The Top 5 Facts About Welding

Welding is an indispensable craft that has been in existence since time immemorial. The skill is dated back to the Bronze Age, approximately 2000 years BC. With such a long history, welding still ranks among the top industries with significant growth potential in the upcoming years. In a report published by the American Bureau of Statistics, welding is estimated to steadily grow at a rate of 15%-22% per annum.

Despite being least talked about by many entities including the mainstream media, welding holds lots of fascinating facts. Some of the riveting details about welding include:

More than 50% of products we use require welding

Did you know that welding is everywhere? Welding accounts for more than 50% of the products that we use. In fact, without welding, many of the technological advancements we enjoy today wouldn’t have been realized.

The technique applies to the manufacturing of electronics such as phones and computers, structures such as bridges and buildings, essentials such as medical devices, and motor vehicles; the list goes on and on. Being a multi-disciplinary skill, welding, therefore, accounts for a significant percentage of job opportunities across the globe.

Anyone can weld

Unlike most professions, welding does not require a college degree to practice. However, you can either be naturally gifted to be a welder or learn different welding skills by training. Either way, all you need to do is acquire the right tools made especially for welding and progressively cultivate your fabrication skills.

Depending on your level of expertise, welding can be such a rewarding career. Highly skilled welders, who are licensed and certified, such as underwater welders and military support welders rake in at least $100,000 per year.

The world’s first industrial robot was a welder

The Unimate was the first industrial robot to be featured in history, thanks to the hard work and determination of the engineers at General Motors who installed the robotic welding arm in 1961.

The Unimate was engineered to adhere to procedural commands stored in a magnetic drum and weighed two tons. This fabrication invention paved way for the rigorously automated processes in the motor vehicle manufacturing processes.

Cold welding only happens in space

Unlike on earth where welding different pieces of metal can be a hassle, two pieces of metal in space instantly weld together when they come into contact in space. This is through a  process termed as cold welding, and which is only possible in space. The Russian Cosmonauts were the first to attempt welding in space in 1969.

Underwater welding is one of the most dangerous occupations

Have you ever thought about how welders manage to bind two pieces of metal together underwater? Underwater welding comes with lots of life-threatening hazards, especially differential pressures which can trap underwater welders to their working environment. To complete a project while securing lives, a lot of preparations have to be made before underwater welding is commenced. As a result of the risks associated with underwater welding, persons venturing into the profession are accorded significant compensation.