In the early 1970's I was on a sewer treatment plant project, all they had on site was 7016. I remember it running just like 7018, but the welds looked like they had a little chrome in them, all most like a stainless steel weld. Real pretty!:laugh:

 

Any of the rods between 7015 and 7018 should be kept in a rod oven to keep them dry. Those rods are all low hydrogen and need to be dry for a proper weld.

 

ttoks

My first job started May 10, 1973, in a shop with 85 journeyman
welders. The shop standard for Lo-Hi applications was E7016.

Because the flux can stick like concrete, especially in minute pockets,
every welder had a needle gun, various chipping hammers, and an
arsonal of finely ground chisels - all were necessary to get the weld
clean enough to run the next bead without inclusion suprises.

In my experience it's easier to see the puddle with E7016 because the
flux seems to be thinner, but the flux doesn't peel/separate from the
weld like E7018.

When I left in Sept. 1974, the shop standard was E7018, because of its
peeling characteristics resulted in saved labor and improved quality.

I haven't seen a E7016 in general use for over thirty years.

Opus

 

hmm interesting, in the maintenance roles i've had recently the standard is 7018 for cost (they're about half the price of 7016's here) and because they run better with dirty steel (rust, oil ect) but i've just landed a short term contract welding in position pressure pipe, the weld procedure for it is to use Kobe LB52-U rods for the root run, and WIA 16TC rods (both 7016's) for fill and cap, i've found the same thing mentioned in the post above, but as you would guess on pipe the slag isn't generally an issue as we grind between run's away to unsure we pass the ultrasonic testing.

also found that the 7016's are more prone to porosity at the start of the weld as well, need to strike the ark about an inch forward of the start point, move to the start point and welder over the start to burn out porosity, this isn't a problem with the 7018's

anyone else have any experience with them?

 

E7016 rods are still used on pipe welding where a low hydrogen root deposit is needed, and stick welding is the only, or preferred, option. Typically this would be jobs where the pipe used is high strength steel, so hydrogen cracking is a significant problem with cellulose electrodes.

E7016 rod has slightly more penetration than E7018, but less than E6010/11. It doesn't have all the iron powder in the flux that E7018 does, so the deposition rate is lower.

Where I've seen it used, it's an uphill welding progression, so it's sslllooowwww. It takes more care in joint prep and amperage settings to get an acceptable root. but once you get it figured out it's not too difficult.