WELDING

This is a process of joining two similar or dissimilar metals by fusion, with or

without the application of pressure and with or without the use of filer metal.
The fusion of metal takes place by means of heat which is obtained from either
the blacksmith’s fire electric arc, electrical resistance or chemical reaction.
The property of metals which indicates the ease with which two similar or
dissimilar metals are joined by fusion with or without the use of filler metal is
called WELD ABILITY.
The weldabilty of metal is influenced by:
-The composition of the metal
-Brittleness and strength of the metal at elevated temperature
-Thermal properties of metal
-Welding techniques, fluxing-material and filler material
-Proper heat treatment before and after the deposition of the metal.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF WELDED JOINTS

The advantages of welded joints include:-
-The welded structures are normally lighter than riveted or bolted structures,
-The welded joint provides maximum efficiency which is not possible in other
types of joints.
-The alterations and additions can easily be made in the existing structure.
-welded joints have high strength, often stronger than the parent metal.
-joining by welding process takes less time than others.
-Welded structures look smooth and rigid.
-In welded connections, the tension; members are not weakened as in the case
of riveted joints.
Disadvantages include:
-Possibility of distortion of members and development of high stress due to
uneven heating and cooling during fabrication.
-It requires a highly skilled labour and supervision.
-The edge preparation is generally required before welding.
-welded joints are prone to cracks and possible failure particularly under
cycle loads
-Inspection of welded joints is more difficult than riveted or bolted joints.

WELDING CLASSES BY COMPOSITION

It is helpful to classify welding processes on the basis of composition changes
that may occur in the weld zone. On this basis, all the welding processes can
be grouped under three classes:
1. Autogenous
2. Homogeneous
3. Heterogeneous
Autogenous welding process is one in which no filler material is added to
the joint interface. This includes nearly all the cold and hot pressure
welding processes and the electric resistance processes.
Homogeneous welding process is that in which the filler material is of a
different type from the parent material. thus the welding of 1100
aluminum with 100 aluminum rod, the welding of 70-30 brass with a 70-30
brass rod, and the welding of the plain low carbon steel with a low carbon
rod are all homogeneous processes.
Heterogeneous welding process is one which uses filler material of a
different type from the parent material. This class includes the brazing and
soldering processes, as well as those that use adhesives or other plastics as
a filler material.
All these three classes of welding may be used with any of the types of
energy sources outlined e.g two plates of AISI 1020 filled steel can be
joined by autogenous welding using everyone of the welding processes.
Autogenous welding is the fastest and least expensive of three classes. We
note that when using those welding types that employ no pressure, the
cross –section area of the fused metal of the interface will be less than that
of the parent metal during autogenous welding. Therefore homogeneous
welding is used when it is desired to compensate for this lack of sufficient
metal at the interface by adding filler metal.
Sometimes it is desired to weld two pieces together, such as precision
investment castings without melting either of them. This can be done by a
heterogeneous process using a filler material of lower melting temperature
than the castings and which must be soluble in them.
Another problem encountered occasionally is the welding of two materials
that are not soluble in each other. An example is the example is the welding
of a silver plug onto a steel bar. According to the equilibrium phase
diagrams, iron and silver are insoluble in each other in both the liquid and
solid states. This welding problem can be readily solved by using a filler
material such as tin or copper that is soluble in both silver and iron.
In general, to determine whether materials can be bonded together, we
must. Determine their solubility in each other. This can be done by
referring to the equilibrium phase diagrams of the materials in question.

TYPES OF WELDING PROCESSES

There are five types of welding process, as outlined below when
considered on the basis of the energy used to remove the gas and oxide
layers.
1.Mechanical: This uses only mechanical means or severe plastic
deformation at the interface to achieve a weld. Extensively used in the
 early days. its main application today is the joining of the ends of aluminum
and copper coils of wire, as well as in the joining of electrical lead wire to
their terminals. As severe plastic deformations are required, the process is
used mainly with ductile materials such as AI or CU.
2. Mechanical plus Thermal: The pieces to be joined are heated and
hammered (or forged) together. forge welding is used extensively today to
join large diameter pipes and shafts end to end. The heat is supplied by
oxyacetylene flame heads or by induction heating coils, and the pressure is
supplied by hydraulic cylinders. A variants is friction welding where one
part is clamped and then its end rotated while lightly contacting the mating
–part. After a short time the two parts are pressed together with large
forces as the relative motion is stopped; Recrystallization welding employs
warm temperature plus pressure.
3. Thermal welding: Uses heat only (without pressure) to achieve fusion.
the most common gaseous fuel is oxy-acetylene (combination of
compressed oxygen and acetylene).
4. Chemical plus Thermal: for some case where the melting temperature
of the oxide film is higher than that of either the parent material or the
filler material, a flux is used to form a low melting slag that can be
displaced easily from the weld interface. In the past this would be
associated with the brazing and soldering process.
5. Chemical: reagent is used at room temperature without application of
heat for removing the oxide layer.

THE MAJOR GROUPS OF WELDING ARE:

Forged or Pressure Welding : in which the work pieces are heated to plastic
state and then joined together by the application of pressure on them. No filler
material usually used. typical forged or pressure welding are blacksmith forge
welding, resistance welding, function welding and cold pressure welding.

Fusion or non-pressure welding: In this type, the edge of work pieces to be

joined and the filler- material are heated to a temperature above the solidity.
Examples are electric arc, gas welding and chemical reactions.

ARC WELDING
There are two major types of arc welding, namely:
Un-shield arc welding – this uses a large electrode of filler rod for welding. In
this case, the deposited weld metal while it is hot will absorb oxygen and
nitrogen from the atmosphere. The effect of oxygen is to promote inclusion
and blow holes in weld and nitrogen promotes hardness and brittleness. By
these, the strength of the weld is decreased while the ductility and resistance
to corrosion is lowered.
Shielded ARC welding: This makes use of welding rods coated with fluxing
material. The Grated rods not only supply a fluxing agent but fuses at a slower
rate than the rod itself. This property acts to exclude the atmosphere in the
variety of the weld and prevents the absorption of large amount of harmful
oxygen and nitrogen. Such welds from blow holes stronger.
Arc welding equipment consist of a DC or AC machine, electrodes, electrodes
holders (usually insulator) cables connectors, cable lugs, chipping hammer,
earthling changes, wire brush, helmet, safety goggles, hand gloves and aprons.
Both direct (DC) and alternating circuit (AC) can be used for arc welding but-
the DC is preferred for most processes. When the work is connected to the
positive terminal of a DC, welding machine and the negative terminal to an
electrode holder, the welding set up is said to have STRAIGHT POLARITY. On
the other hand, when the work is connected to negative and the electrode to
the positive terminal, then the welding set up is said to have REVERSED
POLARITY.

The common welding positions are:

• Flat Position: The filler metal is deposited from upper side of the joint
with the fade of the weld horizontal.
• Horizontal Position: The weld is deposited upon the side of a
horizontal and against a vertical surface.
• Vertical Position: The line of welding is in a vertical plane and the weld
is deposited upon a vertical surface.
• Over head Position: Weld is deposited from the under side of the joint
and the face of the weld is horizontal . it is the reverse of flat welding.

The following are the various welding processes commonly used in

engineering practice.
-Carbon arc welding
-Metal arc welding
-Metallic inert gas (MIG)
-Tungsten inert gas (TIG)
-Plasma arc welding

GAS WELDING
It is a type of fusion welding in which the heat for welding is obtained by the
combustion of a fuel gas. In gas welding, the edges or surface to be joined are
melted by the heat of a gas flame. The molten metal is allowed to flow
together and solid continuous joint is obtained as the molten solidifies. this
type of welding of materials of 15mm thickens and above, a filler metal is
used. The most common gas welding type is the oxy-acetylene (3,200c)
The most common gas welding equipment include welding torch, welding
torch tip, pressure regulator, hose and hose fittings , gas cylinders, goggles
and gloves and spark lighter. There are three types of flames used in oxy-
acetylene welding,
Namely:
✓ Neutral flame: Obtained by regulating the supply of acetylene and
oxygen so that equal volumes of both gases are supplied. This is used for
steel cast iron, copper aluminum. Etc.
✓ Oxidizing flame : This is obtained where there is excess of oxygen. It is
usually used for welding of brass and bronze.
✓ Carbonizing flame: Obtained by supplying an excess of acetylene. It is
used for welding alloy steels, nonferrous and hard surface materials
such as satellite.
The common gas welding techniques are:
❖ Leftward or freehand welding: The welding torch is held in the
operator’s right hand and the weld is made from right to left. The torch
makes angle of 60 -70 with the plate and the welding rod makes angle of
30-40.
❖ Rightward or backhand welding: The welding torch is held in the right
hand and filler rod in the left hand. The welding begins at left hand side
and moves to the right hand side.
❖ Others are vertical and Ring welding used for welding of steel tubes at a
temperature below the melting point of the parent metal.

SOLDERING
This is the process of joining two metal pieces by means of heat and filler
metal whose melting point is lower (below 400 °c) than the melting point of
metals to be joined. It is called soft soldering and the filler material is known
as solder. It is an alloy of lead and tin solders containing about 45 to 62% tin.
they have rapid solidification properties and are most commonly used.

BRAZING
This is the process of joining two metals pieces by means of heat and a special
filler material having a melting point above 400°C but lower than the melting
point of the parts to be joined . the copper base and silver alloys are
commonly used as filler metals for brazing. the two metal pieces to be joined
by brazing are first cleaned to remove all greases and oxides. they are usually
clamped together along the line of joint, then the flux (borax) is applied on the
joint and heated to temperature above the melting point of the spelter. When
the spelter is applied to the joint. It flows throughout the joint by capillary
action.

THE FUNDAMENTAL WELDING PROBLEM

The fundamental welding problem (to us on earth) is simply the removal of
the absorbed gas and oxide layers from large areas of the intended contacting
surfaces of the mating parts so that only grain boundaries separate them be
understood that this welding problem is only one of the atmosphere or
environment. However, in the vacuum of outer space, on the moon, or on
other planets, welding may not be a problem rather unwelding may.
Two pieces of clean metal brought into contact in a vacuum will have nothing
but grain boundaries separating them at the contact surfaces. The area of the
contacting surfaces will be dependent upon the pair offerees pressing the two
parts together. If this force pair is large enough, the asperities on the surfaces
will be plastically deformed until the cross-sectional areas of the parts are in
intimate contact. When this occurs, the parts are completely and perfectly
welded together.
If tensile forces are then applied to separate them, failure will occur outside
the weld area. This is because the metal in the weld area has been
strengthened by strain hardening.
Note that surface such as those prepared by finished grinding or lapping are
really not perfectly plain surfaces, but rather when looked at microscopically,
consist of a continuous array of asperities.
Furthermore, in our earth atmosphere, this metallic surface is coated with two
thin films (about 100 to 200 A thick) – one an oxide layer and the outer one an
adsorbed gas layer. The very old method of getting rid of the two films from a
weld surface was by heating the parts until the interface material was melted
and thus flowed out of the interface. A later technique exposes clean metal at
the weld interface by means of severe plastic deformation.
Welds can be made between two pieces of metal without removing the
adsorbed gas or the oxide layer. But the strength of such as weld is very low,
and was not considered a “weld” in the days when weld was synonymous with
fusion