Welding, Tig

The user of this data is assumed to have a manufacturing background with the need to know all of the details of this model.

TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas)

In TIG welding, a tungsten electrode heats the metal you are welding and gas (most commonly Argon) protects the weld puddle from airborne contaminants. TIG welding produces clean, precise welds on any metal.

TIG welding uses a non-consumable tungsten
Filler metal, when required, is added by hand
Shielding gas protects the weld and tungsten
Produces high quality, clean welds.

TIG stands for Tungsten Inert Gas welding. Also called GTAW (Gas Tungsten Arc Welding) and Heliarc® which was Linde's trade name for the TIG process when it was introduced many years ago.

The arc is started with a tungsten electrode shielded by inert gas and filler rod is fed into the weld puddle separately. A slower process than MIG, it produces a more precise weld and can be used at lower amperages for thinner metal and can be used on exotic metals. TIG does require quite a bit more time than MIG to learn. It is similar in technique to gas welding.

AC TIG is generally used to weld aluminum and magnesium materials. For the best appearance, highest quality and leak free welds on aluminum, AC TIG welding is the process of choice. The primary gas used is argon and in some applications on thick aluminum when additional penetration is needed an argon/helium mixture or pure helium is used. TIG welding offers the user the greatest amount of flexibility to weld the widest range of material and thickness. AC TIG welding is also the cleanest weld with no sparks or spatter.

DC TIG is generally used to weld exotic material like stainless steel, nickel alloys, copper, titanium and critical welds that must be flawless such as aircraft engine parts. The primary gas used is argon and in some applications an argon/helium mixture or pure helium is used. TIG welding offers the user the greatest amount of flexibility to weld the widest range of material and thickness and types. DC TIG welding is also the cleanest weld with no sparks or spatter.

Butt Welds: a joint made by fastening ends together without overlapping. The simplest of all joint designs is the square butt weld, in which pieces with squared edges are merely brought quite close together and welded.

Corner Welds: Corner Welds. There are several ways to make a corner joint. If the metal is thick enough to allow it, the design which is equivalent to the 90-deg. single-V butt joint is probably the best. It can be closed or open. The ends are held together during the weld process.

Lap Weld: A weld in which the ends of the pieces are overlapped and then joined by welding.

Fillet Weld: is used to make lap joints, corner joints, and T joints. As its symbol suggests, the fillet weld is roughly triangular in cross-section, although its shape is not always a right triangle or an isosceles triangle. Weld metal is deposited in a corner formed by the fit-up of the two members and penetrates and fuses with the base metal to form the joint.

Operating factor: The ratio of arc-on time to the total time worked, often expressed as a percentage: A low operator factor is costly.

The data used here came from Miller Tig Welding Calculator on the net.