The Four Different Types of Welding Processes

The Four Different Types of Welding Processes What do you get when you combine heat, pressure, and metal? You guessed it—a weld! Welding is the process of fusing two pieces of metal together so they form one solid piece, and there are several different ways to accomplish this feat. Each welding process has its own level of complexity, as well as its own unique results, strengths, and weaknesses that come with it.

Introduction

Welding is the process of joining metal pieces together by melting their edges with a welding machine and then cooling them. There are four different types of welding processes: gas, electric, arc and oxy-fuel. The type you use will depend on the type and thickness of metal you’re working with.
Gas welding is similar to an arc welder in that it uses a shielding gas to protect the weld from atmospheric oxygen so the metal doesn’t oxidize. It’s often used for low-temperature applications such as brazing or soldering because it does not melt the base material like other methods do.

Oxyacetylene welding

Oxyacetylene or gas burning processes use an electric arc to heat up pieces of metal that are then hammered together. In this process, as opposed to mechanized or automated cutting processes, manual labor is necessary to manipulate and fuse parts together by hand. The process has been around for over 100 years and the technique has not changed much in that time. As a result, oxyacetylene welding is still widely used today due to its high efficiency in terms of production speed with respect to cost. It can be used on any type of steel but does not work well on aluminum or other metals because it does not weld these materials well. Additionally, it takes too long for larger projects because the joints need to cool down before the next step can happen.

Shielded metal arc welding

In this type of welding process, an electric current is used to heat up a metal electrode. When the electrode is brought into contact with the work piece, another electric current is passed through the electrode in order to create a weld. The heat generated by this process melts both pieces of metal together. The other types of welding processes are: gas metal arc welding, laser beam welding and electron beam welding.

Gas tungsten arc welding

Arc welding is one of the most common welding processes, and is used to join materials such as steel, stainless steel, and aluminum.

There are two basic types: gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) and gas metal arc welding (GMAW).

The GTAW process uses a continuously fed wire electrode and an inert gas to shield the weld pool. GMAW commonly uses a solid wire electrode that is fed through a gun by an electric current. It does not require shielding gas because its flux core shields the weld pool. Shielding gas is usually only needed for thicker metals or higher voltage wires. In GTAW, there are three categories: Gas shielded arc welding (GSWA), Semi-gas shielded arc welding (SGAW), and Full-gas shielded arc welding (FGAW). SGAW typically uses 20% argon in addition to the inert gas for filler material. FGAw also uses 20% argon for filler material but needs 100% shielding gas for protection against oxygen exposure. GSWA requires 100% argon for both filler material and protection against oxygen exposure because it doesn’t use a continuous feed wire like other types of GTAWs do.

Flux-cored arc welding

Flux-cored wire has more active ingredients than solid wires, and this allows the welder to weld at a higher speed, while producing slag that is easier to remove. The flux coating also eliminates the need for filler metal to be used.
Flux-cored welding requires very little skill to execute, but it does require some experience in how much heat the material can withstand before it deforms or cracks. It also requires the material to be free from moisture or other impurities before being welded with this method.

Conclusion

Welding is a process that joins two or more pieces of metal together through melting. It’s an extremely important process in the manufacturing industry and it takes place in many other industries as well, such as construction, shipbuilding, and mining. There are four main types of welding: shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), flux-cored arc welding (FCAW), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), and gas metal arc welding (GMAW). SMAW is the oldest form of welding that’s still used today because it’s relatively easy to learn and it can be done with just one electrode. FCAW requires a shielding gas such as CO2 or argon because it uses an electrical current to produce heat for joining metals.