Pulse TIG welding: Process, Automation and Control

Pulse TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welding is often considered the most difficult of all the welding processes commonly used in industry. Because the welder must maintain a short arc length, great care and skill are required to prevent contact between the electrode and the workpiece. Pulse TIG welding is most commonly used to weld thin sections of stainless steel, non-ferrous metals such as aluminum, magnesium and copper alloys. It is significantly slower than most other welding techniques and comparatively more complex and difficult to master as it requires greater welder dexterity than MIG or stick welding. The problems associated with manual TIG welding includes undercutting, tungsten inclusions, porosity, Heat affected zone cracks and also the adverse effect on health of welding gun operator due to amount of tungsten fumes produced during the welding process. This brings the necessity of automation. Hence, In this paper an attempt has been made to build a customerized setup of Pulse TIG welding based on through review of Pulse TIG welding parameters. The cost associated for making automated TIG is found to be low as compared to SPM (Special Purpose machines) available in the market. Key words: Pulse TIG welding, Automation, Review, TIG variants