WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MIG AND TIG WELDING?

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MIG AND TIG WELDING

The MIG and TIG welding process are very different from each other. Let's analyze each of these processes individually and finally compare and emphasize the difference between TIG and MIG welding.

- MIG/MAG WELDING (Metal Inert/Active Gas): this particular welding process is undoubtedly the most widely used welding technique in industry, since it guarantees the highest yield in terms of metal content and allows prolonged welding operations without the need to interrupt the process to reequip the welding generator, unlike the MMA process.

With MIG/MAG welding, the welding arc and the weld pool are generated by a series of short circuits when the wire delivered by the torch touches the base material.

In a dedicated space called the coil holder compartment, there is a support (winder) that can hold a wire coil. The wire roller unit, responsible for dispensing the wire in a controlled and regular way, takes the wire from the coil and pushes it through the torch wire roller until it comes out of the contact tip at the end of the MIG torch, creating the welding pool.

The MIG/MAG welding process is also called continuous wire welding. It is a semi-automatic welding process because, besides the operator's manual skill in handling and moving the welding arc, the welder's experience in setting the correct voltage and the meters/minute of wire is fundamental.

Before analyzing the differences between TIG and MIG welding, it is important to understand the difference between MIG and MAG welding. Basically, MIG and MAG are very similar welding processes, both are carried out with a continuous wire welding generator, but the element that changes is the shielding gas.

MIG (metal inert gas) is a process that uses an inert gas protection, the most common gas used is ARGON.

MAG (metal active gas), unlike MIG, uses a gas mixture composed of argon and a variable percentage of CO2. ARGON gas is still inert, and it protects the weld pool, but CO2 takes part in the process, interacting actively and ensuring good penetration.

Now we'll examine the TIG welding process, which will allow us to understand more clearly the differences between MIG and TIG welding.

TIG (tungsten inert gas) welding is a process that uses an electrode in infusible tungsten and the protection of inert argon gas.

The infusible tungsten electrode is responsible for igniting and controlling the welding arc between itself and the base material connected to the ground. The electric arc is responsible for creating the weld pool, and with the TIG process you can create a weld bead even without the need for filler material. The welding arc generated by TIG welding is very stable and allows the operator to manually add filler material by introducing it with a special rod directly into the weld pool to give structure and strength to the bead.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MIG AND TIG WELDING