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Written by David Harper in blog
Have you ever asked yourself what are the different types of welding processes? Well,
welding is not just practical; it’s also an art form. Granted, the practical applications
positively impact your daily life: bridges, your car, the girders for the building where
you work, and the stores where you shop…to name a few.
You can find welding practices in many things from the soldering used for the most
intricate jewelry design and your smartphone’s circuit board to the smooth joints of
mammoth sculptures.
MIG – Gas Metal Arc Also called Metal Inert Gas Welding (MIG). Provides the most co
1
Welding (GMAW) results. Some feel this is probably the easiest place to start for beg
TIG – Gas Tungsten Arc Also called Tungsten Inert Gas Welding (TIG). One of the neates
2 Welding (GTAW) types of welding because it doesn’t create splatter.
Submerged Arc Welding Hot materials don’t splash, or splatter and the flux keeps high lev
4 (SAW) from escaping into the air.
Allows for the fast joining of two dissimilar metals without requi
Thermit Welding
6 supply.
Oxyacetylene (Gas)
Easy to learn and perform as well as being a low-cost solution.
7 Welding
Table of Contents
Safety First – Tools of the Trade
Four Major Categories within the Welding Profession
1. Fusion Welding
o · Arc Welding
o · Gas Welding also Called Oxyacetylene Welding
o · Thermit Welding
2. Plastic Welding process
3. Forge Welding
4. Resistance Welding
Welders are Incredibly Employable!
o That’s Great, But… How Does Someone Learn How to Become an Effective
Welder?
So, what personal protective equipment (PPE) is a required part of the trade? Check
out the all-important protective wardrobe of the welder:
Protective helmets and face shields. Just as you can get transitions
lenses for your glasses, you can also get an auto-darkening helmet. These helmets
will adjust their darkness according to the brightness of the sparks.
Before we dive into the 4 major welding categories, check out the master chart of
welding and allied processes.
credit:
Navy BMR
1. Fusion Welding
Heating two materials to the point of melting with the intent of bonding
one to the other resulting in one joined piece. Because that’s just too easy,
there are three different disciplines within the Fusion Welding category:
· Arc Welding
Arc welding is what most people think of when they think of welding.
Kids in shop class often begin learning about stick welding. Whereas the
oxyacetylene process uses gas, the arc welding process joins metals together by heat
generated by an electric arc.
There are five specializations within the Arc Welding discipline:
This is one of the most widely used welding processes. It requires the removal of the
resulting slag from the weld after the welding process has been completed. Welders
typically remove the slag by chipping it away and then filing it to make it smooth and
neater.
This process works well for various construction projects, heavy equipment repair,
and pipeline repair, among other jobs requiring something that can be portable.
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Although it can take longer than other kinds of welding, Stick Welding can be
effectively done in the rain or wind and doesn’t require gas shielding. One of its other
advantages is that it’s easy to change rods when working on different types of metal.
This is also the type of welding that’s used when underwater welding is needed.
b) TIG – Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) – also Called Tungsten Inert
Gas Welding (TIG)
As its name suggests, this welding process uses gas, typically Argon gas, to protect
the melted weld puddle from airborne contaminants. TIG welding is known for
producing precise and clean welds on any metal, whether that be:
Alloys
Aluminum
Brass
Bronze
Chromoly
Copper
Gold
Magnesium
Nickel
Steel or Stainless
One of the benefits of Gas Tungsten Arc Weld is that you don’t have to
worry about slag, splatter, smoke, or fumes. Of course, if the metal
you’re working on has any kind of contaminant: grease, lead, oil, paint,
zinc, etc., you’re most likely going to experience either smoke or fumes
– or both.
GTAW is a beneficial welding process for repairing your child’s Red Flyer Wagon,
your bicycle frame, the snowblower, and even creating art pieces.
This process creates clean welds. So, if you’re concerned about the appearance of the
weld, this is a good cosmetic process.
Since you control the heat output the same way you would the accelerator on your car
or the needle speed on a sewing machine, you have control as to how much of a bead
you create.
c) MIG – Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) – Also Called Metal Inert Gas
(MIG) Welding
One reason welders find this process easier to master is because it doesn’t require the
level of precision other welding processes do. It can be managed with one hand
because the electrode is automatically fed through the torch.
Car repair
Construction
Dry Dock Maritime work
Plumbing
Robotics
The welder needs to be aware of the dross and porosity of the weld. If these aren’t
properly cared for, the strength and integrity of the weld will be compromised.
When working with this welding process, you will be using a wire with a flux-
based center instead of using a shielding gas. This also works well outdoors
because the flux does not easily blow off the weld and is not negatively impacted by
dirty or rusted metals.
Image credit: Research gate
Although it produces a lot of smoke and splatter, it can get better penetration than one
of the gas solutions.
What is Flux Cored Arc Welding? (FCAW) >> Check out the video below
In this process, the pieces of the welding procedure – the welding wire, the electrical
arc, and the weld joint – are covered by a layer of flux. This creates a shield for
the melted material and prevents spits and splatters. The barrier protects
either the human or the robot performing the function.
Submerged Arc Welding works well for fast welds that are required by a high-
productivity environment. That said, you are limited to using steel, stainless steel, and
some types of nickel for SAW.
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Scrap Metal Welding
You’ll often find this process used with three different types of flames:
Neutral Flame
Carburizing Flame
Oxidizing Flame
Some of the advantages of using Gas Welding processes include:
It’s portable. The gas is stored under pressure in steel cylinders that can be
mobile.
It’s got some specially-designed safety devices, like flame traps.
It’s versatile. In addition to being used for welding, this equipment can also
be used to “flame-cut” larger materials.
It’s fairly easy to learn and to apply those learnings.
It’s relatively low cost.
· Thermit Welding
Thermit is a combination of aluminum powder and metal oxide. When it is
ignited, it results in melted metal due to an exothermic non-violent reaction. That
liquid metal is then poured where the welder wants it, and when it solidifies creates
the weld joint.
Image credit: Alt_driver
It tends to have a high cost associated with it, so it isn’t used as much as it was a
century ago. It’s still used because it is a relatively simple and fast process that can be
used to join both similar and dissimilar types of metals. Unlike some of the other
processes, it also doesn’t require a significant power supply.
To get the required reaction, the Thermit mixture has to be heated to at least 1,300
degrees Celsius (about 2,372 degrees Fahrenheit).
Plastic welding uses that concept and forges a molecular bond between
two compatible pieces of thermoplastic. This process usually requires
the use of a thermoplastic welding rod to create the surface that can be
bound to another.
That said, there are usually two different approaches to Plastic and Composite
Welding:
External Heating
Internal Heating
Thermoplastics are preferred for this process because they can be
melted and solidified multiple times. This can be accomplished through the use
of a Hot Plate, Implant Tools, Laser or Infrared Tools, Radio Frequencies, Spin
Processes, or Ultrasonic and Vibration Techniques.
This process is often used in:
Although it is a slow process that requires a high skill level, it is popular because it
doesn’t require any filler.
Flash Butt This is usually used in the steel industry to weld rods and tubes. This happens through
Welding of the two pieces in the electrode holders.
This process is mostly used in the creation of nuts and bolts. To make this process wo
Projection placed on the spot where the piece needs to be welded, and a large amount of current
Welding it while pressure is applied through the electrode. This results in the dimple melting a
create the weld.
This is considered to be the least complicated type of resistance welding. This proces
Spot created by placing the two different pieces under the weight of an anvil and applying
Welding electrodes to the join spot to flow the current through them to melt them. The weld is
cooled.
If you want an air-tight joint from a resistance welding process, this is the process you
Seam also known as Continuous Spot Welding. It’s considered continuous because the elec
Welding the form of a roller that ‘s used to flow the current to the pieces to be joined together.
the roller melts the pieces where they’re to be joined and creates one continuous weld
Learn More About The Highest Paying Welding Jobs – Here, you can find
an article from our website about: Do Welders Make Good Money? | Highest Paying
Welding Jobs
Now you should have a better idea of how many different types of welding processes
were out there. If you’re thinking about a career in the industry, check out the
resources above and get started!