Difference between Laser and Tig Welding

What is Laser Welding?

Laser welding is the process of melting material on the surface of a workpiece using a laser and connecting it to another workpiece made of the same material. Laser welding is commonly used for metals or thermoplastics. High power density lasers melt the workpiece material in a controlled manner.

Laser welding it is suitable for welding 0.12 - 12mm thick low alloy steel, stainless steel, nickel, titanium, aluminum and other metals and their alloys. When using Solid State Laser Welding, due to the small output energy (1 ~ 50J) and short laser pulse duration (<10ms), the weld can be as small as tens of microns.

Therefore, this method can be used for spot welding and continuous spot welding of metal foil with a thickness of less than 0.5mm and butt welding of metal wire with a diameter of less than 0.6mm. In addition, Laser Welding is also applied to weld equipment parts that are miniaturized, precise, densely arranged, and sensitive to heat.

What is TIG welding?

The welding method shielded with tungsten inert gas is called TIG welding. This is a welding method that uses an arc created between a tungsten electrode and the workpiece to melt the base metal and welding rod under the protection of an inert gas. During the welding process, protective gas is continuously sprayed from the nozzle of the welding gun to form a layer of protective gas around the arc to isolate the air, in order to prevent its harmful effects on the tungsten electrode, the puddle. melt and the adjacent heat-affected zone, to obtain high quality welds. The shielding gas can be a mixture of argon, helium or argon helium.

Tungsten inert gas arc welding is an arc welding method that uses external gas as a protective medium. Its advantages are good visibility of the arc and molten pool and convenient operation. There is no slag or little slag and there is no need to remove slag after welding. Depending on whether the electrode is melted during welding, gas shielded welding can be divided into non-melting electrode (tungsten electrode) gas shielded welding and shielded welding. with molten electrode gas.

How are Laser welding and TIG welding different?

Devouring speed

The welding operation of the Laser Welding machine is very simple and fast. As for TIG welding without molten electrodes, it is relatively difficult and with consumables, the welding speed is relatively slow. In addition, the welding speed of Laser Welding machine and MIG welding machine is not much different. Because MIG welding still requires molten wire, the welding speed will be a bit slower than Laser Welding machine.

Price

Laser Welding Machine melts the welding material using a laser beam, so the cost is too high. For example, if you need to weld a 2mm stainless steel plate, if you use a Laser Welding machine, you must at least use a 500W Optical Transmission Laser Welding machine, which is quite expensive. While TIG welding machines can generally weld such thick stainless steel plates, the price is much cheaper. Therefore, it is not cost effective to use a Laser Welding machine if the penetration required to weld thick materials is very deep.

Welding effect

The welding appearance of a Laser welding machine is more beautiful than TIG welding with a non-melting electrode. The welding form of Laser Welding machine is similar to TIG welding machine and Laser Welding of thin materials is better. Regarding the hardness of the weld, as long as the power of the Laser Welding machine is large enough, it can be welded firmly, comparable to argon arc welding. However, the heat of the Laser Welding machine is more concentrated and the thermal deformation of the material is small, so the Laser Welding machine has an advantage in welding thin-walled materials. In terms of accuracy, the precision of the Laser Welding machine is higher, and the subsequent welding of the Laser Welding machine basically does not require processing, which saves time.

Difficulty in functioning

The operation of a Laser Welding machine is much less difficult than that of TIG welding without a molten electrode. In fact, TIG welding requires technique and is prone to errors. But Laser Welding is much better and the operation is simple. Even if there are errors, the problem is not that big. Laser welding and TIG welding operations are not difficult to control on electronic machines.

In short, to weld thin-walled materials, it is best to use a Laser Welding machine for welding. If there are no high requirements for welding speed and welding accuracy, using a TIG welding machine will be more cost-effective. However, please rely on the actual situation and choose the appropriate machine to use!

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