Welding Processes and

Metallurgy
Introduction
Welding Definition
Importance of Welding
History of Welding
Classification
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Welding Definition

American Heritage Dictionary:

to join metals by applying heat, sometimes with pressure and
sometimes with an intermediate filler metal having a high melting point

ISO R 857 (1998)

an operation in which continuity is obtained between the parts for
assembly, by various means

AWS
a localized coalescence of metals or nonmetals produced by heating
the materials to a welding temperature, with or without the application of
pressure, or by the application of pressure alone and with or without the
use of filler metal
Coalescence means a growing together or growing into one body.

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Importance of Welding

Manufacture steel pipes at pipe mill

Fabricate piping spools in the fabrication shop

Maintain corrosion-resistance cladding in pressure vessels and

pipes

Replace corroded section of pipes and vessels

Repair cracked welds

Construct structural steel frames

Construct oil or water tanks in the field

Modify or alter existing piping system

Repair mechanical equipment that has failed or become worn

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History of Welding
Good source: http://www.weldinghistory.org/
Bronze age
3000BC: soldering with Au-Ag alloys in Persia
small gold circular boxes joined by pressing lap joints (~ few
years BC??, National Museum in Dublin, Ireland)

Iron Age
Egyptians and Eastern Mediterranean forge welded iron (1000
BC, British Museum, London, UK)
Iron Pillar in Delhi, India (AD 310). Made of welded billets, 7.6 m
tall, 0.4 m wide
Roman weldments found in Scandinavia and Germany

Middle Ages
Forge welding by blacksmiths

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History of Welding

XIX century, early XX century:

Acetylene was discovered by Edmund Davy in England, 1836

An arc was first created by Humphry Davy 1801, demonstrated in 1808 (word arc coined 20 years
later!)
Electric generator (invented ~1850)
Late 1800: development of modern welding: Arc, Resistance, Oxyacetylene

1865 Wilde patented electric welding in UK by melting small pieces of Fe

Arc welding with carbon and metal electrodes

1881: Auguste de Meritens used an arc to join lead plates for batteries in France (workpiece was +)
Nikolai Bernardos (Meritens disciple) and fellow Russian Stanislaus Olszewski were granted a British patent for welding in 1885
and a U.S. patent in 1887. Involved a non-consumable carbon electrode. Good for iron and lead (carbon was +!)
1887 welding shops already exist
~1880s N.G. Slavianoff proposed metal transfer through arc to cast in a mold
1889 C.L.Coffin of Detroit was awarded first U.S. patent for arc welding using a consumable metallic electrode
~1900 Strohmenger introduced a coated metalelectrode in UK. Clay or lime coating stabilized the arc
~1900 Wright Bros make their own welder
1907 Oscar Kjellberg in Sweden made stick electrodes by dipping iron rods in thick mixtures of carbonates and silicates and
drying them

Resistance welding

Gas welding

1887 invention of blow torch

before acetylene: hydrogen and coal
1900 low pressure acetylene torch appeared

Thermite welding

1885: Elihu Thompson invented resistance spot welding (also seam welding, projection welding, and flash butt welding)

1903 Goldschmidt, to weld German railroads

1907 Siemund-Wienzell come to the US from Germany to establish a welding operation. Enderlein also comes
from Germany with same idea. Theres litigation.
Lincoln introduced first machines in 1912

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History of Welding

WWI

enormous development of welding for armament production

Wartime Welding Committee of the Emergency Fleet Corporation

Debate about arc welding vs. resistance or gas welding

Visit to England, they use arc welding
Weld repair of sabotaged German ships in NY (railroad representatives suggested arc)

Dutch: Fokker welded airplane fuselages

1917: four well established welding manufacturers in the US

After WWI

1919 AWS is founded, 1st president: Confort A. Adams (Prof. of EE at Harvard)

1912 Strohmenger gets patent for heavily coated electrodes (involving asbestos!)
1919: AC Welding invented by C. J. Holslag (not popular until heavy coated electrode was widespread)
until 1920, welding was thought of as useful only for repair. After that, people started to consider it for manufacturing
1920 First all-welded ship: HMS Fulagar (UK)
1920: automatic feeding invented by P.O. Nobel of GE

1927 extruded electrodes used internally at A.O. Smith Co

1929 Lincoln sell extruded electrodes to the public
1930-40 Atomic Hydrogen process, to avoid oxidation. Not used now. ~PAW with hydrogen. They tried C and W
electrodes
1926 H.M. Hobart and P.K. Devers used Ar and He arcs. Gas supplied around the arc, ~like GTAW. They also
showed a concentric nozzle with non consumable and consumable wire
1930 Stud Welding at NY Navy Yard for shipbuilding
1930 SAW patented by Robinoff for National Tube Company in PA for longitudinal welds in pipe. Used in
shipyards in defense buildup of 1938 (patent sold to Linde Air Products and called Unionmelt)
Late 30s: need to weld Mg for fighter airplanes. Northrup and Dow Chemical developed GTAW. Patented in
1941 by Meredith, and named Heliarc. Good for Mg and Al. Later sold to Lind who developed water cooling

used for buildup of worn parts

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History of Welding

After WWII

1948 GMAW is invented at Batelle. Same as GTAW but replaced it with a continuously fed
wire. Key to practical application: small diameter wire and constant voltage power supply.
Originally for non-ferrous because gas was expensive and polarity was right, it also avoided nonconsumable electrode heating.
1953 Lyubavskii and Novoshilov announced GMAW using CO2. Required large wires and
currents. (John Lincoln applied for patent for CO2 shielding in 1918)
1954 Bernard invented tubular wire with fluxes for using CO2 (called Dualshield). Patented
1957
1958 Short circuit transfer is invented: enabled CO2 with smaller wires and currents, and all
positions for thin materials
Early 60s: add small amounts of O2 to facilitate spray transfer
1959 self-shielding tubular wire (Innershield)
1951 Electroslag Welding in Soviet Union, presented at Brussels World Fair in 1958, based on
U.S. Patent by Hopkins in 1940. Used for thick Welds
1961 Electrogas, in which theres an open arc.
1957 PAW invented by Gage. Plasma has higher temperature than in GTAW. Used for
cutting, spraying, cladding, etc.
1957 First disclosure of electron beam welding by J.A. Stohr of France
Friction Welding and Inertia Welding: Developed by the Soviet Union
After 1960: welding for nuclear and space applications
Laser Welding
FSW

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Why a Classification
Definition of Classification:
assigning welding processes to different groups based on
commonalities

good classifications help simplify the diversity of existing

processes
there are ~100 welding and cutting processes

good classifications have little or no overlap between

groups
good classifications help discover technology gaps and
missing links

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Some Useful Criteria

Fusion vs non-fusion
Pressure vs. non-pressure
Energy sources
For arc welding
Consumable vs. non-consumable
Continuous vs. Discontinuous

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Criterion:
Dominant Mechanism to Obtain
Continuity
Macroscopic motion
Solid state deformation (plastic)
Liquid state flow
with melting of substrate (Fusion)
without melting of substrate (Non-Fusion)
Atomic-scale motion
Diffusion

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Solid State Deformation

Gets atoms close enough to create bonds (rapprochement)
original interface becomes a grain boundary or is
eliminated through recrystallization
Eliminates contaminants that prevent proximity
oxides, adsorbed gases, moisture, and organic
contaminants
cleaning action increases with deformation
Plastic deformation causes strains
changes mechanical properties of material (e.g. strain
hardening)
temperature helps relieve strain
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Melting and Solidification

(Fusion)

Original interface is eliminated and replaced by S-L

interfaces
Liquid helps accommodate fit-up
provides metallurgical continuity
source of heat chemical (reaction exothermy)

Heat Affected
Zone

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Liquid without melting substrate

(Non-Fusion)
Liquid helps accommodate fit-up
If there is no melting of the substrate, then the
liquid and the solid have different chemistries
There are chemical reactions at the S-L interface
Alloy is created in a thin layer (atomic to
microns in thickness)
HAZ but no fusion line
Diffusion is enhanced in the liquid state

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Diffusion
Atoms move through the lattice and erase
the interface
Pressure is very important
recrystallization occurs

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LPT

Role of Temperature
Macroscopic motion
Solid state deformation (plastic)
drives off volatile adsorbed gases, moisture, and organic
contaminants
cracks oxides through differential thermal expansion
dissolve (titanium oxide) oxides
lowers flow stress, increasing amount of deformation
promotes dynamic recrystallization that erases original interface
Liquid state flow
keeps materials molten
Atomic-scale motion
Diffusion
increases rates of diffusion

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Role of Pressure
Macroscopic motion
Solid state deformation (plastic)
breaks oxides because they cannot deform as well as base
metal
increases amount of metal-metal contact area
Liquid state flow
with melting of substrate
typically pressure is undesirable
forced can be used to prevent distortions
without melting of substrate
pressure helps keep narrow gaps that help capillary action
Atomic-scale motion
Diffusion
increases amount of metal-metal contact area

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Pressure vs. non-pressure

Pressure welding processes
Rely on plastic deformation
good for metals
Typically non-fusion except RSW
process in which work-pieces are held together under pressure and
joined by the heat obtained from resistance to electric current

Non-pressure
Rely on temperature
typically fusion
just welding

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macroscopic pressure
c/flow substrate

Solid state
deformation
w/o recrystallization
(cold welding)

trying too hard

Solid state
deformation
with dynamic
recrystallization

no substrate
melting

Diffusion

substrate melting

nothing happens

.5

1
Homologous temperature
Tjoining/lowest Tmelting

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Energy sources
Three main sources
Chemical
Electrical
Mechanical
Chemical
combustion (e.g. fuel/gas+air/oxygen)
metal oxidation-reduction
Electrical
arc or plasma
resistance
induction
radiation from a beam (e-beam)
radiation from a broad source (electromagnetic, microwave, infrared)
Mechanical
plastic deformation
friction

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CONSTANT CURRENT OR
CONSTANT VOLTAGE
CONSTANT CURRENT
This type of power source has
a relatively small change in amperage
and arc power for a corresponding
relatively large change in arc
voltage
or arc length, thus the
name constant
current.
this type of machine is often called a
"drooper.
Voltage varies with arc length
GTAW, SMAW
Manual welding difficult to hold electrode at exactly same height, so
voltage varies Very little effect on current so penetration stays the same.
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- Voltage +

CONSTANT CURRENT

- Amperage +

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CONSTANT CURRENT OR
CONSTANT VOLTAGE
CONSTANT VOLTAGE
known as constant potential.
The voltage output remains relatively
constant.
Current varies with wire speed as a
result of plate irregularities.
a self regulating or self adjusting arc
length system.
GMAW, FCAW, SAW

Self-Adjusting Arc

- Voltage +

Voltage Dial on weld

machine

Arc Length
- Amperage +

Feed speed = burn off

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Self-Adjusting Arc

Feed speed = burn off

V up, i down, burn off

down. Feed speed >
burn off

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Wire advances, i increases

until: Feed speed = burn off

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Fusion
Fusion Welding
Welding
Fusion Welding

Gas Welding

Resistance
Fusion Welding

Arc Fusion
Welding

Electron Beam
Welding
[EBW]

Electro-Slag
[ESW] Welding
Metal Arc
Welding

LASER Beam
Welding

Submerged Arc
Welding

[LBW]

Gas Shielded
Welding

[SAW]
Manual Metal
Arc Welding

Gravity
Welding

[MMAW,SMAW]

[MIG]

Gas Metal
Arc Welding
Metal Inert
Gas Welding

Gas Tungsten
Arc Welding [GTAW]

[GMAW]
Metal Active
Gas Welding [MAG]

Tungsten Inert
Gas Welding
[TIG]

Narrow Gap
Welding

Electro-Gas
Welding
[EGW]

CO2 Welding
[MAGC]

Mixture Gas
Welding

Flux-Cored
Arc Welding

[MAGM]

[FCAW]

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Plasma
Arc Welding
[PAW]

Resistance
Resistance Welding
Welding Hierarchy
Hierarchy

Pressure Welding

Cold Pressure Welding

Friction
Welding

Shock
Welding

Ultrasonic
Welding

Forge
Welding

Pressure
Gas Welding

Resistance
Welding

Arc Pressure
Welding

Arc Stud
Welding

Diffusion
Welding

Magnet Arc
Welding

Explosive
Welding
Resistance
Butt Welding

Flash Butt
Welding

Spot Welding

[ERW]

[FBW]

[SW]

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Projection
Welding

(Mash) Seam
Welding
[MSW]

Future of Welding

Energy
Transport
Automation/Robotics
More difficult materials
Dissimilar Materials
Micro/nano scales

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