CAVEAT:

The most important consideration to welding is its potentially hazardous undertaking and very essential precautions vital to avoid burns, electric shock, and vision damage, inhalation of poisonous gases and fumes, including exposure to intense ultraviolet radiation.

Wikipedia states the following:

“Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence.”

What this actually consists of-is that work pieces such as multiple metal items are joined by melting and adding a filler material to form as molten material (welding pool) that eventually cools and becomes a strong joint weld between the work pieces to serve as a bond.

This is a variant in conjunction with heat, or by itself, to produce the weld.

This is not the very same as soldering and brazing, which involves melting a lower-melting-point material between the work pieces to form a bond between them, without melting the work pieces.

Many different energy sources can be used for welding, including a gas flame, an electric arc, a laser, an electron beam, friction, and ultrasound. Although, very often welding is an industrial process in enclosed buildings, it may be performed in many different surroundings, such as, under water and in outer space or open air.

History of Welding

There is a great website that illustrates and details welding history. It is one of the best websites on the Internet. You can learn almost anything about welding from the 1900’s through the present years. Additionally, this site discusses and lists the many inventors and their processes.

This site provides the history of welding from the middle ages to modern technology.

http://www.weldinghistory.org/

The paragraph below is a brief description of different processes through-out history.

Forge welding was used for centuries beginning in the middle ages. Blacksmiths would join iron and steel by heating, melting and hammering until a form or bonding took place.

During 19th century welding was as an ever changing development by arc , thermite and oxyfuel (1903) including electric resistance welding.

During the 20th century welding technology advanced quickly. World War I and World War II created a challenge for dependable and economical fusion techniques.

In recent years, to help reduce the costs of labor, high production manufacturing, industrial welding has become increasingly more automated with Robotics in resistance spot welding, (specifically in the automotive industry) and in arc welding.

Other key areas of research and development include the welding of dissimilar materials like steel and aluminum and new friction stir, magnetic pulse, conductive heat seam, and laser-hybrid welding processes.

Advancement and progress continues in more specialized methods like laser beam welding practical for more applications, such as in the aerospace and automotive industries. Researchers also hope to better understand the often unpredictable properties of welds, especially microstructure, residual stresses, and a weld’s tendency to fracture or collapse.

Many distinct factors influence the strength of welds and material including the welding method, the amount and concentration of energy input, the weld ability of the base, filler and flux material, the joint design, and all factors of interactions among them.

 Further Research

You can further your research at the following links:

List of welding codes: List_of_welding_codes

List of welding processes: List_of_welding_processes

Regulated Metal Deposition: Regulated_Metal_Deposition#Regulated_Metal_Deposition

Welding Procedure Specification: Welding_Procedure_Specification

American Welding Society: .aws.org/w/a/

Welding Institute UK: twi.co.uk/

Canadian Welding Association: cwa-acs.org/