What are MIG & TIG Welding?

What Is MIG & TIG Welding?

The difference between MIG & TIG welding is that MIG uses continuous feeding wire and TIG uses welding rods that are slowly fed into the welding place.

Metal Inert Gas (MIG)

MIG welding is an arc welding process. MIG Stands for metal inert gas welding. This welding process is also known as gas metal arc welding (GMAW) you might also call wire welding.

In this style of welding, a thin wire acts as the electrode fed from a spool that is mounted on a gun or within the machine, through a flexible tube and comes out of the nozzle of the welding torch. The wire is fed continuously when the trigger on the torch is pressed.

An electric arc forms between this wire electrode and the workpiece and heats both metals above their melting point, these metals mix and solidify to join workpieces into a single piece.

MIG welding uses filler for the joint, because the wire electrode melts as its being used. These types of electrodes are called consumable electrodes.

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• It is the arc welding process in which the weld is shielded by an external gas such as argon and argon + oxygen.
• It has consumable electrode wire with a chemical composition similar to the parent material, continuously fed from a spool to the arc zone.
• The arc heats and metals both the workpieces edges and the electrode wire.
• The fused electrode material is supplied to the surfaces of the workpieces, fills the weld pool and forms a joint.
• Due to the automatic feeding of the filling wire, the process is considered semi automatic.
• The operator can control only the torch positioning and speed.

Advantages of MIG welding

• The continuous weld may be produced (no interruptions)
• A high level of operator skill is not required.
• Slag removal is not required (on the slag)

Disadvantages if MIG welding

• Expensive and non-portable equipment is required
• The outdoor application is limited because of the effect of wind, dispersing the shielding gas.

Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG)

TIG stands for Tungsten inert gas arc welding. In the American welding society it is also known as (GTAW). This welding process is also called gas welding.

It is a welding process in which heat is produced by an electric arc ignited between a base metal (workpiece) and the non-consumable tungsten electrode.

TIG welding uses a tungsten electrode because tungsten has a high melting point. When the TIG weld electrode gets hot but does not melt, it is a non-consumable electrode. The non-consumable electrode does not mean that it will last forever, it just means that it doesn't melt and become part of the weld.

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• The weld pool is shielded by an inert gas (Argon), protecting the molten metal from atmospheric contamination.
• For most metals, the current is direct current or DC.
• The heat generated by the arc melts the workpieces edges and joins them.
• In TIG welding, you can control the amount of heat by pressing a foot pedal or thumbwheel on the torch.
• It produces a high quality weld of most metals.
• Flux is not used in this process.

Advantages of TIG Welding

• In TIG welding, the weld composition is close to that of the parent metal.
• The weld structure is of high quality.
• Slag removal is not required (on slag)
• Thermal distortions of workpieces are minimal due to the concentration of heat in the small zone.

Disadvantages of TIG Welding

• Low welding rate
• TIG welding is comparatively expensive.
• To TIG weld, a highly skilled operator is required.