Chapter 16, Problem 1R

What early advancements made the GTA welding process more effective and reduced its cost?

To determine

The early advancements that made the GTA welding process more effective and reduced its cost.

Explanation of Solution

GTA Welding: Gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process is also referred to as Heliarc or tungsten-inert-gas (TIG) welding. In this process, a non-consumable electrode (tungsten) is used for the arc generation. The melting of the electrode does not take place in this process, although the melting of work takes place at the spot where the arc impacts its surface. A molten metal pool is generated due to the melting of work. The filler metal of thin wire is fed directly into the molten metal pool. An inert gas is used to provide needed arc characteristics.

The effectiveness and cost reduction of the GTAW process is achieved by:

• The improvement in the composition of the gas (switching from Helium to Tungsten).
• Theproper understanding of the importance of polarity.
• Use of argon gas instead of aluminium.

Before the development of GTAW process, the helium gas was utilized as the protecting gas for the GTAW procedure alongside DCEP welding current.However, this gas causes numerous issues that restricted the uses of the GTAW procedure. The welding of aluminium was troublesome by GTAW process before its improvement, yet the utilization of argon gas makes this procedure more common.