Even though manufacturers of welding equipment, welding experts and most engineers would agree only clean metal surfaces should be welded together—unwashed, soiled metal surfaces are regularly welded together in manufacturing plants.
This is primarily done to eliminate intermediate cleaning stages between production processes—theoretically saving money and time, but one really needs to know the nature of their mill oils and stamping lubricants to ensure potential weld issues are averted.
The following series of bulletins will highlight some of the differences amongst stamping lubricants with regard to welding and weld residues and how they relate to other surface contaminants on metal surfaces.
The object here is to expose areas that may not be regularly considered and to ensure safety for welding and production personnel.
