Estimated Mixed Composition
Estimates a mixed weld-metal composition, element by element, from a filler/additive composition, a base-metal composition, and an entered dilution percentage — supporting engineering review of dissimilar welding and cladding scenarios. Uses a simple linear weighted-average arithmetic model, not a source-stated metallurgical formula. It is not a real chemical analysis, and does not predict structure, cracking, corrosion resistance, or hardness.
Engineering calculator — results require technical review before production use.
Source & assumptions
IWE Module 2 – Materials and Their Behavior during Welding, Chapter 16, Section 4.2 (Cladding Processes — Grade of Dilution) and Chapter 22, Sections 4/6 (Effect of Dilution / Typical Applications)
Assumptions
- Weld depositing creates a mixed zone between the deposited/additive metal and the base metal (Ch. 16 §4.2). The source describes this mixed zone as approximately 70% additives + 30% base metal in a typical/illustrative case, and states that dilution values can vary from 10% to 60%.
- During dissimilar welding, dilution from unalloyed/low-alloyed steel can affect weld-metal structure; the source links dilution to martensite/hydrogen-cracking risk and solidification-cracking risk, and discusses over-alloyed stainless filler metals for joining stainless steel to unalloyed/low-alloyed steel (Ch. 22 §4/6).
- This calculator supports exactly one filler/additive composition and one base-metal composition — not two base metals or a layer-by-layer cladding model.
- The entered dilution percentage represents the base-metal fraction: baseFraction = dilutionPercent / 100, fillerFraction = 1 − baseFraction.
- Mixed composition uses a linear weighted-average arithmetic model: mixedElementPercent = fillerElementPercent × fillerFraction + baseElementPercent × baseFraction. **This arithmetic model is an implementation convention for operationalizing the source's mixed-zone concept above — it is not a formula stated by, or attributed to, IWE Module 2.**
- All element values (filler and base) are entered as weight percent (wt%).
- An element absent from either composition is treated as 0 (not reported / negligible), matching the same convention as Carbon Equivalent, Cr/Ni Equivalent, and Material Certificate Check.
- Entered compositions are not required to sum to 100% on either side — this is a partial alloy composition estimate, not a full chemical balance, matching the same convention as Carbon Equivalent and Cr/Ni Equivalent.
Limitations
- This is an estimated mixed composition only — not a real weld-metal chemical analysis.
- It does not predict phase balance, ferrite number, or structure of any kind, and does not implement Schaeffler, DeLong, or WRC diagrams.
- It does not make a martensite formation or cracking decision (solidification or hydrogen-assisted), and does not make a corrosion-resistance decision.
- It does not predict hardness, and does not approve a WPS or PQR.
- It does not recommend a filler metal, and does not implement a two-base-metal or layer-by-layer cladding model, or any cost/volume estimation.
- It does not account for arc behaviour, process-specific dilution, layer sequence, segregation, burn-off, recovery, melting efficiency, or weld pool dynamics — the arithmetic model (see Assumptions) is a first-order average, not a physical simulation.
- P and S are included as optional impurity elements because the source links impurities to solidification-cracking risk, but neither drives any cracking decision here — none is computed.
- The 'unusually high' per-element warning thresholds, and the typical-dilution-range review warning, are implementation-level heuristics — not sourced from IWE Module 2 as compositional or procedural limits.
- Results require technical review before production use.