1.3.1 Importance of Welding

Welding is used as a fabrication process in every industry large or small. It is a principal means of fabricating and repairing metal products. The process is efficient, economical and dependable as a means of joining metals. This is the only process which has been tried in the space. The process finds its applications in air, underwater and in space.

1.3.2 Applications of Welding

• Welding finds its applications in automobile industry, and in the construction of build­ings, bridges and ships, submarines, pressure vessels, offshore structures, storage tanks, oil, gas and water pipelines, girders, press frames, and water turbines.

• In making extensions to the hospital buildings, where construction noise is required to be minimum, the value of welding is significant.

• Rapid progress in exploring the space has been made possible by new methods of welding and the knowledge of welding metallurgy. The aircraft industry cannot meet the enormous demands for aeroplanes, fighter and guided planes, space crafts, rockets and missiles without welding.

• The process is used in critical applications like the fabrication of fission chambers of nuclear power plants.

• A large contribution, the welding has made to the society, is the manufacture of household products like refrigerators, kitchen cabinets, dishwashers and other similar items.

It finds applications in the fabrication and repair of farm, mining and oil machinery, machine tools, jigs and fixtures, boilers, furnaces, railway coaches and wagons, anchor chains, earth moving machinery, ships, submarines, underwater construction and repair.