Welding is typically a process of joining two pieces of material using the heat generated by an electric arc and often a filler material to add and strengthen the resulting joint. However, the same basic technique can be used in other ways by adjusting a few parameters. A primary example is plasma cutting, which is largely the same as arc welding but with a controlled jet of gas used to melt and blow away material to cut rather than combine.
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A similar adjustment of parameters leads to hardfacing. Some think of hardfacing as a complex and advanced technique that only the most experienced welding operators can pull off. Others just consider it an irritation and not worth the time and effort required to perform it. What is it, though, and how can you use the process? Let’s discuss.
Hardfacing is a process where you use the general concept of welding – specifically the deposition of material – to coat the outside of a base metal with a tougher, harder metal. This can make the resulting workpiece more durable, more resistant to abrasion, wear, and damage, and expand its longevity. Hardfacing is performed using specialized electrodes or filler rods but largely uses the same kind of arc welding process to melt those fillers onto the surface of the base material.
This isn’t quite the same as something like adhering a shell to the outside of a workpiece. Since the welding process is used, the surface of the base material is melted enough to combine with the filler material, resulting in a merger of the two. This creates a thick, dense layer between 1 and 10 mm, made of a highly bonded, wear-resistant alloy combining the base and filler metals.
Hardfacing improves the surface strength, ductility, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and erosion resistance of the original workpiece. It can be performed on cast iron, copper, and nickel alloys, stainless steel, carbon steel, and manganese steel.
One key to successful hardfacing is minimizing heat. While you need enough surface melt to the base material to adhere to the hardfacing filler, you want as little mixing as possible because the base material will soften the added material and reduce the utility of the hardfacing. Therefore, knowing what material you’re hardfacing is critical so you can identify ideal temperatures.
Hardfacing is a way to strengthen and extend the working life of metal parts that see a lot of wear, particularly surface wear. By hardfacing a worn part, additional lifespan can be drawn from the base workpiece, extending longevity and reducing the need to replace it; this saves money over the long run.
Hardfacing is commonly used in agricultural and mining situations and is frequently also an option for getting more useful life out of a part while a replacement is on order. In remote locations or for specialized parts that need lead time to be made and shipped, when the difference is between halted operations and continued operations, hardfacing can make the difference.
Overall, hard facing can be used to minimize the downtime spent replacing worn or broken parts, allows you to store fewer replacements on-site if you typically do so, and increases the average lifespan of those parts. In many cases, the lifespan of a working piece can be extended by up to 300% with dedicated hard facing, which can mean overall savings for the company of 25% to 75% in the cost of replacements.
Hardfacing can be used in a wide range of different applications. Since it’s coating the outside of a workpiece, it’s generally used on pieces that have to resist impacts or abrasions over time.
In construction, an excavator’s plow is one common piece that has to endure an immense amount of impact and erosion damage. Heavy use of an excavator can wear it down, reducing the strength of the plot and even the workable dimensions of the machine. Hardfacing the plow strengthens it against this kind of damage.
In agriculture, the manufacture of sugar involves crushing sugarcane in a roller. Despite being a plant – which you might not think of as being able to damage metal parts – the sugarcane plant is quite strong and can give as good as it gets. These rollers can be hard-faced to help resist the damage of continually crushing sugar cane and extend the operating life of the machine.
Another common example from mining is the crusher that breaks up larger chunks of ore-bearing material for processing. There are a wide range of different designs for these machines, but many of them end up using plates of metal and heavy motors to crush rock. Rock, too, resists being crushed and will damage and abrade the crusher over time. Hardfacing the jaws of the crusher will help them resist that force and can be used as a repair to restore functionality to damaged jaws before they need to be fully replaced.
Yes. Hardfacing can be performed in two ways: overlay and build-up. These are roughly equivalent to enhancing existing materials and repairing damaged materials.
Imagine a workpiece with many gouges, scratches, abrasions, dings, scrapes, and other forms of damage from long use. The workpiece is worn and nearing the end of its lifespan. Such a piece can be restored with hard facing using the build-up technique. Build-up hardfacing entails using the welding process to deposit hardfacing material and spending additional time and care on the deeper gouges and abrasions to rebuild the working surface of the workpiece. A layer to smooth and even out the working surface is applied, and any finishing is performed.
Overlay hardfacing can be done on pieces that have been built up already using the previous technique or on brand-new or barely-worn pieces that need additional reinforcement to expand their lifespan. This technique simply uses repeated and iterative passes of hard facing to deposit a layer of material across the entire surface of the workpiece; no special care is necessary for repairs because no repairs are necessary. It’s simply a method of reinforcement.
The step-by-step process of hard facing is relatively simple and similar to many other welding processes. The primary difference is that it takes place over the whole surface of a typically large workpiece rather than along a single seam or crack in the workpiece.
Step one is to clean the part. Since hard facing is typically used on working machines, these have likely built up grime, dirt, oils, greases, rust, and chemicals, all of which can inhibit the performance of a weld and cause inclusions, weaknesses, and faults in the resulting surface. A thorough cleaning is required to avoid cracking, warping, and damage to the workpiece. This process may even need to be performed on brand-new pieces, particularly if they’ve been painted or coated in rust-resistant chemicals.
Step two is to perform build-up hard facing on any deep gouges, abrasions, cracks, or other damage to the surface of the workpiece. Hardfacing requires that the surface be more or less the shape and form you want the finished piece to be, so any repairs you need to make should be made at this step in the process. This isn’t necessary for new pieces you’re reinforcing with hard facing, as there’s likely no damage to repair.
Step three is to “butter” the part. Buttering is the act of forming a thin buffer layer between the base material and the hardfacing material. It’s most commonly used in cases where the two materials are dissimilar and will have a hard time bonding with one another. By using an intermediary as a buffer layer, you can create more comprehensive bonds and reduce the chances of the final coating cracking or shrinking and causing problems.
The fourth and final step is to perform the actual hard facing. This is where you apply your coats of hardfacing material. This may be spotty and sporadic, or it may be comprehensive and can be anywhere from one to three coats for most situations.
One critical component of the actual hardfacing process is deciding on a hardfacing pattern. While a complete coat of cladding can be used, this is often unnecessary, depending on the purpose of the workpiece. Other patterns include:
All of these patterns are ways to save time, energy, and material when hardfacing, so you don’t have to coat the entire working surface of a piece completely.
What does successful hardfacing look like? Ironically, hard facing often looks visually like bad welds because it’s an uneven and rough build-up of material on the surface of the workpiece. In a way, it’s almost like more of a “brute force” approach to welding rather than more elegant seams and connections.
What materials can and can’t be hard-faced? Hardfacing is generally done on harder steels, like stainless, manganese, carbon, and alloy steels. It can also be performed on cast iron, nickel-base alloys, and copper-base alloys. Other base materials are often too soft to take hardfacing well or are not used in the kinds of applications where hardfacing is beneficial.
One of the greatest details of hardfacing is that it’s only applicable to high-wear pieces in heavy industry. It’s typically not used in cases where direct wear isn’t responsible for damage. That is, cases where the cause of damage is flexing stress or sheer stress are not going to benefit from hard facing.
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What’s the best process for hard facing? Many forms of hard facing are performed using submerged arc welding. Another popular process is flux-core arc welding. However, any welding process can be used for hardfacing, up to and including plasma arc welding, laser welding, and even brazing.
What matters most is the heat control and deposition rates of the process you choose. Some processes have better deposition rates and can hardface a workpiece faster and more effectively. Others need more careful control to avoid overheating the area. At the end of the day, though, what matters most is that you pick a process you’re familiar with and can control well.
What is “wear” in the industry? Most often, wear is caused by abrasion with a material like rock or aggregate or by impact. Sometimes, wear can be defined as metal-to-metal abrasion, heat, or corrosion, but these are less common in the cases where hard facing is most beneficial. Additionally, many different kinds of wear can apply at once; using an excavator to plow can cause both abrasion and impact, for example.
Hardfacing MIG wire, also known as hard surfacing, is most commonly used in industrial settings to repair damaged or destroyed machines, vehicles, bridge work, etc.
There are a lot of great benefits associated with using this type of wire while MIG welding, providing a durable, sustainable connection between two sheets of metal or a layer of protection to the piece.
While the process is relatively simple, it can be confusing to understand initially, so we put together this guide for hardfacing MIG wire.
A MIG welding wire is used in a MIG welding machine to bind two pieces of metal together or to apply a layer of protective metal to a fresh weld or metal part. This type of wire is considered a filler metal fed through the device, melted, and applied to the material requiring a weld.
As the melted wire cools, it solidifies, providing a strong, firm, and durable hold. This wire is made from various materials in different forms and sizes.
To save time and get straight to the point, we will not review the extensive MIG wires library and focus on hardfacing options.
Hardfacing MIG wire is typically used to repair or rebuild damaged parts on machines and other metal surfaces. This protects or reinforces metal objects to extend their life, limiting the amount of wear and tear they sustain.
When you think of welding, your brain probably automatically goes to bonding two metal sheets together. While hardfacing wire can handle that task with no trouble, it is often used to fill holes, reinforce cracked or damaged materials, or offer a layer of protection to flimsy or delicate products.
This specific type of welding wire is used in many industries, especially those looking for a strong and long-lasting bond.
Some of the most common areas where you will see hardfacing MIG wire used are:
The purpose behind using MIG wire is often the same, no matter what job, repair, or DIY project you are working on. However, the metal you use on that task will require a specific kind of hardfacing wire.
First, we want to talk about the two forms of hardfacing MIG wire: flux core and solid wire.
Numerous types of base metals are commonly used, including:
Each of these metals is ideal for hardfacing MIG wire because they are typically softer than the composition of the wire.
Hardfacing MIG wire can be composed of various materials, yet when working on a hardfacing task, a few options stand out amongst the rest. These options include:
The type of rod you use with your hardface wire will also look different depending on what you are doing and what type of material is your base metal.
To start things off, copper-based hardface welding rods are one of the better options when using the wires listed above. Aside from copper, you could also easily use iron base and nickel + cobalt base.
You can choose from an automatic to semi-automatic MIG welding machine when using hardface welding wire. Both options will work well and get the job done, providing a durable, strong, and long-lasting hold on any project.
Semi-automatic and automatic machines can use the same type of wires and distribute them similarly.
One of the best parts about using a MIG welder with MIG wire is that the material is often more affordable than other options.
A few tips and tricks for using hardfacing MIG welding wire can help just about anyone achieve the perfect weld every time.
A hardfacing wire is only as good as the base metal it is matched with. You must ensure that the surface you work on is prepped and ready for additional metal layers.
There are various wire options for hardface MIG welding that will provide a strong hold and protective seal. To ensure you choose the perfect MIG hardfacing wire, review the guide above to familiarize yourself with the criteria required to meet hardfacing standards for those tough welding jobs.
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