Welding is a manufacturing process where the union is made of two materials (usually metals or thermoplastics), usually achieved through the coalescence (fusion), in which the parts are welded by fusing the two and adding a filler material cast (metal or plastic), which has a melting point lower than that of the workpiece to achieve a bath of molten material (the weld) which, when cooled, becomes a fixed connection. In a welding machine, you sometimes the pressure is used in conjunction with heat, or by itself, to produce the weld. This is in contrast with soldering (soldering English) and brazing (brazing English), which involve melting a material of low melting point between workpieces to form a bond between them, without melting the pieces work.
Many different energy sources can be used for welding, including a gas flame, an electric arc, laser, electron beam, and friction or ultrasound. The energy required to form the junction between two pieces of metal usually comes from an electric arc. The energy for melting solder or thermoplastics usually comes from direct contact with a tool or a hot gas.
While often an industrial process, welding can be done in many different environments, including outdoors, underwater and in space. Regardless of location, however, welding remains dangerous, and should take precautions to avoid burns, electric shock, poisonous fumes, and overexposure to ultraviolet light.
Until the end of the nineteenth century, the only welding process was forge welding, which blacksmiths had used for centuries to join metals by heating and beating. Arc welding projects and oxyfuel welding were among the first processes to develop late in the century, following shortly after resistance welding. Welding technology advanced quickly during the early twentieth century while the World War I and World War II drove the demand for reliable methods of meeting and cheap. After the war, were developed several modern welding techniques, including manual methods such as manual metal welding arc, now one of the most popular welding methods, as well as semiautomatic and automatic processes such as GMAW welding, submerged arc welding, soldering flux cored arc welding and electroslag with a portable welder. Progress continued with the invention of laser welding and electron beam welding in the mid-twentieth century. Today, science continues to advance. The robotic welding is becoming more common in industrial facilities, and researchers continue to develop new welding methods and gain greater understanding of the quality and properties of the weld.
Said to be a system because the elements involved in this, ie, the 5 M: labor, materials, machinery, environment and print media (procedures). The successful union means that you must pass mechanical tests (tension and bending). The techniques are different processes (SMAW, SAW, GTAW, etc.) Used for the most convenient and favorable location, which makes it the cheapest, without neglecting security.