STUDY 2: TO STUDY THE WELDING PROCESSES USED AT

ALSTOM TRANSPORT.
Welding is the process of joining two or more metallic components.

Welding is the process of joining two similar or dissimilar metallic components with the
application of heat, with or without the application of pressure and with or without the use of
filler metal.

Heat may be obtained by any of the following methods:

chemical reaction
electric arc
electrical resistance
frictional heat
Sound and light energy

If no filter metal is used during welding then it is termed as Autogenous Welding Process'.

Usually, welding is classified in two categories:

1. Pressure Welding: In these processes molten metal is retained in confined space

under pressure.
2. Fusion Welding: In these processes molten metal solidifies freely.
The welding types that are used at Alstom Transport, Sricity plant are as follows:

1. Spot Welding
2. Projection Welding
3. Seam Welding
4. Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) Welding
5. Autogenous TIG Welding or TIG Spot Welding
6. Metal Inert Gas (MIG) Welding
7. Metal Active Gas (MAG) welding

1. SPOT WELDING:
Spot Welding is probably the most commonly used sheet metal joining process at ALSTOM.

Spot Welding is a type of Resistance welding in which metal surfaces are joined due to the
heat generated because of resistance to electric current flowing through them.

Work-pieces are held together under pressure exerted by electrodes. Typically the sheets are
in the 0.5 to 3 mm (0.020 to 0.118 in) thickness range. The process uses two copper alloy
electrodes to concentrate welding current into a small "spot" and to simultaneously clamp the
sheets together. Forcing a large current through the spot melts the metal and form the weld.
The attractive feature of spot welding is that a lot of energy can be delivered to the spot in a
very short time (approximately 10100 milliseconds).That permits the welding to occur
without excessive heating of the remainder of the sheet.

The amount of heat generated during spot welding is given by:

H=I2Rt

Where, I is the secondary current passing through the electrodes

R is the net resistance of electrodes and sheet metal between them

t is the time for which current is passed

The amount of energy is chosen to match the sheet's material properties, its thickness, and
type of electrodes.
Applying too little energy will not melt the metal or will make a poor weld.

Applying too much energy will melt too much metal, eject molten material, and make a hole
rather than a weld.
 Pneumatic cylinder for applying
force

Copper
Electrodes

Water
Inlet
Water
Outlet

A Typical Spot Welding gun

The Spot Welding Gun consists of following parts:

Two copper electrodes

HV to LV transformer (440V to 20V)
Cooling Ducts Water inlet(Blue) and Water outlet(Red)
Pneumatic device to apply force.
Program selector Type, magnitude and duration of current, pressure forces etc. are
stored in a program. The program is selected depending on sheet properties and radius
of nugget.

2. PROJECTION WELDING:
Projection welding is a modification of spot welding.

In this process, the weld is localized by means of raised sections, or projections, on one or
both of the work pieces to be joined. Heat is concentrated at the projections, which permits
the welding of heavier sections or the closer spacing of welds. The projections can also serve
as a means of positioning the work pieces.

Projection welding is often used to weld studs, nuts, and other screw machine parts to metal
plate. It is also frequently used to join crossed wires and bars.

3. SEAM WELDING

Seam welding is a type of resistance welding in which two metal surfaces are joined by
continuous spot welds with the help of two roller shaped electrodes moving in opposite
directions. It is mainly used for making liquid or air tight containers because of continuous
overlapping weld.

4. TUNGSTEN INERT GAS (TIG) WELDING:

 Non consumable tungsten electrode

Inert shielding gas- 100% Argon

Consumable filler metal is used in the form of filler rod

Constant current power supply is required

Higher the work piece temperature, greater is the penetration

Weld quality is greater , clean with no spatters as compared to MIG

Slower and higher welding skills are required

Higher cost

Used for thinner sections

TIG Welding

Because TIG Welding is more superior in quality and aesthetics, it is mainly used to weld the
parts which are visible from outside.

Sometimes helium is mixed in argon for shielding gas mixture in order to increase the
penetration and fluidity of the weld pool.

5. AUTOGENEOUS TIG WELDING (TIG SPOT WELDING)

 TIG spot is similar to TIG welding

The work piece is grounded and current is passed through TIG spot welding gun with
non-consumable tungsten electrode tip.

No filler metal is required

It is based on resistance welding

It is used when spot welding cant be used due to inaccessibility of two electrodes on
both sides.

So it is usually used to weld sheet metal to thick work piece.

Comparison of resistance spot and TIG spot weld

6. METAL INERT GAS (MIG) WELDING

 Filler metal wire used as electrode

Inert Shielding gas- (95% Argon and 5% oxygen)

Faster and easier

Cost effective as compared to TIG

Weld quality is inferior to TIG

Metal deposition is proportional to wire temperature.

MIG welding is usually done on parts that are not visible from outside because MIG
weldments are not so clean, plus it is cheaper and fast.

7. METAL ACTIVE GAS (MAG) WELDING

Metal active gas welding is similar to MIG welding except that in MAG welding some
oxidizing or reducing gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide are added in shielding gas in
order to stabilize the arc and increase the fluidity of weld pool and hence improve the quality
of weld.
Composition of shielding gas for MIG/ MAG Welding