capilla Welding Consumables – Made in Germany

Welding consumables are divided into several main categories by form: stick electrodes, solid wires, flux-cored wire electrodes, welding rods, welding powders and welding strips. Each category is tailored to specific welding processes and applications.

Stick electrodes are used in manual metal arc welding (MMA, process 111) and are differentiated by coating type – rutile, basic, cellulosic or mixed types. Solid wires and flux-cored wire electrodes are used in MIG/MAG welding (processes 131/135/136), welding rods in TIG and gas welding (141/311). Welding powders are used in submerged arc welding as well as plasma and laser overlay welding. The selection depends on material, process, position, load and required weld quality.

capilla stocks all main categories in over 10,000 items and develops custom items on request.

The appropriate welding consumable is selected primarily based on the base material and the welding process used. The goal is a matching or deliberately dissimilar weld joint with the required mechanical-technological properties.

For unalloyed and low-alloyed steels, selection is guided by tensile strength, yield strength and notch impact energy (e.g. SG2, SG3 to DIN EN ISO 14341). For stainless steels, the alloy composition must match the base material to ensure corrosion resistance and microstructural stability. For tool steels, special grades or wear protection applications, the consumable is specifically matched to hardness, toughness and type of stress. Dissimilar joints or difficult-to-weld materials often require special consumables.

capilla application consultants assist with selection based on material analysis, process, loading and standard requirements.

For wear protection, specialist hard overlay consumables are used – usually based on iron, nickel or cobalt, often with embedded hard phases such as tungsten carbide, chromium carbide or complex carbides. The selection depends on the dominant type of wear: abrasion, erosion, impact, friction or combined loading.

Typical products are flux-cored wire electrodes for MIG/MAG and open-arc welding, stick electrodes for MMA overlay welding, powder materials for plasma powder overlay welding (PTA) and laser overlay welding, and flexible hard overlay cords for oxy-fuel brazing. For extreme loads, the hard phase content, carbide sizes and matrix alloys are precisely matched to the wear pattern.

capilla is a pioneer in wear protection to bulk material specification and develops consumables specifically for each application profile.

For repair welding, consumables are selected that match the base material of the damaged component and restore the original property profile as closely as possible. Special electrodes with high crack resistance and good gap-bridging behaviour are frequently used.

Typical applications are repairs on cast iron (e.g. with nickel or NiFe electrodes), on tool steels (with matched hardness and toughness profiles), on worn components such as screws, rolls or mixers (with hard overlay consumables) and on unknown or difficult-to-identify materials (with universal repair electrodes on nickel or austenitic basis). Pre- and interpass heat, welding sequence and post-weld heat treatment are often just as important as the consumable itself.

capilla offers a wide range of repair consumables and supports with application advice on process and material selection.

Welding consumables are classified internationally according to DIN EN ISO standards, each applying to a material group and product form. The standard describes chemical composition, mechanical-technological properties and the classification system.

Key examples: DIN EN ISO 2560 for coated stick electrodes for welding unalloyed steels, DIN EN ISO 14341 for solid wires and wire electrodes, DIN EN ISO 17632 for flux-cored wire electrodes, DIN EN ISO 3581 for stainless stick electrodes, DIN EN ISO 14343 for stainless wires and rods, DIN EN ISO 18275 for high-strength stick electrodes and DIN EN ISO 14174 for welding powders. The welding processes themselves are numerically coded to DIN EN ISO 4063 (e.g. 111 MMA, 135 MAG, 141 TIG).

capilla manufactures to DIN EN ISO 9001 and supplies all consumables with the applicable standard classifications and mill certificates.

Individually developed welding consumables are required when standard products do not meet the demanded properties – for example with unusual material combinations, extreme loads, specific bulk material wear patterns or OEM specifications with special requirements. Typical triggers are: materials with no standard equivalent, wear patterns with special grain, hardness or temperature combinations, safety-critical components with enhanced requirements for notch toughness or crack resistance, and applications with combined stress from wear, corrosion and heat. A custom item usually involves adaptation of alloy composition, coating, carbide content or wire construction.

capilla develops and manufactures custom consumables in its own production in Germany – based on application analysis by capilla consultants.

Dissimilar joints require welding consumables that metallurgically bond different alloy systems reliably, without creating brittle phases, cracks or corrosion attack. Austenitic or nickel-base consumables are frequently used because they offer a favourable capacity to absorb alloying elements and a tough microstructure.

Typical applications: stainless steel to unalloyed steel (e.g. with type 309L consumables), heat-resistant to unalloyed steels, black-and-white joints in plant engineering or joints between nickel-base and steel materials (with nickel-base consumables such as NiCr or NiCrMo types). Important selection criteria are the Schaeffler or DeLong diagram, the expected dilution and the service temperature of the joint.

capilla offers a coordinated range for dissimilar joints and supports consumable selection based on the respective material pairing.

SG2 and SG3 are solid wires for MAG welding of unalloyed and low-alloyed steels to DIN EN ISO 14341. The main difference lies in the strength properties: SG3 has higher manganese and silicon contents than SG2 and thus achieves higher yield strengths and tensile strengths in the weld metal.

SG2 is typically used for structural steels with yield strengths up to approximately 460 N/mm² and is the most widely used MAG welding wire in steel construction. SG3 is suitable for higher-strength applications, such as fine-grained structural steels, and is used when the weld metal must match or exceed the strength of the base material. Both wires are welded under mixed gas (argon/CO₂) or pure CO₂.

capilla supplies SG2 and SG3 in all common wire diameters and packaging forms, as well as special wires for higher strength classes.

For welding stainless steels, welding consumables to DIN EN ISO 14343 are used – both as solid wire for MAG and TIG welding and as welding rods for the TIG process. Selection depends on the grade of the base material.

For standard austenitic steels such as 1.4301 (304) or 1.4307, type 308L is typically used; for higher-alloyed grades such as 1.4404 or 1.4571 (316Ti), type 316L or 318. For dissimilar joints or where dilution with unalloyed steel occurs, type 309L is commonly used. In MAG welding, active mixed gases with a low CO₂ content are used; in TIG welding, pure argon or argon-hydrogen mixtures.

capilla stocks stainless steel welding wires and rods in all common classifications as well as special types for high-alloy and special materials.

Flux-cored wire electrodes are welding consumables with a metal sheath and a core of powder mixture (slag formers, alloying elements, arc stabilisers). They combine the high deposition rate of MAG welding with the metallurgical properties of conventional stick electrodes.

Advantages: higher deposition rate and welding speed than solid wire, very good gap-bridging, good performance in positional welding, flexible adaptation of alloy composition via the powder fill and good visibility of the weld pool. Disadvantages: higher cost per kilogram of weld metal than solid wire, slag removal required for slag-bearing types, higher demands on wire feed and storage (moisture sensitivity). Flux-cored wires are divided into self-shielded (without shielding gas) and gas-shielded types, each with rutile, basic or metal powder fill.

capilla stocks flux-cored wire electrodes for unalloyed/low-alloyed steels, stainless steels and wear protection applications with various hard-phase systems.