Precautions for the Use of Welding Materials

Precautions for the Use of Welding Materials

Welding consumables refer to the collective term for materials consumed during the welding process, including welding electrodes, welding wires, metal powders, fluxes, shielding gases, and other such materials. The welding industry has been growing rapidly and is primarily categorized into argon arc welding, carbon dioxide welding, oxy-fuel cutting, and shielded metal arc welding. In 2010, China’s apparent steel consumption was approximately 770 million tonnes, with welding consumables accounting for about 0.6% of total steel consumption. Consequently, the consumption of welding consumables in 2010 was roughly 4.65 million tonnes.

Since 2010, nearly 1,000 welding-material manufacturing enterprises have emerged nationwide, with several large enterprise groups established in cities such as Tianjin, Zigong, Shanghai, Kunshan, and Jinzhou. Driven by the continuous expansion of the domestic market, internationally renowned welding-material manufacturers have increasingly set up production facilities in China, leveraging their technological and financial advantages to capture market share and engage in direct competition with domestic firms.

China’s welding materials industry is highly market-oriented. Common low-grade and copper-coated electrodes are characterized by low technological content and low barriers to entry, leading to severe overcapacity in recent years. As market competition intensifies, the industry is shifting toward large-scale, conglomerate-based operations. While some domestic firms are leveraging low-end strategies to capture market share, they are simultaneously accelerating the restructuring of their product portfolios to consolidate their market position.

The primary focus of research on occupational health in welding is fusion welding, with open-circuit arc welding posing the most significant occupational health concerns, while submerged-arc welding and electroslag welding present relatively fewer risks. In manual metal arc welding, carbon-gas gouging, and CO2 gas-shielded welding, the main hazardous factor is the fumes generated during the welding process—welding fume, particularly in manual metal arc welding using coated electrodes. Moreover, when carbon-arc gouging is performed over prolonged periods in confined working environments—such as boilers, ship compartments, sealed vessels, and pipelines—and under inadequate protective conditions, it can adversely affect the respiratory system and, in severe cases, lead to welder’s pneumoconiosis. Toxic gases are the principal hazardous agents in gas-shielded welding and plasma arc welding; at high concentrations, they can cause symptoms of poisoning. In particular, the high-temperature radiation from the electric arc causes the oxygen and nitrogen in the air to form ozone and nitrogen oxides. Arc radiation is a common occupational hazard in all open-circuit arc welding processes, and the resulting arc-eye syndrome constitutes a specific occupational disease associated with such welding. Arc radiation can also damage the skin, leading to dermatitis, erythema, and small blisters in welders, and it may further degrade cotton fibers. In tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding and plasma arc welding, because the welding equipment is equipped with a high-frequency oscillator to assist the arc, a hazardous factor—high-frequency electromagnetic fields—is present, especially in machines where the high-frequency oscillator operates for extended periods (such as certain self-made TIG welders). High-frequency electromagnetic fields can induce disorders of the nervous and hematologic systems in welders.

China’s welding materials industry continues to be dominated by manual welding electrodes; in 2008, the automation rate for welding electrodes in China was 48.9%, and solid-core and flux-cored wires accounted for 40.5% of total welding materials consumption. Compared with the 80% share observed in developed countries such as Japan and South Korea, the proportion of high-automation welding materials in China’s overall consumption remains relatively low.

Therefore, the future development strategy for China’s welding consumables is gradually shifting: high-automation products are progressively replacing traditional, labor-intensive offerings, while high-quality, high-efficiency manual welding electrodes are evolving toward higher strength, lower hydrogen content, and greater environmental friendliness, in order to meet the diverse technical requirements of different weldment types, welding configurations, and service conditions.