Metal welding: advantages and disadvantages of the most used technologies
Metal welding is a widely used process in the world of cold sheet metal working, but every business can perform it with different processes and technologies, depending on the customer requirements. Based on the customer needs, we find many different weldings both from an aesthetical point of view and as far as their features, costs and working times are concerned. Here is a brief excursus of the different kind of the most used metal welding, with advantages and disadvantages of each of them.
The welding is the technique with which the continuity of the metallic material is realized between the two pieces to be joined. The continuity can essentially be obtained in two ways:
- By liquid-liquid contact and connection, i.e. by melting the two edges of the joint (laser welding, TIG welding, MIG/MAG welding, resistance welding);
- By solid-solid contact, ie without melting; in this case the connection is obtained by mutual diffusion between the materials of the two flaps, which always remain in the liquid state.
Laser welding
Laser sheet metal welding can perform thin and deep weldings, extremely resistant and, in the same time, aesthetically nice. This is possible because, differently than other kinds of metal welding, laser welding does not add material to the sheet metal piece, and rarely does it create weld beads or significant residuals. On the other hand, though, laser welding needs excellent skills to be performed at its best: the pieces alignment must be perfect, as well as the regulations of the machines, making it a very difficult welding: that is why not all the businesses that provide sheet metal working can grant laser weldings properly carried out.
TIG welding
TIG welding is the most used process of welding. “TIG” stands for Tungsten Inert Gas and it denotes a kind of arc metal welding that is performed with the use of gases and makes possible to heat and melt together two metal sheets with or without filler material. TIG welding can perform resistant weldings in particular with thin components, but it is less effective with thicker components, as to gain a result you have to perform more than one TIG welding.
To know more about Tig welding, also read “3 recommendations for a state-of-the-art Tig welding”. Click here.
MIG/MAG welding
MIG/MAG welding is currently the most economical metal welding process, as the machinery to perform this kind of working is unexpansive. As for TIG welding, it requires the use of an inert gas in the MIG process, and of an active gas in the Mag process, but, differently than the metal welding explained before, it is a continuous wire welding. This feature makes it ideal when a high productivity is required, but the result is less resistant and less beautiful than the one gained with a TIG welding or a laser sheet metal welding.
Resistance welding
Resistance welding works thanks to the heating of the material gained with electric resistance and, applying a pressure, can weld two sheet metal pieces together, heating only a little part of the components. It is a kind of metal welding that is often automated: for this reason, resistance welding is mainly used in mass production, as in the automotive field or in the production of household electrical appliances.
Recap: advantages and disadvantages of welding
| Type of welding |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
|
Laser welding |
Thin and deep weldings, extremely resistant and aesthetically nice |
Needs excellent skills to be performed at its best: not suitable for any company |
|
TIG welding |
Excellent with thin components |
Not suitable for thick components |
|
MIG/MAG welding |
The most economical, ideal in case of high productivity |
The result is less resistant and less beautiful |
|
Resistance welding |
It heats only a little part of the components, ideal for mass production |
It requires conductive material and space for the electrodes |
One more suggestion: any kind of welding presents its pros and cons. For this reason, assessing its effectiveness must include an evaluation of the components that have to be welded. In Minifaber, before starting the production, every component is carefully considered, in order to identify the most suitable welding for each occasion.
Contact us calling the number +39 035 4237211 and ask the opinion of our technical office to obtain the sheet metal welding more suitable for your needs.