Shipwright,
My shielding gas is a mixture of Argon and CO2..it's formulated by Liquid Aire and it's called Blueshield. The mixture of the shielding gas can make a huge difference in the dynamics of the weld deposit. Blueshield give the wire greater penetration...just what you DON'T want in the old bodyshop. Is there a wire you can use without gas...yeah, coat hangers, Just kidding. The flux cored wire, as the name implies has the flux inside it's hollow tube. As the wire melts, the flux vaporizes into a gas...the shielding gas.
The name MIG means metal-inert-gas. The wire is the "metal" and the shielding gas, or the flux inside the wire provides the "inert gas". The inert gas keeps the atmosphere out of the weld puddle. Oxygen has all kinds of things in it that don't make for a strong weld.
Soooooooooo, to get net, all wire must be shielded with something. The crusty stuff around arc (stick) welding rods is flux too, must keep out that dirty old air! Not too bad for a dumb old millwright huh!! Are you really a shipwright..that makes us almost brothers!!
Stuart.
