TIG Welding

GTAW
•Also referred to as “TIG” Welding
•Uses a shield gas, a non-consumable tungsten
electrode and a hand fed filler rod
•Excellent for welding thin metals, pipeline
welding and exotic metals
•Highly skilled labor needed for this process
 Gas Tungsten-Arc
Welding The gas tungsten-arc welding process, formerly known
as TIG (for tungsten inert gas) welding.

Equipment for gas tungsten-arc welding

operations. Source: American Welding
Society.
Comparison of Laser-Beam and
Tungsten-Arc Welding
Figure 27.16
Comparison of the
size of weld beads in
(a) electron-beam or
laser-beam welding
to that in (b)
conventional
(tungsten-arc)
welding. Source:
American Welding
Society, Welding
Handbook (8th ed.),
1991.
 General Characteristics of
Fusion Welding Processes
TABLE 27.1
Skill level Welding Current Cost of
Joining process Operation Advantage required position type Distortion* equipment
Shielded metal-arc Manual Portable and High All ac, dc 1 to 2 Low
flexible
Submerged arc Automatic High Low to Flat and ac, dc 1 to 2 Medium
deposition medium horizontal
Gas metal-arc Semiautomatic Most metals Low to All dc 2 to 3 Medium to
or automatic high high
Gas tungsten-arc Manual or Most metals Low to All ac, dc 2 to 3 Medium
automatic high
Flux-cored arc Semiautomatic High Low to All dc 1 to 3 Medium
or automatic deposition high
Oxyfuel Manual Portable and High All — 2 to 4 Low
flexible
Electron-beam, Semiautomatic Most metals Medium All — 3 to 5 High
Laser-beam or automatic to high
* 1, highest; 5, lowest.
 The GTAW (TIG) Process

Temperatures of up to 35,000° F/ 19,426° C.

The torch contributes only heat to the work piece.

Advantages
weld more kinds of metals and metal alloys

stainless steel, nickel alloys such as Monel and Inconel,

titanium, aluminum, magnesium, copper, brass, bronze, and
even gold.

 dissimilar metals
Concentrated Arc
 pin point control of heat input to the work piece resulting in a
narrow heat-affected zone.

advantage when welding metals with high heat conductivity

such as aluminum and copper.

No Slag- welder’s vision of the molten weld pool.

The finished weld will not have slag to remove between

passes.
No Sparks or Spatter
no transfer of metal across the arc.

no sparks produced if the material being welded is free of

contaminants.

GTAW Disadvantages
low filler metal deposition rate.
hand-eye coordination necessary
The arc brighter than those produced by SMAW and GMAW.
Polarity
Direct Current Electrode Negative (DCEN)

practically all metals.

approximately 70% of the heat will be concentrated into the

workpiece.

deep penetration

The electrode receives a smaller portion of the heat energy than

when using Alternating Current (AC) or Direct Current Electrode
Positive polarity (DCEP).

This accounts for the higher current carrying capacity of a given

size tungsten electrode with DCEN than with DCEP or AC.
Direct Current Electrode Positive (DCEP),

Approximately 70% of the heat will be concentrated at the

positive side of the arc.

electrode receives the greatest amount of heat and becomes very

hot, the electrode must be very large even when low amperages are
used, to prevent overheating and possible melting.

shallow penetration.

disadvantage - magnetic forces the arc will sometimes wander

from side to side when making a fillet weld when two pieces of
metal are at a close angle to one another.
DCEP

cleaning done continuously while the welding

oxide can be removed by the welding arc

positively charged gas ions strike the work piece with sufficient
force to break up and chip away the brittle aluminum oxide
 Cathodic Cleaning of Oxides from Aluminum Surface by
Variable-Polarity Arc
BY R. SARRAFI AND R. KOVACEVIC
SUPPLEMENT TO THE WELDING JOURNAL, JANUARY 2010

Removal of surface oxides

very important element -when high quality welds of aluminum alloys
GTAW
The melting temperature of aluminum oxide (2050°C
AC current can be used
DCEP
DCEN with helium shielding gas. (success and popularity of these
methods are far less as compared to DCEP)

Defects :
fusion defects,
Inclusions
porosities.
Mechanism of Cathodic Cleaning during Aluminum Welding
1. the positive ions that are accelerated toward the aluminum cathode are
assumed to “sputter” the surface oxide layer. Sputtering is the ejection of
substrate atoms by the effect of the high-energy bombarding particles.

2. the surface oxides are assumed to be destructed because of the

dielectric breakdown phenomenon. When the electric field exceeds a
critical value, the materials that are considered dielectric can conduct
electricity.
3. the evaporation of the oxide layers at the cathode spots of
nonthermionic cathodes
However, there is no paper in literature dedicated to the experimental
investigation !!!
Sputtering is the ejection of substrate atoms from their
lattice under the effect of high-energy bombarding
particles.

The energetic positive ions striking the surface are

responsible for the removal of atoms from the substrate

Some of the energetic incident ions can penetrate into

the interatomic space of the substrate material lattice
which accelerate multiple collisions themselves.
The arc in DCEN polarity is much brighter than the arc
in DCEP polarity

The low intensity of arc emission during DCEP polarity

makes the viewing through the DCEP arc easier than
through the DCEN arc.

the temperature of the arc column is lower in the DCEP

polarity than in the DCEN polarity.
 Arc Rectification
AC current, equal half cycle theory is not exactly true.

positive half cycle is of much less magnitude than the electrode

negative half cycle.

surface oxide acts as a rectifier - difficult for the electrons to

flow from the work to the electrode

molten, hot, clean aluminum does not emit electrons as easily

as hot tungsten.
Arc Rectification
 Balance Wave Control Advantages

Maximum penetration
Maximum Cleaning
 Independent Current Control

Advanced Square wave power sources

These power sources provide separate and independent

amperage control of the electrode negative (penetration) and
electrode positive (cleaning) half cycles.
Advanced Square wave Advantages
■ More efficient control results in higher travel speeds
■ Narrower more deeply penetrating arc
■ Able to narrow or eliminate etched zone
■ Improved arc stability
■ Reduced use of high frequency arc starts
■ Improved arc starting
(always starts EP independent of
current type or polarity set)
Welding Fluxes for GTAW

effect the surface tension of the weld pool molecules and

allow improved penetration on certain metals.
Preparing Aluminum for Welding

positively charged gas ions are attracted to the negative work

piece.

chip away at the brittle oxide much like a miniature sandblasting

operation.

The electron flow from the work to the electrode lifts the
loosened oxide leaving clean base metal to be welded.
 Preparing Stainless Steel for Welding

Filler material used should be compatible

heat conductivity of chrome-nickel stainless steels are about

50% less than mild steel-tendency for distortion on thin sections.

carbide precipitation (800 – 1400° F)

. Rapid cooling through this range will help keep precipitation

to a minimum.

 columbium or titanium are added to avoid the precipitation

 Case study
 
Case study 1:

Paulo J. Modenesi, EustaÂquio R. ApolinaÂrio, Iaci M. Pereira, “TIG

welding with single-component Fluxes”, Journal of Materials
Processing Technology 99 (2000) 260-265.

 activated flux TIG (ATIG) welding process

thin layer of an active flux that results in a great increase in

weld penetration

This effect is, generally, connected to the capture of electrons

in the outer parts of the arc by elements of high
electronegativity, which constrict the arc causing an effect
similar to that used in plasma arc welding.
TIG welding of stainless steels

• to joints of a maximum thickness of 3 mm and to

relatively low welding speed.

•from the literature indicate that joints with a thickness of

6 mm, or even of 10 mm, can be welded in a single pass
with the ATIG process.
• increase the anode current density and the arc force acting on the
welding pool - similarly to what happens in plasma arc welding.
Case study 2:
 
Ericsson.M, Sandstro.R, “Influence of welding speed on the
fatigue of friction stir welds, and comparison with MIG and
TIG” International Journal of Fatigue 25 (2003) 1379–1387

FSW, MIG and TIG: Al–Mg–Si alloy 6082

The fatigue strength: FSW > TIG >MIG

The height of the weld bed on the topside was about 1 mm for
TIG welds as compared to 2–3 mm for MIG.
 CLASSIFICATION OF STAINLESS STEELS

Stainless steels are a class of Fe-base alloys

high corrosion and oxidation resistance
Cr 12 to 27% and
Mn 1 to 2% by weight
addition of Ni in some grades.
A small amount
of carbon is also present,
stainless steels - ferritic, martensitic, and
austenitic