The aerospace manufacturing industry is a high-tech sector that produces a wide range of products, such as aircraft, guided missiles, space vehicles, aircraft engines, propulsion units, and other related parts, including work-holding fixtures and structural supports. Invar 36 (Ni) is a common material used for structural supports in mold-making for aircraft components throughout the aerospace industry.
The aerospace industry has widely adopted the TIP TIG process due to its numerous benefits.
Distortion control is a critical aspect of the aerospace industry. Our hot wire TIG process offers a low heat input that reduces distortion to highly critical tolerances on structural components and molds. This reduction in distortion has resulted in the reduction of man-hours for rework throughout the industry.
The high nickel content on Invar material has been a problem in the interpass cleaning required from using other processes such as GMAW. The highly oxidizing nature of the welding processes previously used has historically required extensive interpass grinding. The TIP TIG process utilizes 100% Argon and produces weldments requiring no more cleaning than that of a wire hand brush to produce 100% X-ray quality welds.
Porosity and side wall fusion are important aspects of welding on sluggish alloys like Invar 36 (Ni). The importance of our TIP TIG patented weld dynamic cannot be overstated in these applications. The cleanliness of our process is realized throughout the weldment, and as a result of our unique agitation to the weld puddle, we experience X-ray quality porosity-free welds consistently on all material thicknesses. The surface tension disturbance we create helps eliminate the inherent side wall-wetting issues associated with welding on this sluggish alloy resulting in the best possible results.
It’s interesting to note that some main parts of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket are welded with TIP TIG.
