Welding 1/4in AR400 to Mild steel

[2point2]

Hello, I'm starting a power rake build this week and am fortunate enough to be able to have the "teeth" laser\fiber cut out of AR400. (I found a good deal on an offcut of AR400 from shop this is closing it's doors.)

The more I read about welding AR400 the more confused and paranoid I get. However, a lot of the information out there seems to be related to stick welding 1/2"+ large thick plate to construction\mining equipment.

My gut tells me that welding larger plate has a lot more issues with heat deltas and this is why you have to be mindful of what you're doing.


I have your typical 240v mig pak 180 Lincoln with ER70S-6 and Co2. I consider myself a decent and mindful homejobbie welder, but don't have much experience outside of mig\stick welding typical mild steel.

Will preheating the teeth to 200F and treating it like regular CRS/HRS be fine?

Wanted to hear from folks with experience working with AR metals before spending a day or more welding this stuff.

also, impact properties and abrasive resistance properties are not the same thing, so if anyone has any insight on using this stuff for an array of spinning teeth is a bad idea or not.


Thanks in advance.

View attachment 788079

 

[Rustyiron]

Watching this.

 

[Renze]

The size is irrelevant, only the combined thickness of the plates at the weld, the carbon equivalent, and the heat input, to determin whether preheating is advisable.

AR400 is comparable to Hardox 400 i believe (Swedish Steel AB) but i dont have the CET and m my calculation sheet is Metric.

Preheating is done to reduce the cooling rate of the weld bead to the surrounding material, so only preheating the teeth and not the tube you weld them to, doesnt help much in reducing hydrogen brittleness and hardening effect.

Either way, i wouldnt bother if its only half inch.

 

[ArlyA]

i agree with Renze,, you might be over thinking this.
----------------------------------------------------

roperties of AR400 Steel Plate​

In addition to its general characteristics of being formable, while maintaining good abrasion resistance, AR400 steel also has the following mechanical properties:

• Machining = Fair
• Bending = Good
• Corrosion Resistance = Good
• Welding = Excellent
• Wear Resistance = Great
• Excellent resistance to both impact and sliding abrasion at a moderate cost.
• Recommended for: liners for mining and material handling equipment like dump trucks, material transfer chutes, storage bins, buckets, and hopper

 

[MF243RedTop]

Just watch your cooling off period... No rapid cooling...If too cold outside, need to wait or use heated shop and or welding blanket.. whatever you do... do not quench it or stick a fan blowing cold air on it.

7018 Rod, ER70S-6 both works fine
I used ER71T-1 flux core on ar500 under a mower deck worked fine.

Only other I'll say is, keep in mind when fabbing your project is, AR plate is Not Structural... It needs to be supported..

 

[Smokeydog]

Better excavator and backhoe buckets are made out of AR400. How is that not structural? Grapples made of Hardox and T1?
Does require some different skills, filler and techniques to make quality welds that complement their ultimate strength and toughness.

AR400 is probably the most forgiving of abrasion resistant high strength steel alloys. Should not give problems for the OP limited use.

 

[4570Man]

Better excavator and backhoe buckets are made out of AR400. How is that not structural? Grapples made of Hardox and T1?
Does require some different skills, filler and techniques to make quality welds that complement their ultimate strength and toughness.

AR400 is probably the most forgiving of abrasion resistant high strength steel alloys. Should not give problems for the OP limited use.

My grapple and root rake are both made from ar400 plate. Maybe some harder steels are too brittle to be structural but the ar 400 is definitely structural.

 

[2point2]

Thanks so much for the input guys.