Introduction to Welding Technology

Welding is a fabrication process used to join materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, together. During welding, the pieces to be joined (the work-pieces) are melted at the joining interface and usually a filler material is added to form a pool of molten material (the weld pool) that solidifies to become a strong joint.

In contrast, Soldering and Brazing do not involve melting the work-piece but rather a lower-melting-point material is melted between the work-pieces to bond them together.

Types of Welding

There are many different types of welding processes and in general they can be categorized as:

Arc Welding: 

A welding power supply is used to create and maintain an electric arc between an electrode and the base material to melt metals at the welding point. In such welding processes the power supply could be AC or DC, the electrode could be consumable or non-consumable and a filler material may or may not be added.
The most common types of arc welding are:

Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW): 

A process that uses a coated consumable electrode to lay the weld. As the electrode melts, the (flux) coating disintegrates, giving off shielding gases that protect the weld area from atmospheric gases and provides molten slag which covers the filler metal as it travels from the electrode to the weld pool. Once part of the weld pool, the slag floats to the surface and protects the weld from contamination as it solidifies. Once hardened, the slag must be chipped away to reveal the
finished weld.

• Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW): 

A process in which a continuous and consumable wire electrode and a shielding gas (usually an argon and carbon dioxide mixture) are fed through a welding gun.

• Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW): 

A process that uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to produce the weld. The weld area is protected from atmospheric contamination by a shielding gas, and a filler metal that is fed manually is usually used.

Gas Welding: 

In this method a focused high temperature flame generated by gas combustion is used to melt the work-pieces (and filler) together. The most common type of gas welding is Oxy-fuel welding where acetylene is combusted in oxygen.

Resistance Welding: 

Resistance welding involves the generation of heat by passing a high current (1000–100,000 A) through the resistance caused by the contact between two or more metal surfaces where that causes pools of molten metal to be formed at the weld area. The most common types of resistance welding are Spot-welding (using pointed electrodes) and Seam-welding (using wheel-shaped electrodes).

Energy Beam Welding: 

In this method a focused high-energy beam (Laser beam or electron beam) is used to melt the work-pieces and thus join them together.

Solid-State Welding: 

In contrast to other welding methods, solid-state welding processes do not involve the melting of the materials being joined. Common types of solid-state welding include; ultrasonic welding, explosion welding, electromagnetic pulse welding, roll welding, friction welding (including friction-stir-welding), etc.