Butt welding
Butt welding is when two pieces of metal are placed end-to-end without overlap and then welded along the joint. Importantly, in a butt joint, the surfaces of the workpieces being joined are on the same plane and the weld metal remains within the planes of the surfaces.
Common uses
Butt welding is a commonly used technique in welding that can either be automated or done by hand on steel pieces. Butt welding can also be done with brazing for copper pieces. It is used to attach two pieces of metal together such as pipe, framework in factories, and also flanges. A flange is something that either is internal or external that provided to strengthen a piece of material. Factory fabrication demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of butt welding versus the more expensive overall processes of bending stock, reinforcing joints, and using fasteners where required.Butt welding is accomplished by heating up two pieces of metal, of those. Penetration while welding the metal is important to maintain and with thin pieces of metal this is possible however, with thick pieces edge preparation may have to be done to prepare the metal. Full penetration butt welds are made when they are in the within the parent metal. In butt welding the strongest welds will have the fewest imperfections. To achieve this the heat input is controlled, which decreases the size of the weld. In commercial welding when this is done it also reduces cost but in order to maintain the strength of the weld double butt welds will be used. In butt welding there are two types used to achieve the specific welds and then there are also a variety of joints considered to be butt joints.
Butt welding is best performed with MIG or TIG welding applications due to their natural ability to connect two pieces of metal together. Using different types of welding electrodes for the welder will determine the properties of the weld such as its resistance against corrosion and strength. Electrodes conduct current through the metal being welded in order join the two pieces. The metal determines the type of welding that is required. The electrodes are either heavily or lightly coated. For the heavily coated electrodes are commonly used in structural welding because they are much stronger and corrosion resistant. The lightly coated electrodes are not as structurally sound. Butt welding is performed with the Arc, TIG, or MIG welder held at a slight angle the weld if the weld is laying flat in order to achieve the least amount of porosity in the weld and also to increase the weld's strength. Fillet welding make up about 80 percent of the connection despite being weaker than butt welds. The reason it is used more often is because fillet welds offer more room for error with much larger tolerances. Fillet welding is not a type of butt weld despite its similarities.