PART THREE Basics of TIG welding

Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) — also commonly known as Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding — is a welding process that produces an electric arc between a non-consumable tungsten electrode and the parent metal that is being welded.

TIG can be used to weld mild steel, high-tensile steels, stainless steels of all grades, nickel chrome alloys, Monel nickel copper alloys, Inconel, titanium, aluminium, magnesium, brass, bronze, copper, and many space-age metals. Even gold can be TIG welded. You can even weld dissimilar metals: copper to brass, stainless steel to mild steel, stainless steel to copper (great for still making). I enjoy TIG welding. TIG welding produces clean, precise welds on almost any metal and the weld pool can be easily manipulated.

Tungsten

Tungsten is used for the electrode as it has the highest melting temperature of all metals.

The molten weld pool and the area around this tungsten electrode are all shielded from the surrounding atmosphere by an inert gas flowing through the TIG torch. This inert gas is commonly