TROY, Ohio. March 28, 2011 — Hobart Brothers has introduced a new welding wire to improve weld quality, particularly on offshore drilling rig applications and jack-up rig fabrication. The Hobart® FabCO® 712M gas-shielded flux-cored wire features less than 4 ml of diffusible hydrogen per 100 g of weldment, which decreases the chance of underbead cracking and can lessen the amount of preheating needed. The wire also has a very low moisture pickup, so there is less chance of hydrogen entering the weld after exposure to the atmosphere.

FabCO 712M wire features a fast-freezing, easily removable slag that makes it suitable for all-position welding and minimizes interpass and post-weld cleaning. The wire also offers low-temperature Charpy V-Notch (CVN) impact strengths (-40 to -75 degrees Fahrenheit [-40 to -60 degrees Celsius]), resulting in superior mechanical toughness properties in both the “as-welded” and post-weld heat-treat (PWHT) conditions. FabCO 712M wire provides a tensile strength of 83 ksi in the as-welded condition and 80 ksi after PWHT.

Hobart Brothers recommends using a shielding gas mixture of 75 to 80 percent argon with a balance of CO2­ with FabCO 712M wire, and offers it in 0.045- and 0.052-inch diameters on 33-pound spools.

Hobart Brothers is dedicated to the highest level of Performance Welding™. For product specification sheets or to learn more about Hobart Brothers products, visit hobartbrothers.com, email hobart@hobartbrothers.com, call 1-800-424-1543, fax 1-800-541-6607, or write Hobart Brothers Company, 101 Trade Square East, Troy, OH 45373.

Hobart Brothers Company of Troy, Ohio, is a leading manufacturer of welding filler metals marketed under the brand names Hobart, Tri-Mark, McKay and Corex. Hobart Brothers Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Illinois Tool Works, Inc. Based in Glenview, Ill., ITW is a multinational manufacturer of a diversified range of value-adding and short-lead-time industrial products and equipment.