Is TIG welding the best welding process for the job at hand?
Here is an example of a possible welding job: A small assembly within a car engine is made of 1/8″ aluminum. You would not choose Stick because it is rarely used due to the fumes and poor weld results on aluminum. While MIG could complete the job faster, the welding engineers decided in this case that the precision of the TIG welding process is needed. Are all welding jobs this easy to decide upon? There are many tradeoffs, which leads us directly to consideration number two. 2. What level of quality is needed for the job at hand? Another factor to consider is weld bead appearance. When manufacturing highly visible consumer products, the choice would be TIG, for its better appearance. Such jobs as nuclear work, piping, and high profile consumer goods often require at least the root pass (the first weld in the pipe joint) to be TIG welded for a good bond. In some cases all the passes on a multi-pass pipe weld may have to be done with TIG, depending upon quality and code requirements. Wh
