Overview of Metal Inert Gas (MIG) Welding

There are many types of welding that are available to learn today and MIG is one of those types. This type of welding dates back to 1940s when it was discovered to weld aluminum and other types of non-ferrous metals.

Many people refer to MIG welding as GMAW or gas metal arc welding. Often these two terms are used interchangeably. This type of welding is considered to be automatic or semi-automatic because it happens quickly. The process works to join two pieces of metal by continuously passing a wire through a welding gun. The wire is connected to a direct current and then passed through the gun with an inert gas like Argon.

The wire acts as an electrode and the inert gas acts as a shield as the welding is performed. This means that contaminates are air borne instead of being put into the weld zone.

An MIG welder will use this method to meld metal quicker than regular stick welding especially when they want to weld soft metals like aluminum. When this method was first started the inert gas was too expensive to do the process all the time. Today, carbon dioxide can be used instead of the more expensive gases and makes this method more cost effective.

Advantages of MIG Welding

There are several advantages of MIG welders:

* It is faster than traditional methods of welding and it produces longer, continuous welds.
* It produces a cleaner weld with less splatter.
* It can be used with a wide variety of alloys and metals which makes it a versatile elder process.

Disadvantages of MIG Welding:

Although this is a very specialized process that works efficiently for many projects there are a few disadvantages that include:

* The welding equipment is complex and bulky to use.
* The equipment needs a source of continuous current and a constant feeding of the wire through the gun.
* It is a very different process than traditional welding so there is a learning curve for all welders who use this technique.
* Because of the inert gas, MIG welding cannot be used an open area because the wind would cause the gas to cause more problems for the MIG welder.

MIG welding has become very important in many industries because of its ability to weld metals quickly. You will see this type of welding done in many industries that include automobile industry and nuclear industries.