler metals exhibit low smut and discoloration, similar to 4043 aluminum products, and offer low shrinkage rates and high weld pool fluidity. The products also features high-strength characteristics in the post-weld thermally treated condition, when compared to 4043 and 4643 filler metals.

Hobart Brothers Company, 101 Trade Square East, Troy, OH 45373, 800-424-1543, Fax: 800-541-6607, hobart@hobartbrothers.com, www.hobartbrothers.com.