PREPARED BY ADESH BAHADOOR Page 1

LEVEL 3 IVQ TECHNICIAN DIPLOMA IN ENGINEERING

MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - PLANT TECHNOLOGY


021 PLANT INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE


TUTORIAL EIGHT - WELDING


Notes taken from
www.freestudy.co.uk
Operations trainee program Manual












PREPARED BY ADESH BAHADOOR Page 2

Oxy fuel gas welding (Oxyacetylene welding)
This is a manual process in which the metal surfaces to be joined are melted progressively by
heat from a gas flame, with or without filler metal, and are caused to flow together and solidify.


The equipment for oxy fuel welding consists of an oxygen tank, acetylene tank, pressure
regulators, torch and connecting hose. Each tank has a pressure regulator attached to its top
which reduces the high internal pressure. The hoses then connect these regulators to the torch.
The torch includes a mixing section where oxygen and acetylene are combined and burned.



Application Used in the air conditioning industry to weld copper tubes as well as brazing and
soft soldering of components.


Manual metal arc welding
Stick welding is a process which melts and joins metals by heating them with an arc between a
coated metal electrode and the work piece. The stick electrode has an outer coating, called flux,
that assists in creating the arc and provides the shielding gas and slag covering to protect the
weld from contamination. The electrode core provides most of the weld filler metal.
PREPARED BY ADESH BAHADOOR Page 3


Applications used in the fabrication industry to weld steel in burgular proofing, cooling towers
and the majority of pipeline works.

Metal arc gas shielded welding (MAGS) or Metal inert gas (MIG) welding
In this type of welding, a solid wire electrode is fed continuously through a welding gun. An arc
is created between this wire and the work piece to heat the base and fill up the material. All of
the shielding for welding is provided from an inert gas which is also emitted from the gun by
some external source.
The MIG welding process operates on D.C. usually with the wire electrode positive.
Continuing developments have made the MIG process applicable to the welding of all
commercially important metals such as steel, aluminum, stainless steel, copper and several
others.

Applications used in large manufacturing industries to weld aluminium, magnesium, alloys,
plain and low carbon steels, stainless steel, copper and bronze. Used to weld very thick
sections usually above 8mm.


PREPARED BY ADESH BAHADOOR Page 4

Tungsten arc gas shielded welding (TAGS)
The most significant feature of this process is that the electrode use is not intended to be
consumed during the welding operation. It is made of pure or alloyed tungsten which has the
ability to withstand very high temperatures.
When a current flows, an electric arc is established between the work piece and the tungsten
electrode. The arc can fuse two metals together without the use of a filler metal. A hand-held
filler rod can be placed near the arc and melted to fill any gaps. The arc is protected by a flow of
a shielding gas, commonly argon (also helium or mixtures of these two gases), which displace
atmospheric gases from the weld zone.

Applications used in large manufacturing industries to weld aluminium, copper, stainless steel,
heat resistant steel and bronze.

Plastic welding
Welding takes place by the use of a gent of hot air. A thin filler of the same material to be weld
is heated by the hot air and used to form a weld.

Application - welding rigid PVC, used in the automobile industry and manufacturing sporting
goods.