When MIG welding (gasless) of thin section steel which wire is better 0.8mm or 0.9mm?
A lot of welders would assume that a thinner wire would be best for the job, but that may not be the case all the time.
Here's why 0.9mm, rather than 0.8mm, may be your best option for thinner materials
It may not sound logically correct; this is not necessarily the case. Let us explain why.
0.8mm Gasless Wire & 0.8mm Solid (gas) MIG Wire may be same in size, but they can’t be directly compared to each other.
If you are used to using 0.8mm solid (gas) MIG wire for welding thinner gauge steel and somehow accustomed to it, then it might come naturally for you to assume that 0.8mm gasless wire would be the best option.
However, 0.8mm Gasless Wire does not directly compare to 0.8mm Solid (gas) Wire.
This is because gasless wires are flux-cored, meaning they have a hollow core filled with flux - therefore a gasless wire will have less filler metal per KG than a solid wire of the same size.
Due to this specific reason, 0.9mm gasless wire will often do the same job as 0.8mm solid wire.... depending on the quality of the wire.
The Proper 0.9mm Gasless wire will effortlessly weld thin materials
If you've tried different brands of gasless wire, you might have noticed that there is a significant difference from one to another, the reason behind is the formulation of the flux which impacts the overall performance of the wire, and every brand has its own formulation.
A top performing 0.9mm wire, like the Hyundai E71T-11 / E71-TGS gasless wire, will be much more "tolerant" to variations in material thicknesses and will easily weld thinner materials.
In fact, Hyundai E71T-11 / E71-TGS gasless wire is plausibly Australia's top choice gasless wire when it comes to user appeal.
It took years of research and development for the formula of this wire to be perfected so it could provide exceptional performance...that includes ability to weld a wide variety of thicknesses using 0.9mm. Hyundai E71T-11 / E71-TGS gasless wire is also tolerant to variations in parameters, which means that you won't have to constantly play with the settings on your welder to make the wire run like it should.
Formulation (of wire & flux)
We’ll try to dissect as much as we can to better understand this.
The formula for 0.8mm gasless wire is different from the 0.9mm simply because different size wires have different arc characteristics, different operating parameters, etc. - and adjustments need to be made to the formula to accommodate this.
In addition to that, being physically smaller (not enough space to accommodate both wire & flux), it is harder to achieve a successful formula for 0.8mm, than it is for 0.9mm.
Our Hyundai E71T-11 / E71-TGS gasless wire in 0.8mm is also a top-performing wire... but we still sell over 10 times more 0.9mm than we do 0.8mm. Why? because Hyundai E71T-11 / E71-TGS gasless wire in 0.9mm is so versatile & can be used on both thinner & thicker materials.
Cost benefits when using 0.9mm
Using 0.9mm rather than 0.8mm can give you significant savings. 0.8mm is always more costly than 0.9mm. The reason behind it is the manufacturing process, smaller diameter wires cost more to manufacture while 0.9mm wire which is more popular and are manufactured in much larger volumes resulting to reduction of cost.
When to use 0.8mm wire?
We do not suggest to completely flush the 0.8mm gasless wire down the drain. If you are constantly welding very thin materials (ex. 1.0mm), then 0.8mm could make sense.
And/or if you have a smaller MIG welder with maximum capacity of say 130-150 Amps, then 0.8mm wire may be more suitable to the output range of your machine.
But all the same, we often find that operators who previously thought they had to use 0.8mm are pleasantly surprised to find that our Hyundai E71T-11 / E71-TGS gasless wire in 0.9mm does everything their previous 0.8mm wire did and so much more.
That's all we can suggest & recommend in Gasless MIG welding thin materials, If you have a new application in mind or you need assistance with your current manufacturing process, feel free to contact us