Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by anfractuosity 3409 days ago
That's interesting with respect to welding. I just assumed all metals could be welded, do you know the reason why some can't out of interest.

Also is plutonium welded for any application, out of curiosity?

2 comments

One reason certain metals can't be welded is how their crystalline structure is altered by the process, creating a weak or brittle weld/HAZ (heat affected zone: weaker metal surrounding the weld/filler metal altered by heat)

Some metals also have difficult or impossible cooling rates - welding stainless to carbon steel will make a weak weld that is almost guaranteed to crack while cooling because one metal cools and contracts much faster than the other.

The topic is fairly complex, but there is a good textbook/reference for welders put out by the Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation called "Metals and How To Weld Them" that goes deep on structure and metallurgy, in a readable way.

I just assumed all metals could be welded, do you know the reason why some can't out of interest.

Not a welder but spent some time in farming school and on farms:

IIRC Not even all steel can be welded (i.e. at least not in a practical way using standard tools.)