What is the Strongest Type of Welding?

Choosing the strongest type of welding for your project can give your job greater stability and produce a higher quality finished piece. To determine what the strongest type of welding to use is, it is important to take a look at the four primary types of welding.

MIG

Mig welding is performed using a small wire. This wire is then placed in the welding gun, where it adheres through the welding process as the wire feeds through the tube. This process is considered to be the fastest, easiest, and cheapest form of welding. You will often find those processes used for home projects and automotive welding.

Man welding in warehouse

Arc

Arc or flux-cored welding is similar to MIG as they both use a wire-fed process. They differ in the fact that arc welding uses a flux core, which will help to create a shield of gas around the weld automatically. Arc welding is used for heavier welding projects as it generates more heat and can only be used on thicker material. It is often used to weld heavy machinery or for steel construction.

TIG

Tig welding is most often used for welding processes in the aerospace industry. Using this process, the welder is required to use one foot to operate the foot pedal and two hands to operate the welding machine. The process is considered to be significantly more time-consuming and requires a higher level of experience. Though, in the end, it can be the strongest type of welding and will produce a high-quality weld.

Stick

Also known as Shielded Metal Arc Welding, Stick welding is one of the oldest forms of welding. It is often used to weld thicker materials and uses a heated electrode that heats and then melts to hold the two pieces together. Once done, a shield will be created around the weld to protect it from outside contamination. This weld is considered one of the strongest when you are welding together two thicker pieces of metal, which may not be able to welded with other processes.

Choosing the strongest type of welding for your project will largely depend on the thickness of the material being welded. With MIG and Arc welding being ideal for thinner metals and the Tig and Stick process performing better for thicker materials.