Halverson CTS
  • Welding Outline
  • Welding Safety Electric Shock
    • Welding Safety Fumes & Gases
    • Welding Safety Fire and Explosions
    • Welding Safety Personal Protective Equipment
  • Welding Safety Document
    • Hand Tools
  • Chapter 14 Oxyfuel Gas Cutting
    • 14.1 The Heat of Combustion of Steel
    • 14.3 Cutting Outfit
    • 14.5 Using a Cutting Torch
    • 14.6 Cutting Steel with the Oxyfuel Gas Cutting Torch
    • 14.7 Cutting Alloy Steels
    • 14.9 Automatic Cutting
    • 14.10 Safety in Oxyfuel Gas Cutting
  • Test

​5.7 Nonferrous Electrode Classifications

The American Welding Society has produced the following booklets on nonferrous electrodes:
  • AWS A5.3. Specification for Aluminum and Aluminum-Alloy Electrodes for Shielded Metal Arc Welding.
  • AWS A5.6. Specification for Copper and Copper-Alloy Electrodes for Shielded Metal Arc Welding.
  • AWS A5.11. Specification for Nickel and Nickel-Alloy Welding Electrodes for Shielded Metal Arc Welding.
  • ​
The designations of all nonferrous electrodes include letters that identify the electrodes major alloying ingredient. The letters are abbreviations for chemical elements as follows:

Al—aluminum                  Fe—iron
Ni—nickel 
Cr—chromium                 Mn—manganese
Si—silicon 
Cu—copper                       Mo—molybdenum
Sn—tin 

There are three aluminum electrodes in the AWS A5.3 specification. They are the E1100, with an aluminum content of 99%; the E3003, with an aluminum content of about 96.7%, and the E4043, with approximately a 92.3% aluminum content.


The copper-based electrodes range in copper content from about 68.9% to 99%. ECuNi is the exception. It contains up to 33% nickel. The copper content is about 62%, with the remainder made up of other elements. The AWS classifications are shown below:

ECu                     ECuSn-C                ECuAl-B
ECuSi                 ECuNi                      ECuNiAl
ECuSn-A           ECuAl-A2               ECuMnNiAl               


The nickel-based electrodes contain from 59% to 92% nickel. The exact chemical composition may be found in AWS A5.11. The eight AWS classifications are:
ENi-1                          ENiCrFe-3
ENiCu-7                    ENiCrFe-4
ENiCrFe-1                 ENiMo-1
ENiCrFe-2                ENiMo-3


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