[TheForge] Soldering Stainless- or welding

[James Binnion]

On Aug 23, 2006, at 3:47 PM, PlumDon at aol.com wrote:

>
>
> So are you suggesting that I am really brazing when I use the Easy  
> silver
> solder?

Yes, the AWS separates the two processes by temperature anything  
above 860 F is brazing and below is soldering. This is an arbitrary  
definition but is the accepted one.


> The Ready flux is liquid and says nothing on the container except dont
> drink it. The Ultra Flux, that seemed to work well, says it is a  
> "water based
> paste consisting of potassium, salts of fluorine and boron. Based  
> on your
> comments, that appears to be the stuff I should use for the rest of  
> the
> stainless brazing (soldering?)
>

Chromium oxide the thing that makes stainless steel stainless is a  
very corrosion resistant bugger. Flux is creating is a controlled  
corrosion by dissolving oxides which inhibit the wetting of the metal  
surface by the brazing alloy. The potassium bi-fluoride in the Ultra  
Flux is what helped to dissolve the chromium oxide. The Ready Flux is  
a borax , boric acid, ammonium chloride based flux that is not  
suitable for use on stainless both because it does not have the more  
agressive flouride compound and that it has ammonium chloride which  
can actually cause oxidation problems. Ready flux is really a gold  
brazing flux and is not as good on other materials.

Jim




James Binnion
jbin at well.com