What material is the cat/midpipe exhaust shields made of?

[noid]

My heat shields are loose on my car, the ones around the cat and front of the midpipe.

Does anyone know what material these shields are made of? I have a welder and have no problem welding them myself, I just want to confirm that they aren't made of galvanized steel or other zinc based material as welding zinc is very bad for you health.

Alternatively, has anyone removed these shields with no ill-effect?

[Northern]

They're definitely some sort of steel. I doubt they're galvanized, but if you're concerned, you could always wear a respirator.

[Dschart]

I think it is 400 series stainless, they use it in the tubing and mufflers. Yes, it does rust, but not nearly as fast as carbon steels.

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[AndrewBird]

I don't think they are so much as shields as they are the outer casing of the muffler/resonators. You can't really remove them.

[1843lamp]

Very interesting comments above ,I just removed the entire original exhaust system from the car to repair a complete break right where the two pipes become one (eta),I had to carefully bend the lip of the shielding a little and pinch it so it could be disconnected from the other half,you hardly have to bend the flange because the thin sheet metal can be flexed so easily.underneath is some type of very thin flame resistant material that I replaced with some thin Fiberglas sheet.when I welded the broken joint back together I noticed it welded like stainless steel Rather than mild steel ,I hammered out all of the dents in the shielding and put it back together with the new fiberglass to keep it from rattling,with care it came out better than it was before and the shielding went back in exactly the same position it came out of ,you can not tell it was ever taken apart ...I did the welding with my tig machine ,so repairs on this system can be done with the right equipment and patience