Why do you get "crater cracks" in aluminum and how do you prevent them?

Crater cracks happen for two reasons:

• High thermal rate of conductivity

• The concave shape of the crater

Aluminum cools so fast that it doesn't provide adequate time for the weld bead to
flatten or the crater to fill.

The deep depression of the crater quickly freezes in a concave shape, exerting high
tensile stresses on the surrounding metal. It is in this area that a crack will
propagate through the weld metal.

As the weld cools, crater cracking is common if proper steps are not taken to
minimize the problem.

The easiest most common way to prevent cracking in aluminum

Instead of releasing the trigger at the end of the weld, continue to feed wire and
reverse the direction of travel back into the already-welded material.

Weld far enough back to re-weld the entire crater (One inch should be sufficient),
and this will increase the deposit in the crater area, changing its shape from concave
to convex.

The convex-shaped crater rapidly cools and reduces the stress on the weld metal in
the crater, which causes "crater cracking."