A manufacturer of switchgears tested back cast electrodes for resistance welding. The result: Due to the seamless joint with the electrode holder, back cast electrodes have a substantially longer service life than their soldered alternative.
Until now the manufacturer of switchgears used soldered electrodes to combine silver contacts with brass or copper. In this process an electrode did weld just around 5.000 spots before it had to be reworked or even changed.
Plansee thought this result was far too low. Therefore the company recommended the customer to check out back cast TZM electrodes.
The first results: With about 120 welding points per minute Plansee back cast electrodes managed to weld as many as 50.000 points. Only then the electrodes had to be reworked for further use. So Plansee back cast electrodes last ten times longer. This is a remarkable difference.
In contrast to soldered electrodes, the back cast version provides constant thermal conductivity as well as constant electrical resistance of the electrode. This is a benefit from the seamless joint between the TZM electrode and the electrode holder made out of copper. The better this joint is, the longer the service life of an electrode is and the more reproducible the welding results get.