Trends in joining technology

Joining technology, such as arc welding, laser and electron beam welding, and hybrid welding processes, plays a vital role in welded components and occupies a niche in energy and processing industry. Gas-shielded metal-arc welding is used as a semi-mechanized, fully-mechanized, or automatic process, while laser beam welding is utilized in the processing of plastics. The combination of metal-arc welding with laser beam welding has resulted in several advantages, including the high energy density, the deep penetration, the high welding speed due to the laser, the good gap-bridging capacity, and the low lack of fusion due to the arc. Adhesive bonding also has major advantages particularly for joining heat-sensitive materials and has allowed the manufacture of joints between very different materials, which even withstand stresses over a long time and across relatively wide temperature ranges.