Nitrogen for welding

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Hello all.  At the place I work, we are trying to tidy things up.  In doing so, we found a few cylinders of various sizes containing compressed nitrogen.  Since we just started to use the welders we have, I'd like to know what kind of welding we can use this nitrogen on?  Like we have a number of people at our facility the ride the three wheel adult trikes, and occasionally, one will need some welding.  Also, sometimes some of our lawn equipment may need some repair, or even with just some fabrication of things we come up with that will aid in a project.I've been reading different articles, and none of them are giving me answers that I can understand.  We are not professional welders, but just know enough to either get the job done and it looks good, or maybe looks like chicken poop.  One more thing, I got a Clarke 130 EN from a friend, can I use nitrogen to weld with that machine as well?Thanks for any answers or tips,
Reply:Nitrogen is not inert in direct presence of an electric arc and ends up nitriding the surface of welds.  That is why plasma-cut edges of mild steel, are harder than mild steel; the nitrogen is readily absorbed into the weld pool.  So, IOW no, it's not meant for shielding electric arc welding processes.Lincoln GMAW Guide

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Reply:It is used in third world countries. But downside is it makes nitric acid and happy gas.So it use you will be happy welder with burn out lugs.FYI  it long to find that out.Also they nitrogen to harden ball bearings which would great for some type of work. Dave

Originally Posted by dano126

Hello all.  At the place I work, we are trying to tidy things up.  In doing so, we found a few cylinders of various sizes containing compressed nitrogen.  Since we just started to use the welders we have, I'd like to know what kind of welding we can use this nitrogen on?  Like we have a number of people at our facility the ride the three wheel adult trikes, and occasionally, one will need some welding.  Also, sometimes some of our lawn equipment may need some repair, or even with just some fabrication of things we come up with that will aid in a project.I've been reading different articles, and none of them are giving me answers that I can understand.  We are not professional welders, but just know enough to either get the job done and it looks good, or maybe looks like chicken poop.  One more thing, I got a Clarke 130 EN from a friend, can I use nitrogen to weld with that machine as well?Thanks for any answers or tips,
Reply:Nitrogen mixed with other gases can be used for mig stainless. Typically pure nitrogen is used for leak testing in A/C systems.
Reply:I have Nitrogen for Hydraulic work.But have read some countries use for shielding but not in America due to safety.  Nitrogen does have a lot of uses since cheap compared to other gas. CO2 is cheapest but only works with steel welding.I have wondered how well aluminum and nitrogen welding. Dave

Originally Posted by M J D

Nitrogen mixed with other gases can be used for mig stainless. Typically pure nitrogen is used for leak testing in A/C systems.
Reply:I use it regularly for back purging and pressure testing but that's all it's good for.
Reply:I ended up with 2 large tanks of N2 that I got to re-purpose for Argon mixes. I didn't want to waste it so I used it up with my air tools. They enjoyed the clean dry propulsion.Thermal Arc 320SP ( Lorch )Cobra PythonsThermal Arc 300 AC/DC  ( Sanrex )ESAB 301i AC/DC  ( Lorch )Thermal Arc 161STL  ( WTL )Thermal Arc 190S  ( Sanrex )Cut Master 82, 42. Cut45 ( WTL )Victor Gas Apps.Boxes and boxes of welding crap.
Reply:https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02645939Excerpt: "It was found that nitrogen could be very detrimental to mechanical properties but not as a grain boundary embrittler in the typical sense that P, Sn, and Sb are. Rather, nitrogen is almost always precipitated as nitrides and these second phase particles can induce low energy ductile fracture..."
Reply:If they are "owner" bottles, from a local supplier, you probably can exchange them for the same sized bottles with welding gas. They usually treat high pressure bottles (here anyway) as exchangeable for different gasses.
Reply:One of the common uses for nitrogen is for dry pressurization of telephone cables or RF conductors, anything that does no do well with moisture. Typically an air dielectric cable is pressurized with 2 or 3 pounds of nitrogen pressure to keep moisture laden air out of it. I haven't ever heard of it used otherwise - I am sure there are other uses though.
Reply:Nitrogen can be used on some cnc plasma torches. It can can also be used as a shielding gas on powder metal ovens. They usually have flame burners on the entrance / exit to keep the atmosphere out.
Reply:It is interesting I think the main reason is have other gases that is safer and CO2 is cheaper. We produce most of world supplies of welding gas. That may have a factor too.Maybe some day some one will try it.Dave

Originally Posted by arcflash

Nitrogen can be used on some cnc plasma torches. It can can also be used as a shielding gas on powder metal ovens. They usually have flame burners on the entrance / exit to keep the atmosphere out.