What Is MIG Welding? A comprehensive guide
MIG Welding is one of the simplest and easiest types of welding to learn especially for beginners. As you know, Welding is the technical process of joining two or more metals together by heating the metals to their melting points. There are different types of Welding but the most common type of arc Welding is MIG Welding. If you are a beginner and excited to learn about Welding, this blog is the gateway to all the technical information.
MIG Welding
It is the cost-effective and common type of arc Welding that melts and joins the pieces of metal together by using electricity. This form of Welding is also referred Hot Glue Gun, Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW), or wire welding. The wire welding requires a Direct current positive electrode (DECP). The heating of metal is done by an arc. The arc is formed between the welled surface and the continuously fed filler electrode by wire.
Features Of MIG Welding
There are the following features,
- It is the simplest and easiest type of welding to learn.
- It is cost-effective welding.
- It applies to almost all types of metals and alloys.
- It is more cleaned-type welding.
- It has a long-lasting capability.
- It has the best weld bead.
Metals which are MIG Welded
The reason for the popularity of gas metal arc welding is, that most welders used it to weld almost any sort of metal either for low-volume tasks or for large-scale business. This form of arc welding is renowned for its applicability to all sorts of alloys and metals. The wire welded metals are aluminum, carbon steel, stainless steel, copper, magnesium, bronze nickel, silicon, and other alloys.
How Does MIG Welding Work
This arc welding requires a constant voltage power source that creates an electric arc. The electric arc fuse the base material with the wire which is constantly fed through the welding gun. The shielding gas from the supply tank prevents the weld from being contaminated. If you want to learn more about Metal inert gas, Learn more
Application Of MIG Welding
Due to its cost-effectiveness, cleanliness, and long-lasting capability, it is widely used in the welding industry. This type of welding is most common in the automotive industry irrespective of the size of the vehicle, sheet metal welding, ship construction, small industries, pressurized vessel, and pipeline industry. Most welders used MIG welding for their welding work. It is a flexible solution for repairing and maintenance types of welding work.
Metal Transfer Mode
There are four modes,
Short-circuiting mode
It is also called Dip mode and requires low heat input for transferring metal. This transfer of metal requires physical contact with the base material. This mode is suitable for transferring metals in all positions and perfect for pipeline applications.
Globular Mode
In this mode, the transfer of metal is done by solid wire electrode or metal cored which is deposited in the combination of short circuits and large gravity-assisted drops than the short circuits only. It is cost-effective due to the use of carbon dioxide as a shielding gas and an inexpensive solid electrode.
Spray Mode
In this mode of metal transfer, a stream of small droplets of molten metal is produced when a solid wire electrode is fed at high energy value than in the globular mode. It results in a handsome deposition rate, good electrode efficiency, excellent weld bead, and great adaptability for automatic applications.
Pulsed Mode
In this mode of metal transfer, the current varies between high and low levels. The high current results in the formation of one molten droplet unlike the stream in the case of spray mode. This mode is a highly controlled form of spray mode.
Types of equipment Used In MIG Welding
There are the following types of equipment used in this type of arc welding,
1. Welding Torch or Gun
You can use the welding gun or torch for melting and fusing metals of varying thicknesses. Liners in the welding torches ensure a smooth wire feeding rate while welding. These liners are installed correctly for efficient work. These are two types,
1. Gas-cooled welding torches
You can used this Gun for minor welding projects.
2. Water-cooled welding torches
These guns provide more power and cost more about 203-30% than gas-cooled welding guns. These torches provide smooth control over the contact tip of the nozzle.
2. Shielding Gas Tank
This gas prevents the contamination of the weld pool and is supplied through welding guns. There are different gases used as shielding gas but carbon dioxide is quite expensive. The most commonly used inert are helium and argon. As these gases are quite expensive, so you can mix them with other gases. Semi-inert gases such as carbon dioxide and non-inert gases such as oxygen are used in small quantity for better penetration. But oxygen rusts the metal and affects the quality of the welding material.
3. Wire Electrode
Different types of wire electrodes vary according to the type of welding project and have distinguishable results.
These electrodes are,
- Hard Wire: It is cost-effective and easy to control. Most of the Welders used it at different angles due to large reels of wire.
- Flux-cored wire: If you use this electrode, you do not need shielding gas as flux is automatically created into the wire. Frankly speaking, it is another type of arc welding named as Flux cored arc welding. You can perform welding products everywhere as there is no need to carry a gas tank with you.
4. Power source
The power source provides an electric current that strikes an arc. The electric current produces heat in the arc that melts the filler material. In this way, welders deposit welded molten metals. There are two types of power sources,
1. Constant voltage power source
In this power source, you have to set the required voltage in the machine which supplies the desired current. The current strike an arc and melt the filler material. Most of the Welders preferred this power source over other power sources. In a wire-fed system, it feeds the wire at a constant speed.
2. Constant Current Power Source
This power source supplies a constant current while welding. But you have to set the value of the current manually according to the required value on the Welding control panel. Most of the Welders used this power source when a slow wire feed rate is required. For this purpose, they use a wire of high diameter.
Advantages of MIG weld
There are the following advantages,
- It is easy to learn and perfect for beginners
- It is cost-effective and more cleaned welding than others.
- Most of the welders used it on a wide range of metals and alloys of varying thicknesses.
- It has welding capability in all positions.
- It has a high safety margin for welders due to the low production of fumes.
- The less skilled person can do this type of welding.
- The heat input for this type of welding is lower than other types of welding.
Disadvantages of MIG welding
- This type of welding is less portable due to the use of inert gas.
- This type of welding applies to only small and medium-sized thick surfaces only.
- The welder should have to stay close to the MIG machine.
- Most of the welders preferred it for indoor welding work.
- This type of welding requires a bottle of gas.
