{"id":114,"date":"2017-04-26T20:37:51","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T20:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/?p=114"},"modified":"2017-04-26T20:37:51","modified_gmt":"2017-04-26T20:37:51","slug":"what-is-tig-welding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/?p=114","title":{"rendered":"What is TIG Welding?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What is TIG Welding? (GTAW)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uO5pVLOAmD4?feature=oembed&#038;wmode=opaque\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Transcript:<\/p>\n<p>What is TIG welding?<\/p>\n<p>Tig stands for Tungsten-inert gas welding. \u00a0The American welding society calls this process \u201cGas Tungsten Arc Welding\u201d or GTAW. \u00a0\u00a0You might also hear it called \u201cheliarc welding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tig welding uses a tungsten electrode. \u00a0Now, tungsten has an extremely high melting point. \u00a0When you tig weld, the electrode gets hot but it doesn\u2019t melt. We say it is a non-consumable electrode. \u00a0That doesn&#8217;t\u2019 mean it lasts forever, just that it doesn\u2019t melt and become part of the weld.<\/p>\n<p>You see, in lots of other welding processes, the electrode melts and become filler metal. \u00a0Those are consumable electrode processes.<\/p>\n<p>So here is the tungsten electrode being held in a TIG torch. \u00a0The electrode slips into a collet, and the collet tightens up against the collet body. \u00a0You can adjust the length the electrode sticks out of the holder by loosening up the end cap. \u00a0When you tighten the end cap, the collet clamps down on the electrode. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Tig-Torch.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-116 size-large alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Tig-Torch-1024x644.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Tig-Torch-1024x644.png 1024w, http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Tig-Torch-300x189.png 300w, http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Tig-Torch-768x483.png 768w, http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Tig-Torch.png 1465w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tig works by melting the base metal (that is, the metal that makes up the two pieces that are to be joined. \u00a0\u00a0The heat is generated by an electric arc that forms between the base metal and the tungsten electrode. \u00a0\u00a0You can control the amount of heat with a foot pedal or with a thumbwheel on the torch.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For most metals, the current is Direct Current or DC. \u00a0DC is like the current flowing from a car battery. \u00a0One wire is always the negative and one is always the positive. \u00a0In DC TIG welding, the electrode is usually negative, and the workpiece is positive. \u00a0The term DCEN is used, \u00a0indicating that the current is \u00a0DC, and the \u00a0electrode is negative. \u00a0\u00a0This is also called \u201cstraight polarity,\u201d but DCEN is a more descriptive term. \u00a0DCEN puts most of the heat on the workpiece, and it is the most common setup.<\/p>\n<p>When welding aluminum, however, AC is used. \u00a0\u00a0In AC, the positive and negative voltages switch back and forth between the electrode and the workpiece. \u00a0\u00a0This puts more heat on the electrode, but it has a cleaning effect on the workpiece. \u00a0You see aluminum forms oxides that float to the top of the weld and prevent a good weld. The backwards flow of electricity during half the cycle helps control these oxides.<\/p>\n<p>In an electric circuit the current flows in a loop. In TIG welding, \u00a0the current has to flow in a complete circle from the machine, to the torch, into the work, and back to the machine. \u00a0A work lead is clamped to the work to complete the circuit from the workpiece back to the machine.<\/p>\n<p>Now, you can TIG weld with or without filler metal. That\u2019s not a choice in a lot of other processes. \u00a0If you want to add filler metal to a TIG weld, you use filler rod, which is just a rod of metal with a specific alloy. \u00a0You want to be sure the filler metal you are using is compatible with the base metal and has the strength required for the job.<\/p>\n<p>The molten metal is protected by a shielding gas. \u00a0This gas, usually argon and sometimes helium or other gases, keeps the molten metal from reacting with oxygen and water vapor in the atmosphere. \u00a0The shielding gas is stored in high pressure cylinders like these. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The pressure is reduced to a usable level by a device called a \u201cregulator.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So in summary, TIG Welding is an electric arc welding process. \u00a0It uses a nonconsumable tungsten electrode. \u00a0Filler metal is added separately, and the shielding gas comes from a high pressure cylinder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Transcript: What is TIG welding? Tig stands for Tungsten-inert gas welding. \u00a0The American welding society calls this process \u201cGas Tungsten Arc Welding\u201d or GTAW. \u00a0\u00a0You might also hear it called \u201cheliarc welding.\u201d Tig&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[25,24,26],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-welding","tag-gtaw","tag-tig","tag-what-is-tig-welding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions\/118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weldnotes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}