Talk:Flux (metallurgy)
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[edit] Steel welding
what about steel welding? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.69.253.41 (talk • contribs) .
[edit] "Flux" referring to a solvent for corundum
The term "flux" also refers to cryolite used to dissolve corundum for aluminum smelting and growth of synthetic ruby and sapphire. The books I'd seen have suggested that the term is used this way outside of aluminum smelting, but didn't quote any references for that. While this is touched on in the existing text, it would be nice if a Chemical or Metallurgical Engineer with appropriate specialities could expand on it. --Christopher Thomas 05:42, 1 December 2005 (UTC)
- Here's a link that discusses the flux-growth method for synthetic gemstones (from [1]; it appears to be course notes for a chemistry course). Googling for "flux growth" gives about 10 million links to papers and pages discussing use of the technique.
- I'll write a section about this in the article eventually (still nominally on sabbatical), and I'll dig up my old encyclopedia of gemstones as a proper book reference when I do get around to it (it gave an overview of several popular techniques for crystal growth, of which flux growth was one). --Christopher Thomas 22:42, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] First two sentences
"In metallurgy, flux is an aid to melting, a material which by its chemical action facilitates soldering or brazing of metals. Some common fluxes are ammonium chloride or rosin, for soldering tin; hydrochloric acid and zinc chloride for galvanized iron and other zinc surfaces; and borax, for brazing.
I had a problem with the grammar and changed it to:
"In metallurgy, flux is a substance which lowers the melting point of a metal to facilitate soldering or brazing. Common fluxes are: ammonium chloride or rosin for soldering tin; hydrochloric acid and zinc chloride for soldering galvanized iron (and other zinc surfaces); and borax for brazing."
Hope it's better. --Tatty 07:45, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
- I have reverted your edit, I'm afraid. It conflicts with the body of the article which does not mention the lowering of the melting point, and it removed some standard wiki markup. User:Noisy | Talk 09:52, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
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- Fair enough. I've ammended my edit and left out the mention of melting point. The rest if the article also makes for difficult reading and, in my view, is not technically correct. I'll change it with references given time. --Tatty 10:02, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Brazing links
I noticed that the external links (to jm-metaljoining.com) in the references on "Brazing" had become quite difficult to follow -- the content is in a small frame, poorly organized (imho) and difficult to follow. I left one of the two original links (hopefully the more useful one) and added two others which might provide more useful information. Feel free to change stuff back if the wording changes introduced errors; I'm a chemist but not a fluxing expert. /Jaeger5432 15:47, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Introduction -> wetting ?
Iepeulas changed the introduction from:
In high-temperature metal joining processes (welding, brazing and soldering), the primary purpose of flux is to prevent oxidation of the base and filler materials. Tin-lead solder (e.g.) attaches very well to copper, but poorly to the various oxides of copper, which form quickly at soldering temperatures. Flux is a substance which is nearly inert at room temperature, but which becomes strongly reducing at elevated temperatures, preventing the formation of metal oxides. Secondarily, flux acts as a wetting agent in soldering and brazing processes.
to
In high-temperature metal joining processes (welding, brazing and soldering), the primary purpose of flux is to remove oxides from the metal surface and prevent oxidation of the base and filler materials. Tin-lead solder (e.g.) easily wets copper, but does not wet oxides of copper, which form quickly at soldering temperatures. Fluxes dissolve metal oxides and often provide a reducing atmosphere at elevated temperatures, preventing the further oxidation of the base material. The clean, activated metal surface is easily wetted by the molten solder or brazing alloy.
I think this new explanation is not clear at all. When I read it, I do not really understand what flux does. This is mainly because the term 'wetting' is used, although it is not at all clear what this is. The introduction should be relatively easy to understand and use as little jargon as possible. Therefore, I suggest going back to the original explanation. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Rabarberski (talk • contribs) 11:03, 17 January 2007 (UTC).
As a layman here I strongly agree. In addition, it sounds to me as though "wetting" has some specific definition or aspect that differs from just "making wet."
Gruber76 02:55, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
