INTRODUCTION TO WELDING PROCESSES

Modern welding technology started just before the end of

the 19th century with
the development of methods for generating high
temperature in localized zones.
Welding generally requires a heat source to produce a high
temperature zone to
melt the material, though it is possible to weld two metal
pieces without much
increase in temperature. There are different methods and
standards adopted and
there is still a continuous search for new and improved
methods of welding. As the
demand for welding new materials and larger thickness
components increases,
mere gas flame welding which was first known to the
welding engineer is no
longer satisfactory and improved methods such as Metal
Inert Gas welding,
Tungsten Inert Gas welding, electron and laser beam
welding have been developed.
In most welding procedures metal is melted to bridge the
parts to be joined so
that on solidification of the weld metal the parts become
united. The common
processes of this type are grouped as fusion welding. Heat
must be supplied to
cause the melting of the filler metal and the way in which
this is achieved is the

major point of distinction between the different processes.

The method of protecting
the hot metal from the attack by the atmosphere and the
cleaning or fluxing away
of contaminating surface films and oxides provide the
second important
distinguishing feature. For example, welding can be carried
out under a shield
comprising of a mixture of metal oxides and silicates which
produce a glass-like
flux, or the whole weld area may be swept clear of air by a
stream of gas such as
argon, helium or carbon dioxide which is harmless to the
hot metals.
There are certain solid phase joining methods in which
there is no melting of
the electrodes, though heat is produced in the process. The
melted and solidified
cast metal is normally weaker than the wrought metal of the
same composition. In
the solid phase joining such melting does not occur and
hence the method can
produce joints of high quality. Metals which are dissimilar
in nature can also be
readily welded by this process. In the normal process
joining of dissimilar metals
will present problems because of the brittle intermetallic
compounds formed during
melting. Since the work pieces are closely pressed together,
air is excluded during
the joining process.

The welding processes covered in this chapter are gas

welding, arc welding
which includes manual metal arc welding (MMA), tungsten
inert gas shielded arc
welding (TIG), gas metal arc welding (MIG, MIG/CO2),
submerged arc welding
(SAW), etc. High energy density processes like electron
beam welding, laser beam