The brand name of domestic molten welding fluxes is commonly represented by a combination of four (or five) letters and two figures, such as TK-308. The letter part is constituted mainly by the initial letters of the flux type, its source and its brand; the figure part mainly represents three items, that is, the area code, product number and series code. For example, TK-308 means as follow: T— flux type: Titanium flux; K—source: Kleer; 308—area code+product no.+series code.
The area code is the coding section which represent the manufacturers area or region. The regional coding for Chinese molten welding fluxes is T——Beijing, B——Shanghai, S——Guangdong, H——Hebei, N——Ningxia, G——Inner Mongolia, L——Liaoning, Q——Qinghai.
The product number is composed of four figures, equal or less than 9999. It can represent different application fields or welding processes.
The series code is composed of at least one figure or letter, and its meaning differs among different brands. Generally it represents the different grades of products of the same product standard.
In addition, some molten welding flux manufacturers may add one more letter in the brand name to represent a functional letter, such as TK-308SD. The letter “SD” stands for “standards”, to points out that this product is specially used to weld in compliance with standards.
In consideration of permitting multiple manufacturers throughout the nation to use similar brand names, the China Institute of Standardization has adapted an extended form of the representation formula to represent different brands in the same area code. The brand of a product is thus represented by initials of the type, source, region, area code, product number and series code. For example, ABEL-307SK stands for flux type: Abnormal electrolysis flux; EL———source: electrolysis; 307— area code；SK——brand and product number plus series .
Chinese molten welding fluxes include three kinds, i.e. silicate, titanium and abnormal electrolysis, which are marked by different letters, namely SH, TK and ABEL. The brand names of fluxes exported to abroad also conform to the general representation formula. The brand names normally contain additional letters such as “ZT”, “HZ” and “VA”. For example, a brand name of TK-308ZT represents a titanium flux of brand TK source Kleer, product no.308, series ZT. The letter ZT means that the product complies with German VDZ standards and is marked 500.
In a word, the brand name of domestic molten welding fluxes is composed of 6 to 7 letters and figures. The order of the figures and letters has direct relevance to types, sources, brands, region codes and product numbers, etc. In addition, certain additional letters may be added to denote certain products, so that all the relevant information can be found from the brand name.
