How Does Welding Work?

Welding is a high-heat process that melts the base materials. This is also the main differentiating factor where only the filler material is melted and no fusion between the parent materials occurs.

There are many different types of welding but all of them involve heat or pressure to melt the metals to create welded joints. The source of heat or pressure may vary depending on the application and the material used.

Different Welding Types

（4 Main Types of Welding）

※Gas Metal Arc Welding

 Also known as Metal Inert Gas or MIG welding, this process uses a thin wire as an electrode. The wire heats up as it is fed through the welding instrument and towards the welding site. Shielding gas must be used to protect the weld from contaminants in the air.

※Gas Tungsten Arc Welding 

This type of welding process, also known as Tungsten Inert Gas or TIG welding, is commonly used to weld together thin and non-ferrous materials like aluminum, copper, lead, or nickel. It’s commonly applied to bicycle or aircraft manufacturing.

※Shielded Metal Arc Welding

This type of welding process relies on a manual technique using a consumable electrode coated in flux. This method tends to be most popular among home-shop welders. This process is also more informally known as stick welding.

※Flux-Cored Arc Welding

Similar to MIG welding, flux cored arc welding revolves around a continuous wire feed process. There are two separate processes associated with flux cored arc welding

（Other type of welding）: 

Plasma Welding/Submerged Arc Welding/Resistance Welding

Spot Welding/Seam Welding/Laser Welding/Electron Beam Welding