Section F Fluxes for submerged arc welding

This section includes submerged arc welding fluxes for CrMo low alloy steels, austenitic stainless steels, duplex
and superduplex stainless steels and nickel base alloys.
Further details on the specific products and related types can be found in the tables in sections; A,B, C, D & E
An indication of the basicity of the fluxes is given using a basicity index (BI) the most common of which is the
Boniszewski index which is calculated from the molecular weight of each component using the following
formula:

CaO + MgO + BaO + CaF2 + Na2O + K2O + 0.5(MnO + FeO)

SiO2 + 0.5(Al2O3 + TiO2 + ZrO2)
Flux consumption will vary slightly from one flux to another and also with welding parameters, the
consumption increasing as the voltage increases. As a general approximation about 1kg of flux is consumed for
every kg of wire melted; for estimation purposes a flux:wire ratio between 1 & 2 is normally used. The
unfused flux can be recycled but the recycled flux should be limited to about 10% of the blend to avoid the
build-up of fines.
There is a European specification (BS EN 760) for the classification of fluxes and also a DIN specification both
of which allow a flux to be classified according to its characteristics. ASME/AWS does not have any standards
for the classification of a flux they only classify wire-flux combinations. The ASME/AWS standards currently
only cover mild and low alloy steel wireflux combinations; there are no ASME/AWS standards for stainless
steel or nickel base wire-flux combinations.

Data Specifications
Product Description
Sheet AWS BS EN / BS EN ISO
F-11 LA436 General purpose flux for low alloy steels -- S A AB 1
F-15 LA491 High basicity flux for P91 -- S A FB 2
F-16 LA492 High basicity flux for P91 and P92 -- S A CS 1
F-20 SSB Flux for duplex and superduplex stainless steel -- S A AF 2
F-22 SS300 Flux for general purpose stainless steel -- S A AF 2
F-30 NiCu Basic flux for alloy 400 -- S A CS 2
F-35 NiCr Basic low silica flux for nickel alloys -- S A FB 2
F-40 L2N Fused general purpose flux -- S F CS 2