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The World of Joining
| Article
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17913 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1990 |
2,551 Words |
| Author
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Karl F. Graff and Robert M. Rivett
Karl F. Graff is executive director of Edison Welding
Institute (EWI) in Columbus, Ohio. Robert M. Rivett currently
manages the Bonding and Forge Welding Department of EWI and
oversees research projects in many forms of welding. |
As you shield your eyes from the intense brilliance of a robot arc welder, or try to close your ears to the scream of a heavy-duty friction welder, you may not think much about the broad applications of modern welding processes. While many of its uses, such as constructing automobiles, bridges, buildings, ships, and pipelines, are doubtless familiar, its role as a means of soldering components and microjoining threadlike conductors between circuit chips and its expanded use in plastics, composites, and ceramics may come as surprise.
Welding's Many Applications and Varieties
Welding is a common operation on the assembly line and factory floor. It is often performed under quite perilous conditions: atop modern skyscrapers, on undersea oil platforms, and even in outer space.
Its applications extend to an enormous range of material; aluminum, copper, nickel, and magnesium, together with their many alloys, not mention all grades of common and stainless steel. More recently, it has become possible to join a broader range of nonmetallics: plastics, composites of all types, ceramics, glass, and electronic materials.
The great range of welded products and materials is paralleled by an equally broad array of welding processes. Manual arc welding, personified by the familiar helmeted, heavily clothed welder, represents the stereotypical image of this technology, but it is only one of half a dozen forms of arc welding. Likewise, the familiar technique of gas welding has several related variations. Spot welding, widely used in automobile assembly, is one of several types of resistance welding. Other traditional welding techniques are brazing, soldering, and adhesive joining.
In many modern production facilities, the intense light characteristic of welding may now emanate from high-power lasers and electron beams capable of achieving intense energy densities and high temperatures in the weld zone. Friction welding and explosive and diffusion bonding are other, newer variants. As welding encompasses so many processes, materials, and technologies, from low- to very high-technology, the name materials joining technology has come into use as a more accurate overall descriptor.
Historical Highlights
Welding dates back to ancient times, when humans laboriously hammered "blooms"
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