Posted By Ian Mitchell
Morning. Here is one for the technically minded! Hope there is enough info.
We are doing some remedial plating works to a steel rail bridge that spans a road. It is constantly being struck by high vehicles and the parapet has distorted as a result. In the PT H&S plan there is a stipulation that the welding temperature must not exceed 650oC. This is apparently an unusual request. (I presume it is something like the melting point of the steel or in some way load related as the bridge shall remain open to rail traffic.) We are looking at using a temperature monitoring system as part of the control measures. I have heard that there is some sort of crayon system that you scrawl onto the area that melts at a certain temperature. The welding company said it was called temple stick or something similar (have tried searching but get josticks at buddhist temples!!). Has anybody heard of this? What sort of temperature ranges are available (would be looking for approx. 600oC)? This system would be preferable to a conventional monitor that would obviously need to be situated remotely from the workpiece and would therefore give a distorted reading.

Thanks in advance, Ian M

Posted By Bob Youel

get the experts to advise as it appears to be outside your companies experience

there are many such heat controlling systems but they should only be managed re a competent person

costs to structures [failure etc] re overheating can be catastrophic to a company working outside its comfort zone

Posted By John Murgatroyd
660 C is about the melting point of pure aluminium. Steel is about 1360 C, depending on the alloy.

So, is it steel ?
As the guy said, it seems out of your depth.
You're not going to weld steel at below 1500 C anyway, and your skills range precludes aluminium welding.