A MIG welder and a TIG welder can be used
during welding, which is the process involving the fusing together of
metals by melting the metal where they meet and will be joined. In many
cases, pressure and / or filler material is used to aid in the fusion
process.
Both MIG and TIG welds are types of arc welding, which utilizes the
concentrated heat of an electric arc to join together metals by fusion
of the parent metal by a consumable electrode. Depending on the
material to be welded and the electrode used, the process utilizes
either direct or alternating current for the welding arc.
The MIG weld process, or Metal Inert Gas weld, fuses the metal by
heating with an arc. With this type of weld, the arc is placed between
the filler metal electrode and the work piece. Shielding is provided by
outwardly supplied gas or gas mixtures. A TIG weld or Tungsten Inert
Gas, on the other hand, functions by joining metals through the process
of heating with tungsten electrodes that do not become part of the
completed weld. The process utilizes argon or other inert gas mixtures
as shielding and filler metals are rarely used.
Some of the basic differences between the two types of welds are that
MIG welding is faster than using TIG welding, as utilizing TIG welding
requires more skill that MIG welding. A solid wire is used in the MIG
Flux Cored Arc Welding-Gas Shield (FCAW-G) while TIG uses a flux cored
electrode.
Another obvious difference is that TIG uses Tungsten to carry the arc,
and a user of a TIG welder needs to have sufficient experience in the
craft of welding. A MIG weld user, meanwhile, can carry on working
despite being a novice welder.
Overall, while both MIG and TIG are gas shielded arc welding processes,
the primary difference lies in the way the filler metal is added to
produce the weld. With the TIG process, the arc is created between a
tungsten electrode mounted in a hand-held torch and the work piece to
be welded. The welder initiates the arc by means of a switch. The
filler metal, in the form of a hand held rod, is then added to the weld
puddle by the welder as the torch is manipulated along the joint which
is to be welded. The MIG process uses a filler metal which is the
electrode and the arc is created when the filler metal comes into
contact with the work surface.