What is

TIG welding:
clean weld seams, secure bonds

Tungsten Inert Gas welding (or TIG welding for short) is a gas-shielded welding process and is classified as a fusion welding method. Used wherever top quality, spatter-free seams are a must, TIG welding is suitable for materials including stainless steels, aluminum, and nickel alloys, and thin sheets of aluminum and stainless steel.

Versatile process for manual and automated welding

The TIG method can be used for both manual and automated welding, offering unbeatable precision and consistent quality. Typical applications include pipeline and container construction, gantry construction, and the aerospace industry.

The tungsten electrode

The tungsten electrode is fundamental to the TIG welding process. At 3,380 degrees Celsius, tungsten has the highest melting point of any pure metal in the periodic table. Instead of the electrode melting, the material is heated and melted by the electric arc generated. Tungsten electrodes are manufactured using a sintering process and can be alloyed with oxide additives to improve their properties. Depending on the alloy, these electrodes are color-coded as follows:

What materials are suitable for TIG welding?

The materials most commonly welded with the TIG method include stainless steels, aluminum, and nickel alloys, as well as thin sheets of aluminum and stainless steel. When working with sheets less than four millimeters thick, a mechanized wire feeding system can be used to achieve efficient welding speeds.  

As the material thickness increases, the TIG process becomes less cost-effective and is therefore generally recommended only for welding the root pass. More powerful processes, such as MIG/MAG or submerged-arc welding, are then suitable for the filling runs.