History of Welding

Welding is one of the crucial steps in building our lives easier, several modern welding techniques are available these days which are reliable and trust worthy. Back in the ancient times when the early human civilization used to practice welding just by fusing metals with small boxes of gold and was helpful to join metals with pressure. It is not just centuries old, it even dates back to the Bronze and Iron ages. The ancient Egyptians welded together small gold boxes with joints, and this was considered welding. Welding is the process of joining metal parts together to create an object. 

The researchers further developed new welding methods and gained a better understanding of welding quality and welding properties. Robot welding became more common in industrial environments, and development continued with the introduction of electron beam welding in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Although these early forms of welding were certainly not operated with the equipment used today, it is likely that the original welders had to work at extremely high temperatures to join metals, which may have led to some of the earliest examples of metal fusion in the Bronze and Iron Ages. The technology developed further when shielding gases were introduced into the industry to prevent oxygen-related damage. 

In the 1930s, further modernisation enabled the welding of metals such as magnesium and aluminium. Arc welding and automatic welding became known in the late 20th and early 21st centuries with the invention of the first electric welding machines. The metal melted at the electrode carries an additive metal that deposits the fillers in the joint to produce the weld.

By the end of the 19th century, the only welding method was forging, which used for centuries to combine metals by heating & pounding, but there were rudimentary forms of welding. Soon resistance welding followed, arc welding and oxyfuel welding were the first processes to develop at the end of the century. 

According to the National Institute for Standards and Technology welding technology developed rapidly in the 20th century, driven by the demand for reliable and cost-effective joining methods.

However, tungsten arcwelding required an expensive shielding gas, which was only perfected in the late 1950s and enabled the use of high-pressure, low-temperature, gas and metal welding. Until 1957, there were three different types of flux arc welding, but the most popular was established as a self-shielding wire electrode that could be used at high temperatures, leading to greatly increased welding speeds. Shielded metal arc welding was developed in the early 1960s using flux-coated consumables. It quickly developed into one of the fastest and most cost-effective welding method tries such as the automotive, aerospace and aviation industries. 

In the year 1890, underwater welding was invented, which is still popular today, as well as the use of electrode in many other applications. 

After decades of development, gas tungsten arc welding was finally perfected in 1941, and gas metal arc welders followed suit, enabling the use of metal arcs for welding without a welding rod, but requiring an expensive shielding gas.

After a decade of research and development in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the gas-to-metal arc welding system (also known as shielded metal welding or SMAW) was developed, using consumer electrodes and atmospheric carbon dioxide as shielding gases. It quickly developed into one of the most popular welding methods in manual welding and formed the basis for many of today's high-tech welding techniques. 

Electrical current is used to hit the base material of the consumable electrode rod, which is made of steel and coated with a protective layer to protect the welding area from oxidation and contamination by the CO 2 gas produced during the welding process. However, welding times are quite slow, as consumables and electrodes often have to be replaced and slag residues and flux have to chip off during welding. 

Thermite welding was invented in 1893, and by that time the process of oxyfuel welding had become established. Until the production of special electrodes, this process was limited to welding iron materials.

Welding process came across a long way and still a long way to go we have energy requirements for welding which will reduce significantly with the development of smart material and will help to lower the cost of welding.