Processes

	Arc Welding		Fuel Gas Processes		Laser
	Thermal & Plasma Spraying		Other

There are numerous different processes used in fabrication today, many of them of great importance to industrialised and manufacturing countries.

The main fabrication processes are listed above.

The main arc welding and cutting processes including MIG, MMA, TIG, plasma welding and cutting. These processes are used for a wide range of application from shipbuilding, power generation equipment, automotive components, to furniture. The choice of the best process is dependent on a number of factors including cost of equipment, skill of the welder, where the process is being carried out and the quality of job required.

Fuel gas process are a wide and diverse group of processes from carbon coating, to oxygen cutting, to flame heating and flame cleaning. Each process normally has a very precise application area and while much of the equipment is common, the torch and nozzles are often specific to the application.

With laser processes light is used to cut, weld and drill to produce finished parts of high dimensional accuracy and low levels of distortion. There are a range of different lasers, which produce light at different wavelengths and intensities. The choice of application can determine which type of laser is used. While lasers can cater for a reasonable range of materials they are, at present, limited to what thickness they can cut.

There are a wide range of thermal and plasma processes which are all basically used to deposit a coating of one material onto the surface of another. Most of the processes use a fuel gas either burning at a relatively low velocity, or a very high velocity, or igniting explosively to propel a molten powder or rod onto the component to be coated. Two processes, however, use an electric current to perform basically the same process.

Processes such electro-gas and electro-slag welding may be nearing the end of their life cycle and are being replaced by more modern arc welding processes, but others such as friction stir welding are only just beginning to find niche application for themselves.