In general, welding may be described as a process of
uniting two pieces of metal or alloy by raising the
temperature of the surfaces to be joined so that they
become plastic or molten. This may be done with or
without the application of pressure and with or without
the use of added metal. This definition excludes the
more recently developed method of cold-welding, in
which pressure alone is used. Cold-welding, however,
has a limited application, and is used principally for
aluminium and its alloys, and not for steel.
There are numerous methods of welding, but they
can be grouped broadly into two categories. Forge
welding is the term covering a group of welding
processes in which the parts to be joined are heated to
a plastic condition in a forge or other furnace, and are
welded together by applying pressure or impact, e.g.
by rolling, pressing, or hammering. Fusion welding is
the process where the surfaces to be joined are melted
with or without the addition of filler metal. The term
is generally reserved for those processes in which
welding is achieved by fusion alone, without pressure.
Forge welding will be dealt with first. Pressure
welding is the welding of metal by means of mechanical
pressure whilst the surfaces to be joined are maintained
in a plastic state. The heating for this process is usually
provided by the process of resistance welding, where
the pieces of metal to be joined are pressed together
and a heavy current is passed through them.
Projection welding is a resistance-welding process
in which fusion is produced by the heat obtained from
the resistance to flow of electric current through the
work parts, which are held together under pressure by
the electrodes providing the current. The resulting welds
are localized at predetermined points by the design of
the parts to be welded. The localization is usually
accomplished by projections or intersections.
Spot welding is a resistance-welding process of joining
two or more overlapping parts by local fusion of a small
area or ‘spot’. Two copper-alloy electrodes contact
either side of the overlapped sheets, under known loads
produced by springs or air pressure. Stitch welding is
spot welding in which successive welds overlap. Seam
welding is a resistance-welding process in which the
electrodes are discs. Current is switched on and off
regularly as the rims of the discs roll over the work, with
the result that a series of spot welds is at such points.
If a gas-tight weld is required, the disc speed and time
cycle are adjusted to obtain a series of overlapping
welds.
Flash-butt welding is a resistance-welding process
which may be applied to rod, bar, tube, strip, or sheet
to produce a butt joint. After the current is turned on,
the two parts are brought together at a predetermined
rate so that discontinuous arcing occurs between the
two parts to be joined. This arcing produces a violent
expulsion of small particles of metal (flashing), and a
positive pressure in the weld area will exclude air and
minimize oxidation. When sufficient heat has been
developed by flashing, the parts are brought together
under heavy pressure so that all fused and oxidized
material is extruded from the weld.
Fusion-welding processes can now be dealt with.
The heat for fusion welding is provided by either gas
or electricity. Gas welding is a process in which heat
for welding is obtained from a gas or gases burning at
a sufficiently high temperature produced by an
admixture of oxygen. Examples of the gases used are
acetylene (oxy-acetylene welding), hydrogen (oxy-
hydrogen welding), and propane (oxy-propane welding).
In air-acetylene welding, the oxygen is derived from
the atmosphere by induction.
Electrical fusion welding is usually done by the
process of ‘arc welding’. Metal-arc welding is welding
with a metal electrode, the melting of which provides
the filler metal. Carbon arc welding is a process of arc
welding with a carbon electrode (or electrodes), in
which filler metal and sometimes flux may be used.
Submerged-arc welding is a method in which a bare
copper-plated steel electrode is used. The arc is entirely
submerged under a separate loose flux powder which
is continually fed into and over the groove which is
machined where the edges to be welded are placed
together. Some of the flux powder reacts with the molten
metal: part fuses and forms a refining slag which
solidifies on top of the weld deposit; the remainder of
the powder covers the weld and slag, shielding them
from atmospheric contamination and retarding the rate
of cooling.
Argon-arc welding is a process where an arc is struck
between an electrode (usually tungsten) and the work
in an inert atmosphere provided by directing argon
into the weld area through a sheath surrounding the
electrode. Heliarc welding uses helium to provide the
inert atmosphere, but this process is not used in the
United Kingdom, because of the non-availability of
helium. Several proprietary names are used for welding
processes of this type, e.g. Sigma (shielded inert-gas
metal-arc) welding uses a consumable electrode in an
Chapter 26
Welding and welding symbols