Someone well-versed in welding will immediately know the difference between TIG and MIG welding. Someone who is not in the industry will probably not understand these terms. It is helpful to know the difference between these two types of welding if you have a job in this industry that needs doing, though.

Welding fabrication is always available if you know where to look, but if you have a job coming up and you’re trying to hire a welder, you should be able to tell them whether it’s TIG or MIG welding you need. We will talk about both types of welding in the following article.

What is TIG Welding?

The acronym TIG means tungsten inert gas. This is a kind of welding that you can use for many projects. For instance, you can use it for the welding of steel. You might use it to weld gold, bronze, brass, copper, magnesium, certain nickel alloys, aluminum, and chromoly.

You will find that TIG is a useful welding process if you need someone to weld fenders, door handles, lawnmowers, bike frames, or wagons. If you speak to a seasoned TIG welder, they will likely be able to tell you about many more uses for this particular style of welding.

What About MIG Welding?

As for MIG welding, that stands for metal inert gas welding. You can use it to join two pieces of metal together. In that sense, it is much like TIG welding. However, when you do TIG welding, you’re using an electric supply on a metal base, fusing it with a consumable electrode filler.

You’re forming an electric arc between the workpiece metal and the consumable MIG wire electrode if you do MIG welding. The way you are heating up the workpiece metal is what causes it to seamlessly fuse with the consumable MIG wire.

This kind of welding is useful for automotive parts, pipelines, steel structures, pressure vessels, and sheet metal. You can also use it on aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron, and steel.

What Are the Key Differences Between Them?

If you’re looking at MIG welding vs. TIG welding, the main difference is that with the MIG method, you have a solid wire that you’re machine-feeding into the weld area. With TIG welding, you’re using a non-consumable electrode along with a hand-held filler rod. That is what is forming the basis of the welding you’re doing.

Each of these processes could be said to have some advantages and disadvantages. They each have some preferred applications as well. The joints that you get from TIG welding are usually stronger. This is because you are getting a narrow, focused arc. You can penetrate the metal better for that reason.

MIG welding could be considered a cleaner process, though. If you’re doing it correctly, there is less splatter. You will see slag-free joins that are smooth and high quality.

With this in mind, you must consider which of these methods will work best if you have a welding project coming up.

Published: 2024-03-28 17:32:21