Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding is an arc welding process that uses a continuous solid wire electrode heated and fed into the weld pool from a welding gun. The two base materials are melted together forming a join. The gun feeds a shielding gas alongside the electrode helping protect the weld pool from airborne contaminants.
Process Characteristics
MIG/MAG welding is a versatile technique suitable for both thin sheet and thick section components. An arc is struck between the end of a wire electrode and the workpiece, melting both of them to form a weld pool. The wire serves as both heat source (via the arc at the wire tip) and filler metal for the welding joint. The wire is fed through a copper contact tube (contact tip) which conducts welding current into the wire. The weld pool is protected from the surrounding atmosphere by a shielding gas fed through a nozzle surrounding the wire. Shielding gas selection depends on the material being welded and the application. The wire is fed from a reel by a motor drive, and the welder moves the welding torch along the joint line. Wires may be solid (simple drawn wires), or cored (composites formed from a metal sheath with a powdered flux or metal filling). Consumables are generally competitively priced compared with those for other processes. The process offers high productivity, as the wire is continuously fed. Manual MIG/MAG welding is often referred as a semi-automatic process, as the wire feed rate and arc length are controlled by the power source, but the travel speed and wire position are under manual control. The process can also be mechanised when all the process parameters are not directly controlled by a welder, but might still require manual adjustment during welding. When no manual intervention is needed during welding, the process can be referred to as automatic.
Applications
The process usually operates with the wire positively charged and connected to a power source delivering a constant voltage. Selection of wire diameter (usually between 0.6 and 1.6mm) and wire feed speed determine the welding current, as the burn-off rate of the wire will form an equilibrium with the feed speed.