3 Different Environments Where You Can Perform Welding

Our lives would be very different without welding. From manufacturing to construction to wholesale trading, welding is a part of life. But you don't have to be in a special welding facility to weld two pieces of metal together. In fact, a professional can weld something almost anywhere if they have the right equipment.

If you're interested in welding and how it works, keep reading to learn more about how professionals can use it in different environments.

1. Open Air

When you picture someone welding metals, you likely picture them in an open-air environment. This makes sense because this is where welding is generally used. From factories to laboratories and small welding businesses, most welders probably work in an open-air environment.

Additionally, open-air welding doesn't face the same complications and limitations of other welding environments, so a lot of welding techniques are possible. This versatility gives welders more options to select between so they can pick what method best fits their situation without worrying about other factors.

For example, gas metal arc welding, which is also known as MIG welding, is very effective for automotive welding. In contrast, tungsten inert gas welding, or GTAW, is a great method for high-precision welding projects.

With so many choices, welders can use the method that works most favorably with their materials, equipment, and budget.

2. Underwater

Certain situations will require underwater welding. For example, dams, bridges, ships, and underwater habitats usually can't be repaired in a land-based facility. And as you can imagine, this welding method is a very complicated and risky option when you don't have the right equipment and training.

Underwater welding breaks down into two different types: dry and wet. Dry welding is when you build a hyperbaric chamber around the welding project. This chamber creates a temporary, dry area where a professional welder can perform welding without the additional risks and complications.

Wet welding is performed underwater, and this option is generally used only when other options aren't possible. One technique of wet welding uses a layer of gaseous bubbles to create a barrier between the welder and the electricity they use to weld the metal. However, this layer of bubbles also affects the welder's visibility, so quality issues are hard to avoid.

3. Outer Space

As you'd expect, the conditions in outer space won't support common welding methods. Two of the most used welding techniques, in general, include arc welding and torch welding. With both of these methods, a source of heat melts the metal; arc welding uses electricity and torch welding uses a torch. Although heat exists in space, it doesn't travel the same way it does on Earth, so these welding methods aren't really an option.

Luckily, welding is possible in space through cold welding. As the name implies, this form of welding doesn't use heat, and it provides a welding method in vacuum, which is an environment that has nothing in it, including air.

In more traditional welding methods, some sort of matter, like air or water, separates the two pieces of metal; you need to melt the metal pieces to remove that separation. But since this matter separation doesn't happen in space, you can combine two pieces of metal without having to remove the separation.

Cold welding also only works between two metals of a similar makeup because the atoms within the metal recognize like-atoms in the other piece of metal. And without that bit of separation that normally exists in an environment on Earth, the two pieces will stay together.

Cold welding isn't without its problems, but it offers a usable solution for those in space who need to weld two things together.

If you'd like to learn more about welding, or if you have a welding project you need a professional's help with, contact Sam's Welding, Inc .